How to Use PowerPoint to Teach First Grade Wonders

Do you use McGraw-Hill Wonders in your district?  Was it challenging to teach all those little mini-lessons during distance learning?  I found a system that works well in the classroom AND online.  Before I created these PowerPoints to go along with Wonders, I had to carry my TE around all morning while teaching mini-lessons and never quite felt like I had covered all the skills.  Well, I came up with a solution for first and second grade teachers.  

Download Unit 1 Week 1 for free and compare it to your teacher edition.

Each day starts with a slide for asking the Essential Question.  If you're in class, you can have students partner share the answer to the Essential Question.  If you are distance learning, you can share the screen and call on a few students to answer.  

  

The next two slides will have the Phonemic Awareness mini-lesson and introduction to the phonics skill for the week.  Instead of wasting time writing the words on the board, they're right here for you.  How many times have you had to pause a lesson while you went to find the sound card for the new phonics skill?  These slides keep everything in one place.  

Again, instead of having to put your TE on the Elmo to project the words, it's all right here.  When we're in class, I have my students get their hands ready and we read through each word sounding out the word and then blending it.  Once we've read the whole slide, I will have each row read one of the lines together.  This slide can also be printed and used in reading groups or as fluency practice during centers.  During distance learning I shared my screen and we practiced reading all the words and then I made a screen shot and assigned it in Google Classroom.  

At this point, students are usually tired of sitting, so we take a quick brain break and I send them to their desks to get their whiteboard and marker.  I tell them one word at a time and they write it on their whiteboard.  While they're writing, they hold up their whiteboards and I either tell them good job or they need to change beginning, middle, or ending sound.  Once everyone has written a word, I call on someone to spell it for me.  Words are displayed one at a time, so you can display the word so students can check their work.  We do the same thing online.  Some students may not have whiteboards, so I have them use a piece of paper or notebook. 

Next, we have slides to introduce the high frequency words and vocabulary words for the week.  We spend a few minutes discussing each word and using them in sentences.  There's also a slide to help practice these words.  Again, you can print the slide to use during guided reading groups or for students to practice independently during centers.  This is almost the same online, I introduce each word and call on a few students to read the word and use it in a sentence.  

Each day has a slide for writing.  At this point, students will go to their desks and take out their journals.  At the beginning of the year, it's all guided.  We brainstorm our answers and then we discuss what a good topic sentence would look like and they copy my writing from the board.  During online learning, we write one sentence at a time and they copy it down.  If you'd like to see the journal we use, click here.  For distance learning, we sent home the journals for them to work on at home.  

Last, but not least is the slide for introducing the Grammar Skill and also a practice slide.  During class, I call on students to go up to the board to help me correct the sentence.  For distance learning, I used the writing tool on PowerPoint and called on students to tell me what I needed to correct.  

Each day ended with the Daily Wrap up slide.  We used this to discuss what we learned during the day.  It's important for students to tell you they learned about spelling and high frequency words.  When they go home to their families, they need to be able to tell them what they learned.  During distance learning, I posted an Exit Ticket for the students to tell me one thing they learned that day or to answer the question.  In this case, they could tell me what they like to do at school OR what skills they learned today that will help them read.  

These PowerPoints have truly transformed the way I teach.  Gone are the days of carrying my TE around the classroom and consulting it every five minutes.  Now I can confidently say I have covered all the skills in Wonders.  

If you'd like to see the first grade year long version, click here.  

If you'd like to see the second grade year long version, click here.  

Comment below if you have any questions or comments.  I'd love to hear how they work for you!