WO1999009537A2 - Method and apparatus for teaching rapid decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for teaching rapid and accurate decoding and encoding words. In decoding, the invention discloses the concept of sound units (16) and their use to accurately decode words. In encoding, the invention discloses a combination of wheels (18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 or 36, 38, 40, 44, 48) with indicia imprinited thereon, that can be manipulated to form words. The wheels may also include mathematical indicia for forming math problems.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TEACHING RAPID

DECODING (READING) AND ENCODING (SPELLING)

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cross-Reference to Related Patent Application

This application is a continuation in part of U S provisional patent application No 60/055.803 filed August 15. 1997, which is incorporated herein b reference as through recited in full Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a method using Sound Units (blendable letter sounds) and a combination of wheels to teach children or adults to quickly learn to read (decode) and w rite (encode) m English The same wheels can also be used to help children master basic math skills and other important abilities Brief Description of the Prior Art

To leaπi to read, children have to be able to do both decoding (reading) and encoding (writing) In decoding, children have to understand what each combination of letters in a word represents so as to understand what that word is In encoding, children have to be able to use the same combination of letters to formulate words so as to communicate their meaning to others

There are problems in both encoding and decoding in the current methods used to teach readmg In decoding, after children have learned letter sounds in English, they have to use their learned letter sounds to decode words In teaching children to use letter sounds to decode words, one critical problem remains unresolved, resultmg in over 30%of children having difficulty in learning to read That is how to help every child learn to blend letter sounds together efficientlv and accurately without causing such a high percentage of children experiencing learning difficulties

The disclosed sy stem overcomes the problems with the prior art approaches First, a basic distinction between blendable and unblendable letter sounds is not made among teachers and professιonals~a key step in deciding the failure and success of virtually every child in their efforts to leaπi to read Children are just given the ambiguous instruction to blend all letter sounds together in order to decode a word rather than being taught which letter sounds are blendable and hich ones are not Without this knowledge, children are left by themselves to figure that out Those who can go on learning to read with great success, those who cannot get stuck at the mercy rely ine on sight words to survive Second, it is extremely inefficient to decode words by "say ing the sound for each spelling", especially when it comes to multi-syllable words It simply overwhelms children's short-term memory by saying the sound of each spelling

Third, a weakness in "saying the sound for each spelling" in order to decode a word is that it does not sound like a word when trying to say each sound That is why so many teachers complain that even though their children have learned phonics they still cannot read words

In encoding, a major difficulty for beginning learners, especially very young children, is the limited development of their motor skills in handling pens, pencils or even keyboards Thus, they are deprived of many opportunities and experiences in manipulating letters to explore the vast and complex structures of the language Without such opportunities and experiences, the time they need to understand and master the stαicture and formation of words is greatly extended

Solving these two problems—blending letter sounds together effectiveh and efficiently to decode words and giving children the ability to easily and efficienth encode words— ill have a tremendous impact on their abilities to learn to read

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed s stem teaches the use of sound units which have successfully solved the most difficult part of reading — the blending of letter sounds in decoding words Further, the s stem teaches the use of a combination of wheels to help children encode ords easily and efficiently before their motor skills catch up The same combination of wheels can also be used to teach basic math skills including adding, deducting, multipl ing, and subdividing

The use of sound units to decode words comprises three ma) or steps Children are taught how to distinguish between blendable and unblendable letter sounds

are then taught how to blend the blendable letter sounds into sound units Finally children are taught how to add beginning and ending consonants to sound units to decode or encode w ords

The word heels disclosed herein provide a physical means for children to create words Each Word wheel has three to five wheels with letters on each wheel A child can create thousands of single sy liable and multi -syllable words by simply turning each wheel

The math w heels disclosed herein provide a physical means for children to solve basic math problems Each Math wheel has three wheels with numbers on each one A child can solve each problem b\ turning the wheels The sorting wheels disclosed herein provide a phy sical means for children to sort and categorize shapes, letters, numbers, animals, plants people, and many other things into different groups according to their internal and external features and characteristics BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The advantage of the instant disclosure will become more apparent when read with the specification and the drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 illustrates the controlling role of vowels in words;

FIGURE 2 illustrates the critical role the consonant in front of the vowel plays in words;

FIGURE 3 illustrates the relationship between the vowel in a single syllable word and its preceding consonant;

FIGURE 4 illustrates how sound units and individual letter sounds make up multisyllable words:

FIGURE 5 is a sample of how to process vowels and their preceding consonants into sound units:

FIGURE 6 is a top view of a flat, three tier wheel for creating word wheels, math wheels, and sorting wheels:

