We are excited to introduce a whole new book series in Red Level 1 that enriches systematic and explicit phonics instruction—particularly in dual language classrooms. With 30 interactive books, the Super Sounds Book Series teaches the common sound for each alphabet letter along with a few of the common digraphs. In Spanish, we've even included an extra book that introduces the important skill of segmenting sílabas (syllables).

In order to read, children need to understand the alphabetic principle—the idea that written letters represent the sounds of spoken language. When children learn the relationships between sounds and letters, they have the keys to become proficient readers. Super Sounds books are carefully designed to make the relationship between sounds and letters easily understood.

We are thrilled to announce four brand new games to strengthen students' language skills. Take a look in the Language Skills series for these new titles:

1. Noun Nebula (Yellow Level): sort cards to learn that a noun is a person, place, thing, or animal.
2. Verb Village (Yellow Level): identify a verb as a word that shows action.
3. Prefix Presents (Blue Level): add a prefix to change the meaning of a word.
4. Suffix Search (Blue Level): identify which word with a suffix has the target meaning.

We are excited to announce a whole new book series in Level 1 that celebrates our Spanish-speaking students and families.  Presented in their native Spanish with a delightful English translation, the Traditional Spanish Songbooks series provides a wonderful opportunity to enrich students’ oral language.

Leveraging music and rhythm, the Traditional Spanish Songbooks are designed to develop our youngest students’ oral language. Our brains are wired to learn through music. The rhythm and rhyme in songs and nursery rhymes has a powerful effect on cognition—enabling children to develop fluent oral language and awareness of sounds long before they are able to read. By singing along, children enrich their vocabulary and create a foundation for future reading success.

We are excited to welcome Wheeler the Whale to our Mega Mouth 2 Decoder series in Level 2. The Mega Mouth Decoders teach English phonics, and Wheeler is our new character for the “wh” digraph. As always, we dug into the research to determine the best way to pronounce Wheeler’s phoneme.

While English speakers often pronounce “wh” the same as “w” (listen for your own pronunciation of which and witch), speech pathologists and reading specialists recommend associating the “wh” digraph with the /hw/ sound.

The /hw/ sound is unvoiced like /h/, but the lips are pursed to direct air forward in the shape of /w/.  You might have children explore their mouth position by pretending they are blowing out a candle. To emphasize the position of the mouth, have the children try to “blow out a candle” by making the /h/ sound or the /w/ sound alone. Neither sound is effective for directing air to the candle. Then have children combine the sounds to make /hw/.