Tier-2 vocabulary launch: 'enormous' and 'scurry' through 'The Mitten'

Total Physical Response: 'Show me TINY. Show me BIG. Show me ENORMOUS!' Children grow their gestures from a pinch to arms-wide.

• Model the gesture progression yourself
• Pause on 'enormous' for emphasis

Today we meet two new words that great writers use. ENORMOUS means very, very big — bigger than just 'big'. The bear in 'The Mitten' is enormous. SCURRY means to run quickly with small steps — like a mouse. Watch — (teacher scurries across the rug). The mouse in 'The Mitten' scurries into the mitten. Listen and watch as I read — when you hear ENORMOUS or SCURRY, give me a quiet thumbs-up.

• Yes — elephants are enormous. Mice are tiny.

  model An elephant.

  prompt Which is enormous: a mouse or an elephant?
• Mice scurry because their legs are tiny and they move fast. Elephants don't scurry — they LUMBER (we'll learn that word in Spring).

  model A mouse.

  prompt Which animal scurries?

• Show me with your body: scurry.
• Tell your neighbor one enormous thing.
• Could a baby be enormous? (Discuss — depends on what you compare it to.)

M-K-F-VOC-04-A Illustration

Anchor card 'ENORMOUS = very, very big'. Composition: bottom third shows a tiny mouse silhouette; top two-thirds shows a massive elephant silhouette towering above. Both in the same frame for relative scale. The word ENORMOUS is in 48-pt at the top in bold red, with the kid-friendly definition under it in 24-pt. Edge of the card has a small icon of an elephant making the universal sign for 'big' with its trunk.

• Read-aloud 'The Mitten' with stop-and-discuss at the enormous bear page and the mouse-scurry page.

  scaffold Pre-marked stopping points; teacher pauses, repeats the sentence with the target word emphasized.
• Picture sort: place each picture card under 'ENORMOUS' or 'TINY' on the anchor chart.

  scaffold Cards include mouse (tiny), elephant (enormous), ant (tiny), mountain (enormous), bus (enormous).
• Sentence frame practice: 'A ___ is enormous.' / 'A ___ scurries.' Each child shares aloud.

  scaffold Frame visible on the chart; partner-rehearse before whole-group share.

M-K-F-VOC-04-C Photograph

Photo of the open spread of Jan Brett's 'The Mitten' showing the page where the enormous bear stuffs into the mitten. Sticky note 'ENORMOUS' placed pointing at the bear. Used by teacher to model where to stop and discuss.

• Draw one enormous thing.
• Underneath your drawing, label it with the first letter of its name. (e.g., 'E' for elephant)

• All-class chant: 'ENORMOUS means very, very big. SCURRY means run fast with small feet.'
• Preview: tomorrow we'll meet TWO MORE big words.

• Tell a family member: 'I learned the word ENORMOUS. It means very, very big.' Then tell them one enormous thing you saw today.