Wonders 2020

Educator Newsletter
Issue 13, Winter 2024

Wonders News!

Hello, Wonders community –

2024 has arrived, and you’ve reached the middle of your school year! We hope you feel proud of what you and your students have accomplished so far and look forward to the literacy learning ahead.

To keep the learning momentum going, this newsletter shares resources to strengthen instructional routines, tools to support student knowledge-building, and quick and simple tips to bolster your instruction.

Wishing you happiness and success this year!

- The Wonders Team

2024 McGraw Hill Pathfinder Awards – Accepting Nominations Now!

Founded in 2022, the McGraw Hill Pathfinder Awards honor three educators from across PreK–12, Higher Ed, and Post-Graduate education who have shown innovation and inventiveness in their approach to teaching.

Each winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize, plus a 1-hour Professional Learning Consultation from CAST, a learning design, research, and professional services organization that seeks to make learning more inclusive to all.

Help us celebrate outstanding educators by submitting your nomination today! Nominations are open through February 16th, 2024.

Learn more

The Power of Instructional Routines

The midpoint of the school year is a great time to regroup and revisit Wonders’ instructional routines. Instructional routines support student progress, as they allow students to focus on the what, rather than the how, of what they’re learning. The familiarity students gain from well-established routines can boost student confidence and foster more effective reading, writing, and thinking.

The Instructional Routines Handbook shares the routines that make up much of Wonders’ instruction. These routines are grounded in the Science of Reading, follow a gradual release model, and support key skills like close reading, analytical writing, and conducting collaborative conversations. In the Handbook, you’ll also find additional strategies and multimodal activities to engage the learners in your classroom.

Find it online: Resources > Resource Library > Teacher Resources > Instructional Routines

Knowledge-Building to Support Literacy Success

Knowledge-building is an important part of students’ literacy journeys. As students gain knowledge across disciplines, they can access increasingly complex texts and better understand concepts and ideas.These skills, in turn, empower students to continue to grow their knowledge base.

Learn more about how knowledge-building relates to reading success in this video, featuring Dr. Douglas Fisher.

Routines and activities to support knowledge-building are woven throughout Wonders. Explore more below!

In Wonders, each unit’s text set is focused on building knowledge through investigation of an Essential Question. Examples include “What do you do at your school?” and “What are features of different animal habits?” Wonders instruction also connects the Essential Question to science and social studies topics, broadening student knowledge and vocabulary across content areas.

After reading each key text, students reflect on the knowledge they have gained using a Making Connections Routine and frequent Connect to Content activities.

Research and Inquiry lessons offer students opportunities to collect, analyze, and evaluate information. They work collaboratively to build on unit knowledge, conduct and organize research, and present their findings.

At Grades 3-6, students can further pursue their interests and complete longer research projects in the online Inquiry Space.* The Inquiry Space guides students through the research, writing, and presenting process and provides multimedia tools to assist students with research tasks. Find the Inquiry Space online at: Writing & Research > Inquiry Space *Available in ©2017 and newer.

Quick and Easy Teacher Tips

Are you seeking quick tips to enhance your instruction and engage your students? Look no further than our Teacher Toolkit! This video collection features actionable tips for literacy instruction and beyond, all from McGraw Hill Curriculum Specialists.

Some highlights from the playlist include how to organize student learning target check-ins, how to set up annotation stations to foster key skills, and how to set visible goals to support student writing.

View the full playlist!

The Future of Wonders Newsletters

Beginning in the fall of 2024, the Wonders newsletters will no longer be delivered by email. Instead, we’ll share newsletters directly in the Wonders user community.

To continue receiving our newsletters, register for the user community at the link below. Not only will you have access to newsletter tips, tricks, and updates, you’ll also have the opportunity to connect with Wonders educators and experts, attend professional learning events, and get exclusive classroom resources.

Join today

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:

How to Keep Students Engaged After Winter Break: Winter break is an important opportunity for rest, fun, and memory-making, but what happens when it’s time to return to the classroom? This article from Dana Garth discusses ways to engage students after winter break, including resetting classroom expectations and coordinating team-building activities.

Why Kids Work Hard at Fortnite, Not Frog and Toad: In this article, Dr. Elliott Hedman explores the power of competition to foster self-efficacy in reading. Explore how providing opportunities for students to prove themselves, making room for failure, and other elements of competition can help students reach reading goals.

The Trickiest Lessons in Phonics: The Science of Reading tells us that the teaching of phonics and other foundational skills is a cornerstone of literacy instruction—but it can also be challenging! In this blog post, McGraw Hill literacy experts and former teachers share phonics lessons they’ve found difficult to navigate.