Degree and Interval discussion

I have been teaching alot of students lately about scale degrees and intervals. Here is a basic reference, in our one - one lessons I can break it down and help anyone understand.
Basically think of it like this, Remember one thing:
follow the alphabet. You must have one of every letter of the musical alphabet to complete a scale... some of the notes may be # or b but you will still have 1 of every note.

The musical scale only goes from A to G, so when identifying notes and chords in any key, just follow the alphabet, note some of the notes will be incidentals (# sharp or b flat), but it still basically follows the alphabet.

Once you follow the alphabet, just remember the pattern of steps and half steps for the Major scale.
Pattern: R w 2 w 3 h 4 w 5 w 6 w 7 h 8
(Root note - whole step - 2nd degree - whole step - 3rd degree - half step - 4th degree - whole step - 5th degree - whole step - 6th degree - whole step - 7th degree - half step - octave)

so to plug any key into the formula, start with the root note and do the steps:
example: key of C
C w D w E h F w G w A h B

Here is an example with the degree indicators and then a 1-4-5 chord progression based on each scale.
Key of C:
C D E F G A B
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

a 1-4-5 chord progression in C is C, F, G

Key of D:
D E F# G A B C#
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

a 1-4-5 chord progression in D is D, G, A


Key of A:
A B C# D E F# G#
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

a 1-4-5 chord progression in A is A, D, E