Renzi Tutoring and Guitar

As we get lazy, hazy, and crazy this summer, please keep Renzi Tutoring and Guitar in mind as an online option for:

*Tutoring grades 1-6 and/or

*Guitar lessons all levels, age 10+

While we learn and play together, feel free to bring your drinks and snacks and kick off those shoes. We look forward to meeting you wherever you are!

For so many years, the communication we have with parents has made us better teachers.

What is awe?

I fully admit to overusing a derivative of this word in my tween and teen years.

Everything was "Awesome!"

But what is awe? What creates it?

This picture book, beautifully written and illustrated by Chana Stiefel and Susan Gal, is definitely worth your time.

Watching a very young human, you can truly see what they experience as awe. They don't hold back! As adults, we may not unabashedly express our awe, but why not?

This book would also make a wonderful gift for an adult.

May the Ooohs and Ahhhhs be yours today and always!

Can we create a place where pollinators thrive? Do you know how far some hummingbirds fly twice a year?

A Path for Pollinators by Michelle Straub and Blanca Gomez pairs nicely with Hummingbird's Big Trip by G. Brian Karas.
Poetry and information about creating welcoming spaces for pollinators in one and fictional narrative and information about hummingbird migration in the other, respectively.

If you're looking for ways to get your young readers reading AND outside, I highly recommend checking these books out from your local library. I did, and I loved reading both of them.

These amazing birds and insects help us in so many ways, so how can we help them in return?

What can happen to a "strange child" with a tender heart?

This picture book biography, structured like a fairy tale, tells of the trials of a very young Hans Christian Andersen as he leaves home to find something more than the little village where it seemed few understood him.

When Sandra Nickel's research and storytelling is paired with Calvin Nicholls' exquisite paper sculptures, the result is a story to be read again and again.

For anyone who has ever failed, felt different and kept going, and for all of us who seek to understand and be understood.

You can learn and rock-out wherever you are!

Below are some real-life lesson scenarios:

Grandma and Grandpa's house

Bleachers at brother's baseball game

Arkansas

Brazil

California

Colorado

Michigan

Massachusetts

New York

Rhode Island

You name it....

Reading words is not the only way to read...😍!

What books have you loved? What books are not for you?

If books were presented like foods on a buffet, which would you stroll on by? Which would you pile high?

Like many readers, I find my books in lots of different ways. I browse bookstores and libraries. I see what my friends are reading. I make lists of books I see on social media. I listen to students. (This last one is really where I find my way to genres I might not have otherwise read. Young readers can be very persuasive.)

Up until a few years ago, there were genres that I was convinced I did not like. There were series I was convinced I would never read.

And then I change my mind.

It happened again last week.

I am FINALLY going to try a book series that I was, once upon a time, pretty sure I would not like. It was a book series I thought was good for other readers but not me.

Why did I change my mind?

I have had at least five students tell me they LOVE this series and that I should read it. So why did it take me five students to finally add the first book to my library list?

I am not sure.

It could be that I was just ready for it. Maybe I paused and really listened. Or perhaps I've been dabbling in similar books and am now ready to take the leap!

It happens like this for the young readers I meet with every week. I love to hear how they find the right and not-so-right books for them.