FIGURE 7 is a top view of a flat, four tier wheel that can be used to create word, math, and sorting wheels;

FIGURE 8 is a top view of a flat, five-tier wheel that can be used to create word, math and sorting wheels:

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of a 3-D. smooth surfaced, circular three part wheel that can be used to create word, math, and sorting wheels;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of a 3-D, smooth surfaced, circular four part wheel for creating word. math, and sorting wheels;

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of a 3-D. smooth surfaced, circular five-part wheel:

FIGURE 12 is a perspective view of an additional embodiment of the 3-D circular three-part wheel having multiple flat sides;

FIGURE 13 illustrates the three columns of letters on a simplified three-wheel word wheel for the five short vowels;

FIGURE 14 illustrates the letter placement on a standard three-wheel word wheel for the five short vowels:

FIGURE 15 illustrates four columns of letters for a four-part word wheel for the five short vowels;

FIGURE 16 illustrates four columns of letters for a four-part word wheel for the five long vowels; FIGURE 17 illustrates four columns of letters for a four-part ord wheel for the eight regular vowels.

FIGURE 18 illustrates five columns of letters for a five-part word wheel for the five short vowels,

FIGURE 19 illustrates five columns of letters for a five-part word wheel for the five long vowels.

FIGURE 20 illustrates three columns of numbers on a three-part math wheel for multiplication.

FIGURE 21 illustrates a sample of three columns of cubes for use on a three part- sorting wheel.

FIGURE 22 is front view of an electronic word maker.

FIGURE 23 is a perspective view of a 3-D five part wheel to be placed on a table.

FIGURE 24 is a perspective view of a 3-D five part wheel for placement in front of a classroom.

FIGURE 25 is an exploded view of a 3-D three part wheel

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

There disclosed sy stem has been divided into five parts to simplify explanation and to coordinate w ith the actual teaching style Part I is how to teach the 44 letter sounds and is necessary as an integral part of the invention to complete the whole process of teaching accurate and effective decoding and encoding abilities to children Part II gives the detailed description on how the discovery of sound units makes decoding eas\ and effective by solving the difficulty in blending individual letter sounds in order to decode a word Part III describes how to use a combination of wheels to give children the pow er to easiK and efficiently encode hundreds and thousands of words by simply turning a few wheels Part IV describes how to use a combination of wheels to give children an easy and fun way to solve basic math problems Part V describes how to use a combination of wheels to train children the abilities in sorting and categorizing things according to their internal and external features

PART I - LETTER SOUNDS

The traditional way of teaching letter sounds is to teach them in the order of the alphabet a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. 1. j. k. 1. m. n. o. p, q. r. s. t, u. v. w. x. \ . z That is ven inefficient because these 26 letter sounds and the 26 phonograms that represent these 26 letter sounds do not give a child necessary tools to quickly become an independent decoder and speller After learning these 26 letter sounds, there are still too many unknown variables in their efforts to decode and encode words In general, in English there are around 44 sounds and over 70 ways to represent these

44 sounds In the disclosed system these 44 letter sounds are divided into consonant letter sounds and vowel letter sounds The term consonant letter sounds and vowel letter sounds are used to differentiate between the sound the letter and the correct pronunciation of the letter withm a word This is also enables the system to easily include double consonants providing a single sound, such as "sh" The disclosed system has selected 26 consonant letter sounds and letter-sound symbols as the first group of letter sounds and letter sound symbols to teach They are b, c, d, f, g. h, j. 1. m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z, ch, sh, tr, dr, th or th Children can use these 26 consonant letter sounds directly to decode and encode words

Out of these 26 consonant letter sounds and letter-sound symbols. 20 of them are single-letter letter sounds b. c. d. f. g. h. j, 1. m. n, p, q, r, s. t. v. w. x. y . z The other 6 consonant letter sounds and letter-sound symbols are formed w ith tw o letters ch. sh. tr. dr. th(ank). and th(e) Among these 6 double-letter consonant letter sounds and sy mbols. "ch" and "sh" cannot be separated Even though "tr" and "dr" can be separated, since they are used together to make one sound, they are taught as one sound "Th" is one form with two different pronunciations, and is therefore counted as 2 sounds

Out of these 26 consonant letter sounds, there are nine (9) sounds that have more than one symbol to represent their sounds They are c. f, g, j. n. r. s. w. sh "C" can also be written as k (key), ck (sick), and ch (Christmas) "F" can also be written as ph (phone) "G" can be written as gu (guest, guess), as gh (ghost) "J" can be written as dge (badge), and as g if g happens to be in front of e. I and y (gender, giant, gypsy) "N" can be written as kn (knee), as gn (gnaw ) "R" can be written as wr (write) "S" can be written as ps (psycholog ). as c if c happens to be followed by e. 1. \ (cell. city , cycle) "W" can be written as wh (when) "Sh" can be written as ti. si ci (tion. sion. cian)

The disclosed sy stem has also selected 18 vowel letter sounds and letter-sound relationships as the second group of letter sounds and letter-sound symbols to teach The are 5 short vowels a (at), e (egg), I (itch), o (octopus), u (usher). 5 long vowels a (aid), e (eat), I (idle), o (old), u (use), and 8 low frequency vowels ar (arch), or (order), ur (urge), ow ( ow 1). oo (oose). air (air), ear (ear), oi (oil)

Out of these 18 letter sounds and letter-sound relationships, all of them have more than one way to represent their letter sounds except short vowel "a" For the 4 short vowels, "e" can also be written as "ai" (said), and as ea (bread), "I" can be written as y (city), "o" can be written as a (what. want), "u" can be written as o (love), as ou (tough), and as oo (blood, flood) For the 5 long vowels, "a" can be written as ai (aide), as ay (da ), as ey (they), as ea

(great, break), as eigh (eight), "e" can be written as ea (eat), as ee (eel), as ey (key), as ei

(deceit), as le (field), "I" can be written as y (sky, why), as lgh (light, high), as le (die, he), as eigh (height), "o" can be written as o (no, go, so), as oa (oat), as oe (toe), as ow (flow, tow), as ough (dough), "u" can be written as ue (due), as ew (few)

For the rest of the low frequency vowels, ar can be written as a (bath. path, past) "or" can be written as a (ball, tall), as aw (law), as au (Paul), as our (four), as augh (taught), as ough (thought, ought), "ur" can be written as ur (bird), as er (her), as ear (earth), as or (word, work), "ow" can be written as ou (out, our), "oo" can be written as ui (fruit), as u (put), as ew (flew), and as ue (clue), "air" can be written as ear (bear), as are (bare. care), "ear" can be written as eer ( deer), "oi" can be written as oy (boy. toy)

The first group of sounds taught are the 26 consonant letter sounds The traditional

of sa ing these letter sounds is hard for children to learn because there is not a clear auditon pattern among these letter sounds To solve this problem, the disclosed invention teaches children these 26 consonant letter sounds b\ attaching a schwa sound to each making pronunciation easier (e g "buh. cuh. duh. fuh. guh")

The success of this method was verified in tests involving volunteering parents and their children to test if children really find it easier to say these consonant letter sounds w ith a schwa sound attached In these tests, all children were around 5 and 6 \ ears old These children could all sa letter names but not letter sounds When they were presented 26 pictures representing these 26 consonant letter sounds, and were challenged to tell the first letter sounds that the\ hear in these ords children all naturally added a schwa sound to the 26 consonant letter sounds in English (e g "buh, cuh. duh. fuh. guh. huh. juh etc)

More than 48 first graders, near the end of the school term were asked to sa\ the 26 consonant letter sounds, none of them added the schwa sound All of the children struggled to pronounce these letter sounds in the way that they were taught However, when these same students were taught to say the 26 consonant letter sounds with the schwa sound attached. the\ all learned t them w ithout any difficulty m two 15 mmute sessions in two days

The

e illustrates that using this invention in conjunction w ith a child's innate language abιht\ most children can leam to read English with great confidence and efficiencx The disclosed

ention dramatically reduces two of the most difficult obstacles that pre\ ent 30% to 40% of English speaking children to learn to read ~ saung letter sounds and sounding words out Every child who does not have speech problems already knows how to say all the letter sounds. The oral vocabulary children use when they go to school is between 4000 and 24000.

They do not need to be taught to say these sounds, only to be challenged to say these sounds to increase their awareness to use them consciously in decoding.

To teach children letter sounds with the schwa sound added, the disclosed system generally classifies children into two groups. One being preschool children who have not been taught to say letter sounds in the traditional manner. The children who have been in school and have already been taught to say the letter sounds in the traditional manner.

To teach preschoolers, the disclosed system selected 26 pictures that would be familiar to preschoolers. These pictures, representing the 26 beginning consonant sounds, were organized them into 5 groups: (1) balloon, cat, dog, fan, girl; (2) hammer, jet. lion, money, nurse: (3) pencil, queen, rose. saw. turtle: (4) van. wall, fox(x). yo-yo. zigzag: (5) church, ship, tree, dragon, thermometer These pictures can also be substituted by other age appropriate pictures representative of the 26 sounds. The children are asked to say the name of the first picture, i.e. balloon. After the children say the word, they are asked to say the first letter sound that they hear in the word "balloon". This approach is then repeated with the other four letter sounds in the same group. The children are then asked to say the 5 consonant letter sounds within this group without saying the names of these pictures. Once they can say the five consonant letter sounds they are asked to repeat these sounds a little faster and faster. Once one group is successfully learned, the method is repeated using the subsequent groups. This procedures is repeated until all 26 letter sounds are learned.

