GB2201375A

GB2201375A - Book or pad for teaching children to read

Info

Publication number: GB2201375A
Application number: GB08704605A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lindsay Jane White
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-02-27
Filing date: 1987-02-27
Publication date: 1988-09-01
Also published as: GB8704605D0

Abstract

A book or pad is constructed with a main supporting leaf which can be the back cover 12. A stack of leaves 14 is hinged to one edge and further stacks of leaves 22 are hinged to another edge so that leaves of any stack can be turned independently of the other stacks. In a preferred embodiment the large leaves 14 carry illustrations and the smaller leaves 22 carry letters which can be exposed to spell the article illustrated on a large leaf 14. <IMAGE>

Description

BOOKS AND PADS The present invention relates to books or pads of special construction.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a book or pad comprising a supporting leaf with at least one stack of leaves bound thereto so as to turn about a first axis which is preferably at the edge of the supporting leaf, and at least one further stack of leaves bound either to the said supporting leaf so as to turn about a second axis different from the first axis, or bound to a second supporting leaf which is hingedly connected to the first said supporting leaf, with the further stack(s) of leaves bound to the second supporting leaf along an axis different from the hinged connection of the supporting leaves.

When the stacks of leaves are bound to one supporting leaf, they should all be of less area than that supporting leaf. In either case the leaves of each stack should desirably be able to be turned independently of other stacks.

It is preferred to employ the first alternative, with the first and second axes at first and second i.e. different edges of a supporting leaf.

Then, in an arrangement which is particularly envisaged there are a plurality of stacks of leaves which turn about the second edge. Suitably this second edge is a top or bottom edge of the supporting leaf.

Generally, leaves in plural stacks which turn about the second edge are of smaller area than the leaves in the stack(s) which turn about the first edge. The pad or book may be printed so that the first edge is an upright edge of the supporting leaf: then the first and second edges would be perpendicular to each other.

Each supporting leaf may be a cover of the book or pad.

A book or pad embodying this invention may be printed such that a user can turn leaves around the second axis to expose indicia to correspond in some way with indicia printed on a leaf or leaves of stack(s) whose leaves turn about the first axis. For use in teaching reading, leaves which turn around the first axis may be printed with pictures, while leaves in plural stacks which turn about the second axis are printed with letters which can be exposed to spell the word illustrated by the picture.

Leaves turning around one axis may be printed with various colours for matching with indications of colour printed on leaves turning around another axis. In this way a correct match may be indicted or confirmed by a match of colour.

According to another aspect of this invention there is provided a book or pad comprising a supporting leaf or connected supporting leaves, and a plurality of stacks of leaves bound thereto such that leaves in each stack can be turned independently of the other stacks characterised in that leaves in the said stacks bear indications of colour, so that matching of leaves of different stacks is a matching of colour Preferably leaves in a first stack each bear a number of areas of colour, denoting the number of leaves from other stacks to be matched by colour with the respective leaf of the first stack. The other leaves may bear indicia in the colours to be matched.

In a particularly envisaged arrangement, each leaf in a first stack bears a number of areas of colour denoting a number of coloured indicia, such number not being the same for every leaf of the first stack, while leaves of the other stacks bear letters of the alphabet in a plurality of colours and one or more of these stacks also contains leaves which lack letters of the alphabet, the other stacks providing sufficient number of leaves bearing letters and without letters, such that for every leaf in the first stack, leaves in the other stacks can be turned to expose letters corresponding to the areas of colour on the respective first leaf both as to colour and as to the exact number of letters.

Further aspects of this invention provide methods of teaching using any- of the books or pads set forth above, comprising selecting a leaf from a first said stack of leaves, and in response thereto turning leaves of other said stack(s) to expose a leaf of other stacks. Preferably leaves of one stack bear pictures and leaves of at least one other stack bear letters of the, alphabet. Then the method can comprise selecting a leaf bearing a picture, and in response turning the other leaves to expose letters to form a word descriptive of the selected picture.

In order that the invention may be more easily understood an embodiment is described by way of example with reference to the drawing which shows an opened book embodying the invention.

The book has a supporting leaf which is the back cover 12 of the book. Attached to this is a stack of leaves- 14 and a front cover 16, all of which are attached to the supporting leaf 12 down a first edge 18 which is in fact the spine of the book. The front cover 16, the back cover 12 and the leaves 14 are all connected together at the spine of the book by a metal wire helix 20 passing through holes adjacent the spine, in a well known manner. The book has a plurality of further stacks of leaves 22 bound to the supporting leaf 12 along its upper edge 24. In the embodiment shown, these are attached by a second wire helix 22, running horizontally. The cover 16 is cut away at 17 to fit round this second helix 25.

