A group of one thousand elementary school students broke a Guinness World Record this week for setting the world's largest vocabulary lesson in multiple venues. 

Patti Bartolli, a preschool teacher in Pittsburgh, joined other teachers and students in 37 cities as they used the same lesson plan and completed the lesson in "no more and no less than 30 minutes," said an article on Post-Gazette.com. 

The result, the article said, "is a new record category and a new record." According to the article, under Guinness rules, "the group needed a minimum of 250 participants.The five sites monitored directly by Guinness, including Pittsburgh, yielded 1,031. Several thousand students may be added once documentation from other sites is received."

The record was "the brainchild" of PNC Growing Up Great, the article said. "Working together the Fred Rogers Co. and the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children selected a picture story book — “Mr. Tiger Goes Wild” by Peter Brown. The 183-word book is the story of a stuffy tiger who finds his true self."

“It really expresses who young children are,” said Michelle Figlar, executive director of the association.

The lesson plan was developed for all of the classes to use, the article said, and teachers were given training and materials in advance. The lesson, "which included singing and roaring, emphasized four vocabulary words: stripes, patience, magnificent and wilderness."

"It’s a terrific story. It has words children use outside the classroom,” Bartolli said. “They had a lot of fun.”

Read the full story. 

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor