Claims
- 1-2. (canceled)
- 3. The method of claim 43 wherein each indicia-bearing face is perpendicular to another indicia-bearing face.
- 4. The method of claim 43 wherein the type of reading indicia is selected from the group consisting of: vowels, consonants, pictures, initial consonants, rimes, “magic” es, consonant combinations, vowel combinations, affixes, root words, nouns, noun endings, pronouns, verbs, verb endings, adjectives, adjective endings, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, and punctuation marks.
- 5. (canceled)
- 6. The method of claim 43 wherein the indicia-bearing faces are co-planar when the selected blocks are connected.
- 7. The method of claim 43 wherein the selected blocks are connected frictionally.
- 8. The method of claim 4 wherein the consonant combinations are selected from the group consisting of initial blends, final blends, consonant digraphs, and word endings.
- 9. The method of claim 4 wherein the vowel combinations are selected from the group consisting of vowel digraphs, diphthongs, and r-controlled vowels.
- 10. The method of claim 4 wherein the consonants are selected from the group consisting of the uppercase and lowercase consonants.
- 11. The method of claim 4 wherein the affixes are selected from the group consisting of prefixes and suffixes.
- 12. (canceled)
- 13. (canceled)
- 14. The method of claim 4 wherein the root words are selected from the group consisting of Greek roots, Latin roots, and English base words.
- 15. (canceled)
- 16. (canceled)
- 17 (canceled)
- 18 (canceled)
- 19. An apparatus for teaching and learning reading comprising:
(a) a plurality of blocks, each block having at least two faces, said at least two faces oriented perpendicularly to each other; (b) reading indicia on each of said at least two faces of each of said blocks; and (c) means for removably connecting blocks to each other.
- 20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein each of said blocks has a female end and a male end, and wherein said male end of one block can be frictionally engaged by said female end of another block, the female and male ends comprising the removably connecting means.
- 21. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein at least two faces on each of said blocks has a unique reading indicia.
- 22. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said reading indicia are selected from the indicia group consisting of the following members: a vowel, a consonant, a picture, an initial consonant, a rime, a “magic” e, a consonant combination, a vowel combination, an affix, a root word, a noun, a noun ending, a pronoun, a verb, a verb ending, an adjective, an adjective ending, an adverb, a preposition, a conjunction, an interjection, and a punctuation mark.
- 23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein each block has reading indicia selected from a single member of the indicia group of claim 22.
- 24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein said blocks are colored, each block of a single color, and wherein blocks having reading indicia of the same member of the indicia group are of like color.
- 25. The apparatus of claim 19 and a tray for holding one or more of said blocks, said tray having at least one channel sufficiently large to hold two or more blocks.
- 26. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of consonants, vowels, and pictures, and wherein there is at least one block including pictures of things commonly described by words beginning with a same consonant and at least one block including pictures of things commonly described by words beginning with a same vowel.
- 27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein:
the blocks bearing consonants are of a first color, each block bearing a selected consonant on four faces; the blocks bearing vowels are of a second color, each block bearing a selected vowel on four faces; the blocks bearing pictures commonly described by words beginning with a vowel of a fourth color similar in hue to said second color.
- 28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the blocks are of similar size.
- 29. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of consonants and rimes.
- 30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the blocks bearing consonants are of a first color and the blocks bearing rimes are of a second color.
- 31. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of prefixes, suffixes, and root words.
- 32. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein blocks bearing at least two prefix indicia are of a first color, the blocks bearing at least two suffix indicia are of a second color, and the blocks bearing at least two root word indicia are of a third color.
- 33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein said root word indicia are selected from the group consisting of Latin/Greek root word indicia and English root word indicia, and the blocks bearing at least two Latin/Greek root word indicia are of one hue of the third color and blocks bearing at least two English root word indicia are of a second hue of the third color.
- 34. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of consonants, vowels, and “magic” e's.
- 35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the blocks bearing consonants are a first color, the blocks bearing vowels are of a second color, and the blocks bearing “magic” e's are a third color.
- 36. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of consonants, vowels, “magic” e's, consonant combination, vowel combinations, and advanced rimes.
- 37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the blocks bearing consonants are a first color, the blocks bearing vowels are of a second color, the blocks bearing “magic” e's are a third color, the blocks bearing consonant combinations are a fourth color, the blocks bearing vowel combinations are a fifth color, and the blocks bearing advanced rimes are a sixth color.
- 38. The kit of claim 37, wherein
(a) the consonant-combination blocks include initial blend blocks, final blend blocks, word ending blocks, and consonant digraph blocks; and (b) the vowel-combination blocks include vowel digraphs, diphthongs, and r-controlled vowels.
- 39. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, and punctuation marks.
- 40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the group of said reading indicia further comprise noun endings, verb endings, and adjective endings.
- 41. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the blocks bearing at least two noun indicia are a first color, the blocks bearing at least two pronoun indicia are a second color related in hue to the first color, the blocks bearing at least two verb indicia are a third color, the blocks bearing at least two adjective indicia are a fourth color, the blocks bearing at least two adverb indicia are a fifth color, the blocks bearing at least two preposition indicia are a sixth color, the blocks bearing at least two interjection indicia are a seventh color, and the blocks bearing at least two punctuation indicia are an eighth color.
- 42. The apparatus of claim 41 further comprising blocks bearing at least two noun ending indicia of the first color, blocks bearing at least two verb ending indicia of the third color, and blocks bearing at least two adjective ending indicia of the fourth color.
- 43. A method of teaching and learning reading using a group of universally connectable blocks, wherein the group includes at least two blocks of different colors, wherein each of said blocks comprises at least three faces, all of said faces of each block bearing a type of reading indicia, the color and the type of reading indicia being the same on all of said faces of any one block, and wherein all blocks of the same color have the same type of reading indicia and each type of reading indicia has a unique color assigned thereto, the method comprising:
(a) selecting a first and a second block from said group of universally connectable blocks, said selecting based solely on the reading indicia or the color of the blocks; (b) selecting any indicium-bearing face of said first block and any indicium-bearing face of said second block; (c) connecting said first block and said second block so that the connected blocks are horizontally adjacent and the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; and (d) viewing the color or selected indicia of said connected blocks to determine whether said indicia appear together to form an intelligible reading unit.
- 44. The method of claim 43 further comprising rotating at least one of the first and second blocks to align any other indicium-bearing face of one of the two blocks with any indicium-bearing face of the other of said two blocks.
- 45. (canceled)
- 46. The method of claim 43 wherein each of said blocks has a female end and a male end, and wherein said male end of one block is connectable only to a female end of another block, such that said connecting step involves connecting either a male or female end of said first block with the female or male end, respectively, of said second block.
- 47. A method of teaching and learning reading using a group of universally connectable blocks, wherein the group includes at least two blocks bearing different reading indicia, wherein each of said blocks comprises at least three faces, all of said faces of each block bearing a type of reading indicia, the color and the type of reading indicia being the same on all of said faces of any one block, wherein all blocks of the same color have the same type of readings indicia and each type of reading indicia has a unique color assigned thereto, the method comprising:
(a) choosing an intelligible reading unit to be assembled from two or more of said group of universally connectable blocks; (b) selecting first and second blocks from said group of blocks, said selecting based solely on the reading indicia or the color of the blocks; (c) selecting an indicium-bearing face of said first block and an indicium-bearing face of said second block; (d) connecting said first selected block and said second selected block so that the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; (e) viewing said connected blocks to determine from said indicia or color of said connected blocks whether the chosen intelligible reading unit has been assembled on said selected indicia-bearing faces and if the chosen intelligible reading unit has been assembled, stopping the method; (f) if said connected blocks do not form the chosen intelligible reading unit, then
(1) disconnecting one or more of said blocks and rotating at least one of said disconnected blocks so that at least one of the three selected indicia-bearing faces is different from the previously selected faces and reconnecting said blocks so that the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; or (2) disconnecting one or more of said blocks and connecting said disconnected blocks in a different order so that the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; or (3) selecting at least one additional block from the group of universally connectable blocks and connecting said additional block to one or more of said previously connected blocks so that the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; or (4) repeating steps (b) through (e) with previously unselected first and second blocks; and (g) repeating step (f) until the chosen intelligible reading unit has been assembled on said selected indicia-bearing faces.
