Spotlight on Sources:
Welcome to Renzulli Learning’s Spotlight on Sources, some of our most engaging resources to excite and inspire your students!
The Renzulli Learning Team wishes you the most joyous of holiday seasons as well as peace and happiness throughout the coming year. Thank you for your partnership and continued support. We look forward to working with you in the years to come!
The holidays are quickly approaching! Are you looking for something to do that’s FUN and ENGAGING to keep your students’ attention, while embedding important skills and standards?
Search the Enrichment Database for “Holidays” and see what amazing enrichment opportunities you can find! Our curators have once again been hard at work scouring the Internet to bring you some of the most engaging Holiday resources and activities to share with your students. 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. You can also assign a self-assessment or a journal response to the activity!
Check out a few of our favorite activities below!
K-2
Around the World with Santa Claus - E-books Fiction
It's not every day that you get to see Santa Claus riding in a canoe or going down the chimney of a teepee! Enjoy this Christmas book from the late 19th or early 20th century.
Build a Snowman - Online Activity
Do you like to build snowmen? Here is your chance to build a snowman by using your mouse to drag the pieces onto the snowman. See how many different kinds of snowmen you can make! Happy building.
Build a SnowmanCelebrating the Holidays with Kid's Heart - Online Activities
We're celebrating the holidays at A Kid's Heart with online games and puzzles, printable activity pages, mini games to download, screensavers, clip art, coloring pages, gift tags to print, desktop wallpaper and whole lot more! Your being here makes our holidays even more exciting and fun! Click on one of the holiday links and come celebrate with us!
3-5
Good Stories for Great Holidays – Fiction Books
It's time to sit around the fireplace and enjoy your holiday company, but how are you going to entertain them? Why not pull stories from this great book to read aloud? These also make great bedtime stories!
What Month Begins the New Year – Videos and Podcats
New Year's Day wasn't always celebrated on January 1st (and in many places, it still isn't). When do different cultures celebrate the first day of the new year? And what does January 1st have to do with Julius Caesar? Watch to find out!
Chinese Calendar – Websites
The Chinese calendar was developed by many of the Chinese dynasties of Ancient China. However, it was in 104 BC during the rule of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the current calendar was defined. This calendar was called the Taichu calendar. It is the same Chinese calendar that is used today. Each year in the Chinese calendar is named after an animal. For example, 2012 was the "year of the dragon". There are 12 animals that the years cycle through. Every 12 years the cycle repeats itself. The Chinese believed that, depending on which year a person was born, their personality would take on the aspects of that animal.
6-9
History of the Christmas Tree – Websites
How long ago did families start using trees as a symbol for Christmas? Did they always use fir trees? Get your Christmas tree questions answered by reading about its history!
The Christmas Angel – E-books
Disagreeable old Miss Terry spends her Christmas Eve getting rid of toys from her childhood toy box. One by one she tosses them onto the sidewalk in front of her house, then secretly watches the little scenes that occur, which seem to confirm her belief that true Christmas spirit does not exist. Then the Angel from her childhood Christmas tree appears to show Miss Terry that she has not yet witnessed the final act of each of those little dramas... Living Age magazine in 1910 observed of The Christmas Angel, "Not since Charles Dickens laid down his pen forever has there been a prettier Christmas story written, one more full of the real spirit of Christmas or conveying a more seasonable lesson."
History of the Christmas Tree – Online Activity
How long ago did families start using trees as a symbol for Christmas? Did they always use fir trees? Get your Christmas tree questions answered by reading about its history!
10-12
December Holidays Around the World – Research Site
Few months present as many multicultural celebrations as December. From Christmas to Omisoka, the last month of the year is a “world of holidays.” Let’s take a look at some of December’s holidays around the world.
Why the Ball Drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve – Online Activity
Each year on New Year's Eve, thousands gather in Times Square in New York City to watch as a 12-foot-wide sphere slides down a skyscraper. Millions more watch by television, counting down the seconds to the start of a new year. When and how did this custom begin? The answers may surprise you!
Why a Ball Drops in Times Square on New Year’s Eve
A Tasty Holiday Tale – Videos and Podcasts
From the simple bread loaf to the decorative gingerbread house, gingerbread's shape and form has evolved over centuries.
The History of Gingerbread: A Tasty Holiday Tale
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