To teach school children who have already been taught letter sounds, the child is told that they can add a schwa sound to each of the 26 consonant letter sounds to make the letter easier to say For most children, there is no need to use pictures with the key being to make sure that every child adds the schwa sound. When every child can say the above letter sounds in a very relaxed mode, and recognize the 26 letters or letter combinations that match each sound (phonograms), they can be taught to pay special attention to the 9 phonograms. These phonograms (c. f. g, j. n. r. s. w. and sh) have more than one way to represent that sound. Out of the 17 extra ways to represent these 9 sounds, only 12 of them are necessary for beginner readers. They are k (key), ck (pick), ph (phone), gu (guess), gh (ghost), g (e. i. y) (gender, giant, gypsy), dge (pledge), kn (knee), gn (gnaw), wr (write), c (e, i, y) (cell. city, cycle), wh (what).

Once children have learned all the necessary consonant phonograms, they are ready to learn the vowel sounds and their phonograms. Children can be taught to be familiar with the 18 vowel sounds first through little rhymes. Then they can be taught to learn the 18 vowel letter sounds and their phonogiams using pictures just like they learned the 26 consonant letter sounds and their phonograms Again, to teach children the 18 vowel letter sounds and their matching phonograms, the disclosed system selected 18 pictures representing the 18 vowel letter sounds and their phonograms apple, elephant, igloo, operator, umbrella, ace, eagle, island, open, unicorn, arch, orbit, earth, ouch, moose, airplane, ear. and oil Again, other age appropriate pictures can be substituted The vowel sounds are taught using the same approach as set forth above

It is not necessary for children to learn all the 18 vowels pπor to decoding words using the disclosed s\ stem Children can begin to decode and read words as soon as they learn even lust one vowel letter sound and recognize the phonogram that represents that sound The disclosed s\ stem organizes more than 1800 words according to the order of the 18 vowels The first 10 vowels are organized according to their position in the alphabet Thus for every vowel the\ learn, short vow el or long vowel, they are guaranteed to be able to read all the single s\ liable words with that vowel letter sound and all the syllables in the great ma)oπt\ of multi- Sλ liable w ords w ith that \ ow el letter sound

PART II - SOUND UNITS AND DECODING

A weakness of the traditional way of teaching phonics is to ask children to sound words out Sounding w ords out has problems that contribute directly to

children's reading difficulties

The biggest problem of the blending (sounding out) approach is its failure in discriminating betw een blendable and unblendable letter sounds There is a great distance between repeating each single letter sound and saying a word as it should be Unless children can figure out how to blend the blendable letter sounds into uninterrupted sounds sa\mg the sound of each spelling will not be much of a help in their efforts in decoding words

It is also extremely inefficient and troublesome for a child to repeat the letter sound of every letter se\ eral times in order to decode a word Young children do not have a long attention span that by the time they come to the letter sound of the last letter in a ord. the\ ma\ have alread\ forgotten how they pronounced the first one Manx children feel discouraged or simply give up when they do not see immediate success in order to continue w ith reading lessons

Further if that word is not in the child's oral vocabulaπ . the child is never sure whether the word has been decoded correctly And finally, the sounding out approach quickly collapses when it comes to more complicated multi-syllable words For many children their short-term memory simply cannot sustain that many separated, single letter sounds, long enough in order to process them to get to the correct pronunciation of a word

To solve these problems, the disclosed system teaches children that not all letter sounds in a word are equally important In the disclosed embodiment, a crown 12 is used to identify the vowels in a word, such as Dad in Figure 1 The crown is used to tie the vowel to being the king because they dictate the sound a word or syllable takes Other relationships can also be used to emphasize the sound dominance of the vowel Further, not all consonants in a word are equally important The consonant that goes right before the vowel is the highest ranking consonant among all the consonants in a single syllable word These consonants can be described as a vow el's right-hand man 14 of Figure 2 Children are also taught that not all letter sounds are blendable Only a vowel 12 and the consonant 14 that goes right before it can be blended into a uninterrupted new sound, as shown in Figure 3 The combination of the vowel 12 and preceding consonant letter sound 14 is called a sound unit 16 and is taught as the "brain" of a single sy llable word The child is also taught that if the sound unit 16 in a word is pronounced correcth he/she w ill pronounce the word correctly

In the disclosed sy stem, children do not address reading words until they have learned how to put sound units 16 together Once they have learned how to say sound units 16 as easily as they can say each individual letter sound, they can add whatever necessan ending and beginning letter sounds to those sound units to decode or encode virtually am word they like

Once the child is comfortable with reading single s llable words, such as illustrated in Figures 1 - 3. multi-sy llable words are addressed Children are taught that it is the same sound units 16 that the\ use in decoding single syllable words form

liable words (See Figure 4)

Except for the below exception, when identifying and teaching sound units a ke\ rule is not to attach am consonants to the end of a sound unit It is of absolute importance to keep a sound unit clean The exception is the 5 short vowels and the consonant letter "n" and "ng" Physically . "n" and "ng' can be attached to any of the 5 short vowels to form an. en. in. on. un. and ang. ing. ong ung. and still be combined with any of the 26 consonant letter sounds to form an uninterrupted sound

Several factors make sound units unique First, they are limited in numbers For example, with the short vowel letter sound "a", there are only 24 consonant and vowel combinations which can be classified as sound units (Figure 5) Second, they are constant in nature It does not matter how many thousands of words can be made by the short vowel letter sound "a", these 24 sound units will always remain the same like "ba" in bad. back, batter, battle, batch, etc.

Third, they provide children with a necessary transition from being able to say each individual letter sound to actually decoding words From being able to say each letter sound to being able to use these letter sounds to decode words can prove to be insurmountable to many children Yet from being able to say each letter sound to being able to blend a vowel and its preceding consonant together to create a sound unit, is a easy and logical step that every child can take

Fourth, w hen blendable letter sounds are processed into ready -to-use sound units, beginning and ending consonant letter sounds can simply be added to these sound units to decode and encode all kinds of words Automacitv in decoding with such an approach becomes a reachable reality for every child

Finally . the disclosed process does not require children to learn over 100 blends in order to learn to i cad due to the use of sound units The 9 consonant letter sounds (b. c. f. g. p. s. t. sh. th) that are used as very beginning consonant letter sounds and form blends with other consonant letter sounds are simply added to sound units with their ending consonant letter sounds For example, in the word "splash", "s" and "p" are added to the sound unit "la" just like the ending consonant "sh"

T o things can be done to further facilitate the disclosed reading method In terms of organization, first, words in each unit should be organized around no more than one vo el letter sound, be it short vowel or long vowel Second, words in each lesson should be organized around no more than a few word families (e g "-ag, -ap. ad") Third, each unit should begin with a sound unit page where a child can process individual letter sounds into ready-to-use sound units Fourth, in the first part of each lesson, all words should be separated on purpose in the sequence of (a) very beginning consonants if a word has one. (b) sound units, (c) ending consonants These three parts are separated by the sign "+" (e g "g + la + d") In the second part of each lesson, w ords should be written as they are (e g "glad")

In terms of instruction, when starting a new unit, a child should first work on the sound unit page where individual letter sounds are processed into sound units Second, when starting a lesson, a child should do the first part of each lesson where words are separated according to the sequence of (a) beginning consonants, (b) sound units, and (c) ending consonants In this part of the lesson a child should simply say each beginning consonant letter sound, sound unit, and ending consonant letters sound to decode the words rather than elaborate on each individual sound. Third, only when a child can decode the separated words comfortably, should they proceed to the second part of the lesson. If a child still struggles with the words, the sound unit page should be reviewed until the child is totally automatic with the pronunciation.

Thus, each step is built on a prior accomplishment, making the progress appear incremental while achieving rapid advancement in reading ability. Once children have completed working with 18 vowel letter sounds and their corresponding single syllable words they have already laid a solid foundation for decoding multiple syllable words. The procedures disclosed above is repeated, on a more rapid basis, for the multi-syllable words to build the child's confidence in tackling the larger words.

PART III - WORD WHEELS AND ENCODING

In teaching children to learn to read, one difficulty has been in providing young children with simple, efficient, and frequent experiences and practices in manipulation of letters to form words. A child is much more likely to practice putting letters together to make words with easy to use tools. However, due to children's limited development of fine motor skills in handling pens, pencils or even keyboards, this other solutions were required to solve the problem. To help children have the experience of manipulating letters and words, there are many letter cards and word cards in the market. Yet such approach is messy, inefficient, and very disorienting to many children. In the Wilson Reading Program, for example, to learn to decode multi-syllable words, children not only have to deal with hundreds of word cards, they also have to cut those word cards into more cards according to their syllables. To solve such problem, the disclosed system created the word wheels.

In terms of the combination of wheels, in general, there are three, four and five wheel word wheels. A flat, three tier word wheel 18 is illustrated in Figure 6 that incorporates a blendable consonant base wheel 20. a middle vowel wheel 22 and an ending consonant inner wheel 24.

The placement of the letters for the three-wheel word wheel is illustrated in Figure 13 and 14. Figure 13 is a simplified version of letters on a three-wheel word wheel for the five short vowels. The first column 58 contains letters to be placed on the blendable consonant letter sound wheel. The second column 60 contains letters to be placed on the vowel wheel. The third column 62 contains letters to be placed on the ending consonant letter sound wheel. Figure 13 is a simplified version, with the vowel wheel containing only five short vowels without letter "n" controlled shortcuts like "an", "en", "in", "on" or "un". The letters on the ending consonant letter sound wheel are also fewer than the ones shown in Figure 14. It is intended for very young children who are just beginning to leaπi to read. Figure 14 contains the letters for a regular three-wheel word wheel for the five short vowels The second column 64 contains not only the five short vowels but also the letter "n" controlled shortcuts like "an", "en", "in", "on" or "un" The third column 66 contains letters to be placed on the ending consonant letter sound wheel This wheel can be used for children in preschool or kindergartens

A flat, four tier word wheel 26 is illustrated in Figure 7 incorporating a beginning consonant base wheel 28, a blendable consonant wheel 20, a vowel wheel 22 and an ending consonant inner w heel 24

The placement of the letters for the four-wheel word wheel is illustrated m Figure 15, 16. and 17 In Figures 15 and 16. the second half of the two ending consonant columns contain some consonant blends (e g sk. st. Id. etc) Figure 15 contains four columns of letters for a full scale four wheel word wheel for the five short vowels The first column 68 contains letters to be placed on the beginning consonants wheel The second column 70 contains letters to be placed on the blendable consonants wheel The third column 72 contains letters to be placed on the vo el wheel The fourth column 74 contains letters to be placed on the ending consonant wheel

Figure 16 contains four columns of letters for a full scale four part word wheel for the five long vowels The first column 68 contains letters to be placed on the beginning consonants part of the wheel The second column 76 contains letters to be placed on the blendable consonants part of the wheel The third column 78 contains letters to be placed on the vowel portion of the wheel The fourth column 80 contains letters to be placed on the ending consonant section of the wheel

Figure 17 contains four columns of letters for a full scale four part word w heel for 8 regular vowels The first column 68 contains letters to be placed on the beginning consonant wheel The second column 82 contains letters to be placed on the blendable consonant wheel The third column 84 contains letters to be placed on the vowel wheel The fourth column 86 contains letters to be placed on the ending consonant wheel

A flat

e tier ord wheel 30 is illustrated in Figure 8 that incorporates a beginning consonant base wheel 28. a blendable consonant wheel 20, a vowel wheel 22. an ending consonant wheel 24 and a second inner ending consonant wheel 32

The placement of the letters for the five part word wheels is illustrated in Figures 18 and 19 Letters that make up words containing the five short vowels or the five long vowels also can be laid out on the five part wheels, in which case, there will be no consonant blends on either of the two ending consonant wheels (e g sk, st. Id, etc) Figure 18 contains five columns of letters for a full scale five part word wheel for the five short vowels. The letters in the first three columns 68, 88, and 90 are no different from the first three columns in regular four part word wheels for the five short vowels. The fourth column 92 contains letters to be placed on the first ending consonant wheel, except that there are no consonant blends. The last column 94 contains letters to be placed on the second ending consonant wheel.

Figure 19 contains five columns of letters for a full scale five part word wheel for the five long vowels. The letters in the first three columns 68, 96, and 98 are no different from the first three columns in regular four part word wheels for the five long vowels. The fourth column 100 contains letters to be placed on the first ending consonants wheel, except that there are no consonant blends. The last column 102 contains letters to be placed on the second ending consonant wheel.

All the flat word wheels 18. 26, 30 can be manufactured from a heavy-duty paper, coated paper or plastic. In alternate embodiments, the wheels can be 3-D wheels with smooth surfaces that can be made with wood, plastic or other applicable materials.

Figure 9 is the drawing of a 3-D circular three wheel word wheel 34. The first wheel 36 contains the blendable consonants 36, the middle is the vowel wheel 38 and the consonant wheel 40 has the ending consonants.