- 48. The method of claim 47 wherein said connected blocks are horizontally adjacent.
- 49. A method of teaching and learning reading using a group of universally connectable blocks and a primer having intelligible reading units composed of reading indicia, wherein the group includes at least two blocks of different colors, wherein each of said blocks comprises at least three faces, all of said faces bearing a type of reading indicia, the color and the type of reading indicia being the same on all of said faces of any one block, wherein all blocks of the same color have the same type of reading indicia and each type of reading indicia has a unique color assigned thereto and wherein at least one of the reading indicia in the primer is colored to correspond to the color of the blocks bearing the same type of reading indicia, the method comprising:
(a) reading the primer; (b) reading selected reading indicia in the primer; (c) locating blocks having the selected reading indicia; (d) reading an intelligible reading unit comprised of the selected reading indicia in the primer; (e) assembling the selected reading indicia to form the intelligible reading unit by:
(i) selecting a first and a second block from said group of universally connectable blocks having the identified reading indicia; (ii) connecting said first block and said second block so that the connected blocks are horizontally adjacent and the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; and (iii) viewing the color or selected indicia of said connected blocks to determine whether said indicia appear together to form the selected intelligible reading unit.
- 50. The method of claim 49 wherein the reading is aloud.
- 51. The method of claim 49 wherein the reading is silent.
- 52. The method of claim 49 wherein the selected intelligible reading unit is used to answer questions in the primer.
- 53. The method of claim 49 herein the selected intelligible reading unit is used to complete sentences in the primer.
- 54. The method of claim 49 wherein step (a) comprises reading a story.
- 55. A method of teaching and learning reading using a group of universally connectable blocks and a primer, wherein the group includes at least two blocks of different colors, wherein each of said blocks comprises at least three faces, all of said faces of each block bearing a type of reading indicia, the color and the type of reading indicia being the same on all of said faces of any one block, wherein all blocks of the same color have the same type of reading indicia and each type of reading indicia has a unique color assigned thereto, and wherein the primer has intelligible reading units comprised of reading indicia, and at least one of the reading indicia is colored to correspond to the color of the blocks bearing the same type of reading indicia, the method comprising:
(a) reading the primer; (b) reading selected reading indicia in the primer; (c) locating a group of blocks having the selected reading indicia; (d) reading an intelligible reading unit comprised of two or more of the selected reading indicia in the primer; (e) assembling the selected reading indicia to form the intelligible reading unit by:
(i) selecting first and second blocks from said group of blocks, said selecting based solely on the reading indicia of the blocks; (ii) selecting an indicium-bearing face of said first block and an indicium-bearing face of said second block; (iii) connecting said first selected block and said second selected block so that the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; (iv) viewing said connected blocks to determine from said indicia or color of said connected blocks whether the chosen intelligible reading unit has been assembled on said selected indicia-bearing faces and if the chosen intelligible reading unit has been assembled, stopping the method; (f) if said connected blocks do not form the chosen intelligible reading unit, then
(1) disconnecting one or more of said blocks and rotating at least one of said disconnected blocks so that at least one of the three selected indicia-bearing faces is different from the previously selected faces and reconnecting said blocks so that the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; or (2) disconnecting one or more of said blocks and connecting said disconnected blocks in a different order so that the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; or (3) selecting at least one additional block from the group of universally connectable blocks and connecting said additional block to one or more of said previously connected blocks so that the selected indicia-bearing faces of each block are visible from the same direction; or (4) repeating steps (b) through (e) with previously unselected first and second blocks; and (g) repeating step (f) until the chosen intelligible reading unit has been assembled on said selected indicia-bearing faces.
- 56. The method of claim 43 further comprising using a flipbook to teach and learn reading, the flipbook including instructions for (1) selecting blocks and (2) directing the connection of the selected blocks so that the blocks form an intelligible reading unit.
- 57. The method of claim 43 wherein the reading is aloud.
- 58. The method of claim 43 wherein the reading is silent.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/675,073, filed Sep. 28, 2003.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09675073 |
Sep 2000 |
US |
Child |
10724965 |
Dec 2003 |
US |