Spotlight on Sources:
Welcome to Renzulli Learning’s Spotlight on Sources, some of our most engaging resources to excite and inspire your students! 
Summertime is here! The best part about summer? More time to read! This week we are bringing you some of our favorite ebooks and literacy resources for your students to enjoy throughout the summer. Just because school is out, doesn’t mean that the learning ends!
Reading is a great way to keep students engaged and interested in their favorite topics. Send students the activities you think they’d like by marking them as their favorites! You could even assign a summer journal prompt to have your students reflecting on their reading throughout the summer.
Looking for more ebooks and books? Search “ebooks”, “storyline online”, “lit2go” or “loudlit” to find more amazing stories and books! There is a book out there for everyone!
Check out a few of our favorite activities below!
Don’t forget, if you want to assign a weekly activity simply search the title of the weekly activity from your Teacher Dashboard and then send the activity to a student as a favorite! To locate these activities within Renzulli Learning you can SEARCH Enrichment Activities and type in the title of the activity you would like to locate. For more ideas to infuse enrichment activities with your curriculum, please visit the Unit Supplements on the Teacher Site, under “Teach.” We can also link these enrichment resources to your regular curriculum if you send us a theme or topic.
Grades K - 2
Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe
by Charlotte M. Yonge
Travel with Little Lucy around the globe and learn a little geography and small bits about other cultures.
A Goose Story
by Jennifer Snow
Did you know that geese are migratory birds? What does that mean? To "migrate" means to move from one place to another. Read "A Goose Story" to find out more about geese and their habits!
Blossom's on the Apple Tree
by Judith Hope Blau (The Treetures Environmental Education Program, 1995)
It's Spring! It's Spring! Blossom will dance from tree to tree and inspect the pollen that Buzzer Bee will spread to the flowers. The pollination celebration has begun!
Chester's Way Read Aloud
by Kevin Henkes
Watch and listen as Vanessa Marano and Katie Leclerc read and use American Sign Language to share the story of Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes.
Grades 3 -5
Four Great Americans: Washington, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln. A Book for Young American
by James Baldwin
Written for children, James Baldwin’s history of Washington, Franklin, Webster, and Lincoln brings these men to life in a way that will be interesting for adults as well. The stories touch on the little humanities of the great men, rather than dwelling on the great works and great events of their lifetimes, without ignoring the latter.
Stories from the Faerie Queene
by Mary Macleod
Young and old alike will enjoy listening to The Faerie Queen! Below is an excerpt from the author's introduction."The object of this volume is to excite interest in one of the greatest poems of English literature, which for all its greatness is but little read and known--to excite this interest not only in young persons who are not yet able to read "The Faerie Queene," with its archaisms of language, its distant ways and habits of life and thought, its exquisite melodies that only a cultivated ear can catch and appreciate, but also in adults."
A Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Little Princess is an amazing book that proves again that dreams can come true. It also shows that even when life is not going the way you would like it, you should still treat others the way you want to be treated. The end of the story is very satisfying, but readers will want to know more about this special little girl.
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
Over 2,000 years ago, Aesop wrote down wonderful stories to teach lessons through the activities of animals. These are called fables. Each story has a different moral, taught by colorful animal characters as old as time. Learn while you read fun stories at this website!
Grades 6 - 9
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
by James Baldwin
King Alfred and the Cakes. Damon and Pythias. The Sword of Damocles. Bruce and the Spider. These are stories that many people who grew up in the last century would be familiar with. However, for a new generation growing up, some of these may be new and unknown. We find old favorites like Dick Whittington's Cat, The Story of Robin Hood and George Washington and His Hatchet alongside less familiar ones like Inchcape Rock, Doctor Goldsmith or Diogenes the Wise. The original contains charming illustrations. Hence, Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin would indeed be a great addition to your children's bookshelf.
ReadGov: Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe
by Harriet Beecher Stowe (Philadelphia, The Penn Publishing Co., 1908, )
Published in 1852, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" fueled the fire of the human rights debate and condemned the institution of slavery.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
An acclaimed children’s classic depicting the odd, but riveting journeys of the curious Alice as she explores the surreal world of Wonderland. Written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson or better known under his pseudonym Lewis Caroll, this episodic novel is assembled in twelve chapters each containing a prominent adventure. The departure from logic and its embracement of pure imagination is what makes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a model for fantasy novels and a timeless classic.
Discoverers and Explorers
by Edward R. Shaw
Tales of the brave and daring explorers that ventured into the unknown “Sea of Darkness” where it was thought monsters and angry gods lived. They dared to sail near the equator which was thought to have such intense heat that it would boil the ocean water. It was also commonly thought at the time that the world was flat, and the ships would fall off the face of the earth. These men overcame these fears to explore and discover new lands.
Grades 10 - 12
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
by Edith Nesbit
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare is a compendium of stories that re-tells some of his most famous plays.The plays retold here range across the Great Tragedies like King Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth and Othello. One of the most appealing features of Nesbit's retelling is that she retains the atmosphere and milieu of the plays while she makes the text simpler for children to understand. In Macbeth for instance, the witches, the crimes and the final tragic climax are superbly recreated. A lighter note is struck in plays like A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Measure for Measure and Twelfth Night where all Shakespeare's wit and talent for creating comic situations is brought out. Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare contains twenty stories and they are so attractively presented that both young and old readers alike can enjoy them. For younger readers, they would be a great stepping-stone to go on and read the magnificent plays in their original form.
International Children's Digital Library: The Raven
by Edgar Allan Poe (Harper & Brothers, 1884)
It is dark and cold. The middle of winter. A man finds a raven, and all that the bird will say is "Nevermore." Why? The man wonders also, and is haunted by the bird's "Nevermore. Nevermore. Nevermore." This poem by Edgar Allan Poe has been a favorite for generations. If you like creepy poems, you will love this one, especially with the illustrations by Gustave Dore!
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte (Service & Paton, 1897)
In this classic English novel, you will follow the life of a young girl, Jane Eyre. As she grows up, becomes a governess, and finds love, you will also discover what life was like for women during the Victorian Era. Read this famous piece of literature online!
Loud Lit: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ( Read and Listen )
by Mark Twain
Listen to Mark Twain's classic novel of childhood, slavery, and a trip down the Mississippi River. You can read along with this recorded version.
Each week, we will send you teaching suggestions and a few examples of our best and most popular resources. For more ideas to infuse enrichment activities with your curriculum, please visit the Unit Supplements on the Teacher Site, under “Teach.” We can also link these enrichment resources to your regular curriculum if you send us a theme or topic.
Thanks for being a part of the Renzulli Learning family and we hope you find these resources helpful.
Your Renzulli Learning Team