A more advanced version of the word wheel is illustrated in Figure 10 wherein the device uses four wheels 42. The first wheel is the beginning consonants wheel 44. The second is the blendable consonants wheel 36. The third wheel is the vowel wheel 38 and the last wheel contains the ending consonants 40. The letter placement for a regular five short vowel word wheel, is illustrated in Figure 19 and a regular five long vowel four wheel word wheel, in Figure 20. The remaining eight vowels and accompanying consonants can be put on four wheels, as illustrated in Figure 21.

A five wheel word wheel is illustrated in Figure 11 wherein the first wheel is the beginning consonants wheel 44, the second the blendable consonants wheel 36. and the third wheel the vowels wheel 38. The fourth wheel is the first ending consonants wheel 40. and the fifth the second ending consonants wheel 48.

Although the Figures illustrate smooth round surfaces forming a cylindrical wheel, the flat, multi-sided wheels can be easier for younger children to handle, depending upon age and dexterity. Figure 12 is the drawing of a flat, multi-sided three wheel word wheel 50 The wheel will produce the same results no matter what the configuration and therefore the designs are a matter of manufacture and/or end user preference An exploded view of a word w heel is illustrated in Figure 25

PART IV - MATH WHEELS AND SORTING WHEELS

The same concepts that govern the word wheels also work λvith math wheels and sorting wheels For young children, to be able to do simple adding, subtracting, multiplication, and division quickly and automatically will lay the foundation for their later success with math A current problem for teaching math to young children is how to keep a balance between giving them enough practice and while not requiring them to do so many drills Math wheels can help achieve such a goal A typical math wheel is not only easy and fun to play with, it also gives a child eas\ way to do the basic adding, subtracting, multiplication, and division problems over and ox er again For example, a simple 18 number adding math wheel w ill give a child over 300 different ways to arrive at 36 answers

Figure 20 is an example of numbers that can be placed on a three wheel math wheel The first column 104 lists numbers and the math symbol to be used In this case the numbers are to be multiplied The second column 106 lists the numbers to be multiplied, and for claπn purposes includes the equal symbol The third column 108 lists answ ers of each multiplication

Just like the word wheels, the math wheels also use a combination of three to five wheels to teach math skills They can be the flat, wheels or the 3-D wheels as disclosed heretofore

Using the same concept as word and math wheels, any category of sorting w heel can be created These wheels can be used to train children's abilities to sort and categorize all kinds of ob]ects and concepts to form any complete conceptional unit A complete conceptional unit can be based on the external features of things like cubes and shapes, such as illustrated in Figure 21. or ideas, such as a family unit In this case, they are cubes Column one 110. two 112 three 114 contain the same number and the same shape of cubes A child has to obser e each of them carefully in order to be able to line them up correctly The sorting can also be based on knowledge, analy sis. and critical thinking abilities The wheels can also be provided w ith electronics that, when a correct unit is formed, flash, ring or otherwise form some indication of the correct answ er In this way . when a child is completing a math problem, matching the wheels correctly there is no guessing as to whether or not the answer is correct Voice modes can be added to either repeat the word or the math problem

The w ord w heels can easily be enlarged to be a teaching tool for groups as illustrated in Figures 23 - and 24 Figure 23 is an example of a wheel for tutoring purposes It can be placed on a table in front of a child and tutor or teacher Figure 24 is an example of a wheel that can be placed in front of a classroom where a teacher can use the wheel to demonstrate how words are made or basic math problems are solved

The disclosed sy stem can also be used in the multimedia arena, through on-line computer services. CD Roms, handheld electronic games, etc Multimedia provides the advantages of visual and sound to simultaneously reinforce both the appearance and sound of a word

An example of a handheld electronic game for preschool children is disclosed in Figure 22 Although the game of Figure 22 is illustrated for reading, the letters can easily be replaced w ith numbers shapes, etc The electronic game illustrated consists of the control panel 1 16. the consonants panel 1 18. the letters changing panel 120. the screen 122. and the vowels panel, plus the handle 126 In comparison with similar products in the market, this electronic word maker turns the w ord decoding and encoding into a totally dy naniic process Instead of teaching just the alphabet, children will learn the 26 consonant letter sounds 1 18 and five short vowel letter sounds 124 directly In the middle, it is an invisible w heel w here. b\ clicking on each arrow, a child can change any of the letters to create new words

The present invention discloses a method and tools for teaching rapid and accurate decoding and encoding words In decoding (reading), the invention delineates the concept of sound units (a combination of blendable letter sounds) and their use to accurately decode words systematically and efficiently In encoding (writing or making words), the invention utilize a combination of wheels to help children with limited motor skills to easily and accurately encode thousands of words and word like combinations so as to learn and familiarize themselves w ith w ords and their structures The same wheels cal also be used to create math wheels and sorting wheels that can train children's early math skills in adding, deducting multiplication, subdπ lsion. and other important abilities

