Some questions to access prior knowledge might include:

Think about a time when you got into trouble at home. Did your mom or dad send you to your room? How would you feel if they sent you to your room without supper? Allow students to turn and talk to their elbow buddy.

In this story, Max does something we call daydreaming or imagining. Do you ever find yourself drifting off and thinking about something that isn’t really happening?

This story is perfect to use in teaching visualization! After reading the beginning of the story and discussing the meaning of the word rumpus, have students visualize what a wild rumpus would look like in the context of this book. You may even wish for students to draw what they visualize. Then, show the amazing illustrations in the book and discuss what is going on in the pictures. The illustrations in this book have a huge impact on the reader’s comprehension of the story.

When you come to a tricky word, try saying it slowly to help you figure it out! Break the word into smaller parts or stretch out the sounds, then blend them together.

Let's try it with some words from our book:

• Sent —Sss-ee-nnn-t
• That — Thhh-aa-t
• Forest — Fff-orrr-e-s-t
• Grew — Grrr-ew
• Hung — Hhh-uu-nn-g
• Almost — Al-most
• Terrible — Ter-ri-ble
• Blinking — B-lin-king
• Rumpus — Rump-us

This text provides a few short, bold statements that appear in all capitals with an exclamation point. Model for students what this means and how it should sound when the reader reads this aloud. Allow your students an opportunity to read these portions of the text.

P. 5 – “WILD THING!”, “I’LL EAT YOU UP!” 
P. 16 – “BE STILL!”

Possible choices include: Mischief, tumbled, private, terrible, gnashed, frightened, rumpus, & lonely.

Students need to know how word-learning tools work in order to use them successfully. Use some of the words highlighted above to model for students how to use a dictionary or thesaurus. Look up the word in the dictionary, modeling how to find the word. Then, use a thesaurus to find other words that have a similar meaning. Create a chart of words that mean the same and words that are opposite. Add the first few words as a class and then release the activity for students to fill in as they find new words, for example: