Wonders Reading and oh oh SO many resources....

And the conversation goes...."We just got Wonders and there are sooo many resources!"  I have heard this from many teachers who have just adopted the Wonders Reading program.  I agree that there is far more than one week's worth of material available.  Each teacher really doesn't have a choice, but to choose the aspects that are most crucial and beneficial to the students.  It is best to examine all the resources and choose the ones you think best fit your students' needs, but having some backbone to start with is also nice.  Here I am to share with you how we use the resources from Wonders, how I pull in other activities, and how we find time to also assess.

Like many classrooms there just isn't enough hours in the day to perfectly devote enough time to each subject.  I teach at a religious school, so we also teach religion.  When we first adopted Wonders I taught with a 10 day plan. This gave me the opportunity to really see what resources I found most useful.

Spelling Morning Work: Students write their words in cursive and in print on index cards. I use the pretest page and write the words in cursive on the lines.  Then I make enough copies for each child to use as a reference while writing. The cards go home and are used as practice for the Friday test. This is the only spelling homework kids have. 

Vocabulary: We begin our weekly vocabulary routine with a cloze activity. These are so fun and allow for some deep conversations about context clues.  All my vocabulary activities can be found in my TPT store! Click the pictures below to take you there!

Reading: Our reading routine begins with the Reading/Writing workshop book.  The students and I work through the shared read for the week using the accompanying skills sheet from Math Tech Connections.  I LOVE LOVE these sheets because they introduce all the skills for the week in a quick, kid-friendly way.

     

Spelling Morning Work: Students complete the word sort page from the Wonders sequence. 

Vocabulary: The second day we complete student led definitions.  The students and I have an in depth discussion on what they think appropriate definitions would be.  The vocabulary chart and cloze sentences from Monday are front to back so it helps to reference back to the way the word was used in context of a sentence. If we do not agree on something, then we always reference the dictionaries. Here is an example of a completed chart at the end of the week. 

Reading: Tuesday we continue working with through the shared read as a class and completing the skills sheet. 

Spelling Morning Work: Students complete the word meaning page from the Wonders sequence.

Vocabulary: The third day we work to complete the synonyms/examples and/or antonyms/non-examples. 

Reading: Wednesday we begin working in what we call our "BIG" book.  This is the main selection for the week that comes from the Anthology Reading Wonders book.  It usually takes us two days to get completely through the story.  Wednesday we also fill out the graphic organizer as we read.  Every single week in the series there is a graphic organizer for the main selection. 

Spelling Morning Work: Students complete the word proofreading and paragraph page from the Wonders sequence.

Vocabulary: The fourth day we continue to complete the synonyms/examples and/or antonyms/non-examples. 

Reading: Thursday's reading plan includes finishing up a bit of the graphic organizer if it wasn't complete from Wednesday as well as the entire anthology story.  As a class, we then complete my text dependent questions.  You can access these by clicking the image below.  It will take you to my TPT store for purchase. For the first semester or so we do this together.  I model complete sentences and using the questions in the answers.  Usually in the spring students are independent enough to complete it independently and/or with a partner. We also have designated chromebook time in the afternoons on Thursdays where the students take the Accelerated Reading test over the main selection anthology story and then work on the Connect Ed website and play Wonders Reading games. 

Spelling Morning Work: Students complete a word search from The Teacher's Guide.  We also assess on Fridays.  We use plain sheets of loose lief paper.  The kids write their name, date, and the unit/week as the heading.  I taught them to fold the paper in half vertically (hotdog style) and trace the line, creating two columns.  They number 1 to 10 in the left column and 11 to 20 in the second column.   The students receive one point for each of the 20 spelling words on the front.  We then complete 5 blind dictation sentences on the back.  Each word is a point that is at least 2 letters long for first semester and then 4 letters long for second semester.  By adding the words correct from the front and the back gives the total score for spelling.  Capitals and punctuation is also given credit as a grammar score from the dictation sentences. 

 Of course before completing the spelling test we play SPARKLE.  Kids LOVE this game!  It is so simple and gives them one last chance to hear the word right before the test.  The kids stand in a large circle facing inward.  One student is given a word, he/she must say the first letter, next student says the second letter, and so on until the word has been spelled.  The NEXT student says sparkle and therefore the NEXT student is out.  This child who is out sits down and play continues around the circle.  This is a fast-paced game that allows all children a chance to win, not just the good spellers. 

Vocabulary: The final day of the week we do one last vocabulary practice with a crossword and then complete the weekly assessment that is included in the Wonders series.

Reading: Friday is traditionally assessment day, so we also complete the Weekly Assessment Test from the Wonders series.  These tests are made up of two cold reads with 10 questions each.  With some of my class being below grade level, as in all classrooms, we can not get through two reads.  I just copy one of the cold reads with the 10 questions and then just adjust the written response from the back to only include information from that one story.