Claims

What is claimed is

1 A method of instructing a child to encode and decode words comprising the steps of a providing a first group of pictures, and a second group of pictures, each picture of said first group of pictures and said second group of pictures representing a word whose first sound is a consonant letter sound, and each picture of said second group of pictures of pictures representing a w ord w hose first or second sound is a vowel letter sound, b sho ing a first picture from said first group of pictures, to a child, wherein said first picture represents a word whose first sound is a consonant, c instructing said child to pronounce the beginning consonant sound of said first picture of said first group of pictures, adding a schwa sound to said beginning sound d repeating steps b - d for each consonant letters. e show ing a first picture from said second group of pictures, to said child, w herein said first picture represents a word whose first sound or second sound is a vowel. f instructing said child to pronounce the first vowel sound of said first picture of said second group of pictures. g repeating steps b - d for each vowel letter. h selecting a word. l instructing said child to blend the sound of each vowel in said w ord w ith the sound of the consonant which precedes each vowel to create sound units. whereby combining said vowel sound with said preceding consonant sound to form said sound units creates a pronounceable, blended sound w ithin the word, thereby making w ords easier to decode

2 The method of claim 1 wherein an ending consonant is added to a first said sound unit of a word

3 The method of claim 1 wherein a beginning consonant is added to a first sound unit of a word

4 The method of claim 2 wherein a beginning consonant is added to said first sound unit of a word, to form a complete word

5 The method claim 1 wherein multiple sound units ithin a word create multiple syllable words

6 The method of claim 1 wherein said second group of pictures, are grouped in multiple sub-groups, a first sub-group of said multiple subgroups, having 5 short vow els. a second subgroup containing 5 long vowels, and a third sub-group containing low frequency vowels

7 A device for teaching a child to combine indicia to produce a complete conceptional unit . said device having multiple wheels adjacent one another, each of said multiple wheels being divided into sections, each of said sections having a indicia that, when combined with the indicia of said adjacent wheels, forms a complete conceptional unit

8 The device of claim 7. wherein said device has three wheels, the indicia of each of said wheels being numbers, a first and a second of said wheels forming a math problem and a third of said wheels being a solution, whereby turning said first wheel and said second wheel creates a math problem and turning said third wheel to align a correct solution with said problem forms a complete conceptional unit

9 The device of claim 7. wherein said device has three wheels, the indicia of each of said wheels being letters, a first of said wheel containing beginning consonants letter sounds, a second of said w heels containing vowel sounds and a third of said w heel containing ending consonant letter sounds

10 The device of claim 7 having four wheels, the indicia of each of said w heels being letters, a first of said w heel containing beginning consonant letter sounds, a second of said wheels containing secondary consonant letter sounds, a third of said wheel containing vowel sounds and a fourth wheel containing ending consonant letter sounds

11 The device of claim 7 having five wheels, the indicia of each of said wheels being letters, a first of said w heel containing beginning consonant letter sounds, a second of said wheels containing secondary consonant letter sounds, a third of said wheel containing vowel sounds, a fourth wheel containing ending consonant letter sounds and a fifth wheel containing secondary ending consonant letter sounds

12 The device of claim 7 wherein said wheels are discs having graduated diameters, and being arranged to expose the perimeter of each of said discs to permit \ lsibilit . each of said wheels affixed to and moving independently from, adjacent discs

13 The device of claim 7 herein said wheels are cylindrical, each of said wheels being affixed adjacent to. and moving independently from, adjacent wheels

14 The device of claim 7 wherein said wheels have polygonal circumference

15 The device of claim 7 further comprising electronic indicators, said electronic indicators activating to indicate a correct complete conceptional unit

16 A method of decoding and encoding words by creating sound units comprising the steps of a identify ing a first vowel within a word, b. identifying a consonant immediately preceding said vowel, and forming a sound unit which is a combination of said consonant letter sound and said vowel letter sound: c. pronouncing said sound unit; wherein the pronunciation of said combination of said consonant and said vowel forming a sound unit helps to decode a word.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein a consonant letter sound within said word are pronounced after the pronouncing of said sound unit.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein multiple sound units and consonant letter sounds are pronounced in combination to form multi-syllable words.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said sound units and consonant letter sounds are combined on an electronic device, said electronic device having a display screen, displaying said sound units on said display screen and said consonant letter sounds in columns, and actuating buttons to advance said columns to create words.