let's be fair KM. Premiere is quite a bit more complicated than i-movie or other normal consumer level video "editors." I can see why she'd want to do a slideshow in Premiere - namely because it's in the end a lot more flexible than Powerpoint, and as you mentioned, can be exported for play on a dvd player.
RG, I'm going to assume you're planning to use photographs for your slideshow, and I'm going to assume you have them all saved in the same place.
Open premiere, then open the directory where you have the photos saved. Select all the photos and drag them into the work bin in Premiere (unless you've messed with the standard interface, this will be on the left hand side, below or beside the video monitor)
Then simply drag the photos you want to use down into the timeline (running across the bottom). Drop them in video 1, making sure that each photo is right up against the other photos - no space between them.
Now if you click the timeline to the left of your first photo (in the timeline, it's called a clip) (you'll want to click the part of the timeline that looks like a ruler) and hit the spacebar, it will play your slideshow.
To change the duration a clip is displayed, just move the mouse to the left, or right hand side of the clip until the cursor turns into a red bracket. Click and hold, then drag left or right to expand or contract the clip.
If you want to dissolve between the photos, go to the window menu, pull up the effects, go to video transitions, go to dissolves, and click and drag "cross dissolve" directly between the two clips you want to dissolve. You'll see a little box spanning between the two clips, at the top of the clip boxes. (this will make sense when you do it). If you want to move a clip without changing its duration, just grab in the middle of the clip and put it where you want it.
If you want the dissolve to be longer or shorter, just grab the edge of the dissolve box and move right or left, just like you did with the clip.
You will presumably want to have music playing during this slide show. Simply drag whatever music file you want to use into the same bin that you dragged the photos into. Then drag the music from the bin into audio 1 on the timeline. Moving/resizing the music is done the same way as moving/resizing the photos.
Remember to save often. Premiere has been known to crash from time to time
BTW if you have Premeire Pro 2, and you have a burner that the program recognizes (and no, it does not recognize even close to all of them) (yes, that's stupid), it will author the disc from within the program. Otherwise you will need to export the premiere file to an authoring program. More on that when you're ready for it.
Be sure to post back here if you need any more help - I think you can probably get this done by the 11th.