Spotlight on Sources:
Welcome to Renzulli Learning’s Spotlight on Sources, some of our most engaging resources to excite and inspire your students!
Renzulli Learning’s Project Wizard is the ideal place to help your students engage in problem based learning and passion projects! Now our Project Wizard has student tutorial videos to help guide your students on what to do at each step of the Project Wizard. From Teacher directed to Student driven, or scaffold the steps with a Super Starter Project, project management has never been easier!
To assign students a project in Renzulli Learning go to Teach and select Projects. Take a moment to watch the Project Tutorial Video and check out the Teacher User Guide. You can now click Projects and either Create Your Own or assign a Super Starter Project.
Additional Reading on Type III / Project Based Learning
Need more help with Type III Investigations and Projects? Check out some of our past blog entries here:
- Scaffolding Your Type III Projects
- Topic Shopping and Finding Resources
- Launching Your Type III Projects
- Focus on Expression Styles & Alternative Audiences
- The PD Corner: PBL vs PBL – Does it really matter?
Check out some of our favorites below and find more under Projects on the Student or Teacher Site, click Super Starter Projects!
Grade PreK
Backyard Animals PreK:
Do you love animals? Learn all about the animals you can find right in your own backyard with this project You may need an adult to help you explore all of the resources. Check out the INTENDED PRODUCT page to create a diorama, a drawing, or something else about your animal!
Patterns for PreK:
Patterns are all around us. Maybe you have patterns on your pants. Maybe you have patterns on your shirt. We are going to find patterns in nature. Then you can make your own pattern. Click on the tab that says GETTING STARTED. Then go to STEP ONE and begin!
Grades K-2
Cool Characters:
In this project you will learn about characters in stories. You will discover that a character can be a person, animal, or other creature. You will keep notes in a journal as you learn to pick out the characters in stories and to describe them with adjectives. Your final product will challenge you to choose two characters from the same story and write down five adjectives to describe each one. Then you can draw your characters, and add a background to show where they are and what they are doing, or you can turn them into puppets. If you choose to draw your characters, you will have the option of submitting your work for publication in a magazine.
An Animal’s Habitat:
Learn how important an appropriate habitat is to the survival of any animal. You will choose and read about a specific animal. You will need to find out where it lives, what it eats, whether it is endangered, and all about its habitat. Then create a diorama of its habitat, or use your artistic ability to draw or paint your animal in its environment, to show others how your animal lives.
Grades 3-5
Create Colonial America:
By completing this project you will discover what it was like to live in the colonies during the period from pilgrim days to the Revolutionary War. Through research, you will learn about the challenging and exciting events experienced by colonial kids. You can choose to use your imagination to write a diary as if you were a young person living in the 1600s or 1700s; or you can use your hands to build a diorama showing what a home, schoolhouse, or town might have looked like during these times.
Adaptions and Habitats:
Look at the adaptive characteristics that keep animals and plants alive. Adaptations are either structural (physical features) or behavioral (things one does to survive), and some are necessary for an organism to reproduce. Once you have learned all about organisms, adaptations, and habitats, you can create a diorama, sketch a really cool coloring book, or carry out a photo shoot. If you choose the coloring book product, you will have the opportunity to enter one of your sketches in a competition or for possible publication.
Grades 6-8
Africa: South of the Sahara:
Compare and contrast a location in sub-Saharan Africa with the place where you live. You will choose a particular location in Africa, and will immerse yourself in its physical characteristics, economics, people, cultural geography, history, and everything else associated with it. After you research your chosen area of sub-Saharan Africa, you can create a mini-museum, prepare a PowerPoint or video presentation, or develop a community service program.
City of the Future:
Complete this project to learn how cities and societies change. You will choose a city and study its past, so that you can compare this to its present. While researching, keep a notebook about the changes that have taken place in this city over the past 100 years. Find out how such things as transportation, architecture, and the needs of people have changed. Then imagine what this city might become in the future. You can paint or draw your vision, build a three-dimensional model, or design a city with a computer. You also have the option of entering a future city engineering competition.
Grades 10-12
City of the Future:
Complete this project to learn how cities and societies change. You will choose a city and study its past, so that you can compare this to its present. While researching, keep a notebook about the changes that have taken place in this city over the past 100 years. Find out how such things as transportation, architecture, and the needs of people have changed. Then imagine what this city might become in the future. You can paint or draw your vision, build a three-dimensional model, or design a city with a computer. You also have the option of entering a future city engineering competition.
Creating a Public Policy:
In the course of this project, you will become familiar with various public policies. You will read about social action at the local, state, and federal governmental levels. Find out how the policy-making process works. Choose a policy that interests you and learn how to research it. You will keep a research log to help you store and organize information. For your final product, you can either write a position paper outlining your policy proposal, or moderate a debate about your policy. If you choose to write the paper, you can submit it for publication or enter it in a writing contest.
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