Method and apparatus for teaching and learning reading

Abstract

A method and apparatus for teaching and learning reading are disclosed. The apparatus is a group of universally connectable blocks and may include a primer having intelligible reading units composed of reading indicia. Each block has at least three faces, and each face of a given block the same reading indicia type. Each block has a color that corresponds to the reading indicia type. The primer's reading indicia are colored to correspond to the blocks bearing the same reading indicia type. The method comprises reading the primer, reading selected reading indicia in the primer, and locating blocks having the selected reading indicia. An intelligible reading unit comprised of the selected reading indicia in the primer is read and assembled from the blocks. Two blocks are selected, having the identified reading indicia, and connected. The color or selected indicia are viewed to determine whether the indicia form the selected intelligible reading unit.

1 . An apparatus for teaching and learning reading comprising: 
 (a) a plurality of removably connectable blocks, each block having at least two faces, said at least two faces oriented perpendicularly to each other; and    (b) reading indicia on each of said at least two faces of each of said blocks.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  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.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein at least two faces on each of said blocks has a unique reading indicia.  
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  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.  
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 4  wherein each block has reading indicia selected from a single member of the indicia group of  claim 4 .  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 5  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.  
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  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.  
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  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.  
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 8  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.    
   
   
       10 . The apparatus of  claim 9  wherein the blocks are of similar size.  
   
   
       11 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of consonants and rimes.  
   
   
       12 . The apparatus of  claim 11  wherein the blocks bearing consonants are of a first color and the blocks bearing rimes are of a second color.  
   
   
       13 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of prefixes, suffixes, and root words.  
   
   
       14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  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.  
   
   
       15 . The apparatus of  claim 14  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.  
   
   
       16 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of consonants, vowels, and “magic” e's.  
   
   
       17 . The apparatus of  claim 16  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.  
   
   
       18 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of consonants, vowels, “magic” e's, consonant combination, vowel combinations, and advanced rimes.  
   
   
       19 . The apparatus of  claim 18  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.  
   
   
       20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , 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.    
   
   
       21 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said reading indicia are selected from the group consisting of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, and punctuation marks.  
   
   
       22 . The apparatus of  claim 21  wherein the group of said reading indicia further comprise noun endings, verb endings, and adjective endings.  
   
   
       23 . The apparatus of  claim 21  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.  
   
   
       24 . The apparatus of  claim 23  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.  
   
   
       25 . A group of universally connectable blocks for teaching and learning reading, 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 of the faces 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 is assigned a unique color.  
   
   
       26 . A group of universally connectable blocks for teaching and learning reading, 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 of the faces 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 is assigned a unique color, wherein reading is taught and learned using a 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.