[LM_NET] HIT: Guinness Book of World Records activities

["Collins, Cynthia" <CCollins@FSD1.ORG>]

I received several excellent ideas for introducing my students to the Guinness Book 
of World Records.  I was also asked to post a hit so here goes.  I hope these help 
someone else celebrate Guinness World Records Day this Friday, Nov. 9th.  Thanks to 
everyone who shared ideas.

*****
I haven't seen any Guinness activities, per se, but I would think you might be able 
to adapt some almanac activities for this book.  Since both books have similar 
types of info (although Guinness adds the wild pictures and wild records), you 
might find something to adapt if you search for almanac activities.

*****
You could always make copies of the pages if you need extras. How about creating 
groups and having students brainstorm and research what records they think they 
could break-either as an individual, a small group, a class, or a building

*****

I do this activity with older kids using copies of the Guinness. I pick a topic 
like, "The Largest Man In The World". I ask student pairs to research and find 
items for him from a copy of the Guinness book, like:
What would he eat? What method of transportation would he use? What would he live 
in? What sport would he play and how well would he do?, etc. Kids come up with some 
very creative facts in a story format and love sharing it with the class.

*****

We made up crossword puzzles that needed to be answered using the Guinness.  But 
they also have a web site which the kids have had a lot of fun using.

*****
You could pick a challenge or two from the book and have the kids try it for a few 
minutes.

*****

I've done something with Guinness, usually around the first of the year. I say 
something like
"Hats off to a new year!" and I have a hat template and I give them subjects and 
they go
through the book as teams and say something like Top 10 fastestest animals or 
Weight of heaviest pumpkin etc. It's like a guessing game. They lift up their hat 
to see the answer.

*****

Something I do that is fun is that I divide the class into teams and they have to 
go through the Guinness record books and write down 3 records - 2 are real, that 
they got from the books themselves, and 1 is false. Then each team reads their 
records to the rest of the class and the team that can trick the most number of 
people, wins. They have to convince the rest of the class that their record is a 
real one..

I've attached the sheets I hand out with the assignment.
Is it fact or is it fiction?
Guinness Book of World Records Activity

Working in groups, list below two world records that you found in The Guinness Book 
of World Records. Then make up a third that sounds reasonable. You will read all 
three to the class and we will have to decide which one is made up. Make sure when 
you read the records to the class, that you don't always read the fictional one 
last. Also write down the page numbers for the real records so we can verify them.

1.




2.




3.

*****

What if you take facts from the book and pair them with other "seemingly" facts 
that aren't true? Then have groups of kids determine and agree which ones are true, 
why they think that, and then have them use a copy of the book to find out which 
one is true or not.

Just an immediate thought to your request.

*****

I just read an article in the Library Media Connection about using Guinness.  It 
said to make a list of words such as longest, fastest, strongest, etc. and then 
have the kids use the books and their website to find the answers.


I plan to have my students locate two real records and create a false record and 
see which group can fool the most other students.  Thanks everyone for your ideas!!!

Cynthia Collins
Media Specialist
Dewey L. Carter Elementary
Effingham, SC
ccollins@fsd1.org<mailto:ccollins@fsd1.org>



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