What does it take to whip a room full of third-graders into a frenzy? You don't need the latest video game or Web site, but a simple book: the dictionary. (Look up: “Surprise!”)

19 employees headed to four San Francisco elementary schools on May 14 to give each third-grader his/her own personal dictionary, purchased through a Salesforce.com Foundation Community Action Team Grant. The kids had fun telling us what a dictionary is used for, looking up their favorite words, and best of all, writing their names in their very own dictionaries! Other kid-approved dictionary fun included:

- Trying to pronounce the longest word in the English language

- Viewing world maps and locating countries where they have family ties

- Checking out the planets

- Spelling their names in sign language

- Looking up patriotic words like “liberty” and “independence.”

Our intrepid volunteers learned several things as well:
- Many teachers have a code word or sound that will instantly quiet their classrooms (could this idea possibly work in a business meeting?)
- Students love it when a visitor remembers their names

- “Infinity” is a very popular all-purpose answer (“How many words do you think are in this dictionary?” Reply: “Infinity!”)
- That the “t” in “often” is silent (PS - We already knew that one)