August 2009 New Specialty Toys — Language

This album offers French songs for children ages 3 to 10. It may be used in classrooms and immersion programs. "A great way to introduce children to French, the songs on this CD are upbeat and easy to learn," Alain Le Lait, owner of Yadeeda.com, told TDmonthly. Launch date: July 23, 2003.

WhisperPhone® Reader’s Theater includes 10 scripts, 10 scene setters and 10 coordinating exercises written by literacy experts and teachers. The scripts feature two characters in a telephone conversation about “How Things Are Made.” Students practice reading with expression in pairs. Launch date: March 2009.

WhisperPhone Duet uses the power of auditory learning while also allowing students to learn together in pairs. Duet also can keep classrooms quieter. Duet is Title I and Reading First funds qualified, dishwasher safe and battery free. It received a 2009 Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Products award. Launch date: May 2009.

With this ready-to-use pocket chart, children are able to apply word-study skills to a shared reading text, engaging in shared reading with an instructional purpose. The activities target punctuation, letter combinations, letter patterns and word endings. It includes a pocket chart and 84 printed cards. Launch date: 2009.

Short and Long Vowel Pals are phonics flip-ups of rhyming words. They are designed to assist in learning the short and long vowel sounds and discriminating between them with visual reinforcement — consonants in black and vowels in red. Each set includes five Short and Long Vowel Pals and a Teacher's Guide. Launch date: 2008.

Teachers may usse this visual aid to help children learn and identify letter combinations that make the same sound. Sound Buddies can also be used to make word sorts and makes an excellent bulletin board display. Each set includes 25 Sound Buddies organized in groups of two, three and four by sound. A Teacher's Guide is included. Launch date: 2008.

Featuring authentic cultural styles, original compositions and fun sing-a-long songs, the album helps parents nurture cultural awareness in their children by exploring new rhythms and musical genres from around the world. The CD includes the Global Wonders Theme Song ("A Great Big World") featuring a catchy sing-along chorus with layers of instruments from eight different countries, including an Indian sitar, Australian didgeridoo, Japanese koto, a Ghana log drum and a Scottish bagpipe. In "Global Wonders Hello," children are introduced to words and phrases to say “Hello” in 10 different languages. Launch date: June 2009.