Wonders 2014-17

Educator Newsletter
Issue 21, Spring 2023

Wonders News!

Hello, Wonders community –

Summer is just around the corner and another year of literacy and learning is nearly in the books.

As you approach the end of your school year, we hope you take the time to recognize accomplishments big and small. Whether it was helping a student understand a challenging concept, hearing that your class enjoyed a specific text, or experiencing another literacy-related win, you deserve to celebrate the strides you and your students have made this year.

The resources in this newsletter offer support as you complete this school year and look forward to the seasons ahead.

Wishing you an enjoyable, restful summer!

- The Wonders Team

Resources to Wrap Up Your Year Successfully

The resources below will help you end your year with confidence. Explore information around streamlining your digital workspace, having a great last day of school, and considering lessons taught and learned this year.

End-of-Year Guides: As the year ends, you may be wondering what steps you need to take to manage your digital space. Our End-of-Year Guides for teachers and administrators can help! These documents cover processes like preparing rosters, preserving data and assessments, and saving customized lesson plans, so you’ll feel ready to transition from this school year to the next.

Last Day of School Resources: Are you seeking ways to end your school year on a fun, positive note? Enter our free last day of school resources! In this collection, you’ll find a template for students to write letters to next year’s class, an end-of-year self-portrait worksheet, a summer support guide to share with families, and more.

Pro Tip: This page also includes classroom resources around literacy, social and life skills, and back-to-school. You can visit at any time to find free teaching and learning activities!

10 Questions to Ask Yourself and Your Students at the End of the School Year: If you’d like to reflect upon the last year, this post shares a list of insightful questions to ask yourself, your students, and your school community. We hope these questions help you acknowledge your achievements, learn from any challenges, and prepare for the school year ahead.

Online Assessment Platform Migration

To ensure we continue to meet your needs and the needs of your students, we are updating the online assessment platform for Wonders ©2017. In this version, you’ll have access to new capabilities for assigning and creating assessments, including an improved gradebook, text-to-speech functionality, and the option to share assignments with Google Classroom.

Further information is available on our Digital Technical Support site. You can also reach out to our Digital Technical Support team for assistance.

Demystifying Writing Instruction

Writing helps students express themselves, communicate with others, and learn about the world around them, but both learning and teaching to write can be challenging.

Our new Wonders writing resource supports your writing instruction with research-based best practices, practical teacher tips, and printable resources to aid student writing. You’ll find information on key topics like the reading-writing connection, assessment, word banks, and authentic texts, as well as insights into Wonders’ approach to writing.*

Get the Resource

Inspired Ideas

Looking for resources to share with parents, research to inform your work, or inspiration from experts and peers? Visit our blog, Inspired Ideas. You’ll discover stories from educators, strategies from experts in reading instruction, and news from learning scientists and edtech experts. Here are three highlights:

Educator Well-Being: Self-Compassion as the Ultimate Act of Self-Care: This blog from teacher consultant Lisa Baylis discusses the power of a mindful self-compassion practice for educators. Learn how focusing on mindfulness vs. over-identification, common humanity vs. isolation, and self-kindness vs. self-judgement can help navigate stress effectively.

Social and Emotional Learning and the Read Aloud: In this post, literacy coach Dr. Pearl Garden shares how to use read alouds to support the development of students’ social and emotional skills. Discover step-by-step guidance for teaching specific skills with books, along with a collection of texts to foster social and emotional learning across grade levels.

Navigate Your Science of Learning Journey With This Training Calendar: The body of research known as the Science of Reading is a key part of effective literacy instruction, but it can be challenging to sort through. In this post, kindergarten teacher Jenn shares a Science of Learning event calendar, online group, and further resources to help you access the Science of Reading and stay organized along your learning journey.

McGraw Hill Summer 2023 Literacy Symposium – Register Now!

We’re excited to announce that the McGraw Summer 2023 Literacy Symposium is coming this July 18th!

This symposium will feature a collection of virtual panels and presentations on important topics across K-12 literacy. We’ve partnered with authors and experts to bring you timely, valuable sessions in six tracks: the Science of Reading, the Science of Writing, Knowledge Building, Purposeful Technology, Student and Educator Wellbeing, and Reaching All Learners.

With these sessions, you’ll have free access to expert advice around bringing research into practice and bolstering literacy instruction in your classroom.

Featured experts include Dr. Douglas Fisher, Dr. Jan Hasbrouck, Dr. Michelle H. Martin, Dr. Timothy Shanahan, Dr. Catlin Tucker, current classroom practitioners, and more.

We hope you’ll join us!

Did You Know? You can learn more about the Wonders authors (many of whom will be part of our symposium!) on our Author Bios page. This page includes information around areas of expertise, author websites, and more.