The stacks of leaves 14, 22 are exposed to view when the front cover of the book has been opened. - The leaves 14, 22 are all smaller in area than the supporting leaf 12. Individual larger leaves 14 can be exposed by turning the overlying leaves around the spine of the book in conventional fashion. Individual leaves 22 can be exposed by turning the overlying leaves around an axis along the top edge of the supporting leaf 12 as shown by leaves 26 which have been turned to exposed their reverse faces, which are plain. Leaves of each stack can be turned independently of all of the other stacks. All of the leaves 22 are substantially the same-size although this is not essential, for instance one stack of leaves 22 could contain larger leaves than the remaining stacks of leaves 22.

The book is intended to assist small children learning to read.

Each large leaf 14 bears a picture 28. On the leaf 14 illustrated, this is an apple. Also - on the same leaf is the first letter 30 of the word illustrated - i.e. "a" for "apple" - plus lines 32 to indicate the number of other letters in the word. The initial letter 30 and the lines 32 are all printed in the same colour. A line 32 is provided under the letter 30, for the sake of uniformity. The leaves 22 are mostly printed with letters 34 but some of the leaves 22 do not carry letters and could be either blank or provided with a decoration which is not a letter as shown at 36.

For use by a child, a leaf from the stack 14 is selected 'e.g. by a supervising adult. The child then turns over leaves 22 until the exposed letters 34 spell out the word which is illustrated by the picture 28 on the exposed leaf 14 and whose initial letter and number of letters is also shown 30, 32 on the exposed leaf 14. In the embodiment illustrated there are seven stack of leaves 22. When the word illustrated by a leaf 14 contains less than seven letters the child can turn up leaves 22 without letters 34 at the right hand end of the word which he has spelt out.

The initial letter 30 and lines 32 on any leaf 14 are all printed in the same colour but these colours vary from one leaf 14 to the next.

The letters 34 on the leaves 22 are also printed in various colours. The letters 34 printed on the leaves 22 are selected such that any word whose initial letter 30 is given on a leaf 14 can be spelt out by turning up the leaves 22 to expose - letters 34 which spell the relevant word and match the colour of the initial letter 30 and the lines 32 on the leaf 14.

By way of example, on the leaf i4 shown, the initial letter 30 and the five lines 32 are all printed in green. The left-hand stack of leaves 22 contains a letter 'a' in green. The next two stacks 38, 40 both contain a leaf bearing a letter 'p' printed in green. The next stack 42 includes a leaf bearing letter '1' printed in green. The stack 44 has a leaf bearing the letter 'e' printed in green and finally the right-hand two stacks includes a blank or a picture 36. A child will thus find that correct letters 34 match the colour of letter 30 and lines 32.

The book shown has twenty-six leaves 14 bearing illustrations of twenty-six words, one beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Thus, after the first leaf 14 which is shown, the next leaf has a picture of a ball together with the letter 'b' and lines 32 to indicate that three more letters are required for the word 'ball'. The shortest word is "egg" with three letters. The longest words have seven letters. Each of the seven stacks of leaves 22 contains twenty-six leaves.

The - initial letters 30 and lines 32 on the various leaves 14 vary in colour from one leaf to the next. Ten colours can readily be used (green, red, yellow, orange, light blue, dark blue, pink, brown, grey and black). The letters 34 on the left-hand stack of leaves 22 are the letters of the alphabet printed in order and in the same colours as the corresponding letters 30 on the leaves 14. The next stack 38 of leaves carries the second letters of all the words used, and again these appear in the same colours as on the respective leaves 14. The third stack 40 carries the third letters in the same colours. The other stacks also carry the respective letters of the respective words but where a word has less than seven letters, illustrations 36 of the article concerned appear in the remaining stacks.The left-hand stack 22 has its letters 34 arranged in alphabetical order but the other six stacks have their letters 34 in jumbled order.

As another example, a supervising adult might turn through the leaves 14 to expose a leaf 14 with a picture 28 of an egg, the initial letter 'e' in pink and lines 32 to indicate that two more letters are required. The child then turns through each of the stacks of leaves 22 and is able to find a letter 'e' in pink in the left stack, a letter 'g' in pink in each of the next two stacks 38, 40 and a picture 36 of an egg in the remaining four stacks.

Numerous modifications-are of course possible within the scope of this invention. It is desirable to embody the invention in the form of a book having a back cover and a front cover but the front cover could be dispensed with so that the product is then more aptly termed a "pad" rather than a "book". For any book used as an aid in teaching reading or spelling it is desirable to provide a plurality of stacks of leaves 22 bearing letters and arranged to be turned about an edge which will be horizontal when the letters are upright. In this way letters can be arranged side by side as in conventional writing. The other leaves 14 can then conveniently turn around an upright axis as in the embodiment shown in the drawing but could conceivably turn around a second horizontal axis across the bottom of the supporting leaf 12. A third possibility would be for the leaves 14 bearing pictures to be hinged to the top edge of the front cover. In such a case the entire book can be closed by hinging around a vertical spine and in this way be more compact when closed than when open.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A book or pad comprising a supporting leaf with at least one stack of leaves bound thereto so as to be openable about a first axis, and at least one further stack of leaves bound either to the said supporting leaf so as to be operable about a second axis different from the first axis, or bound to a second supporting leaf which is hingedly connected to the first said supporting leaf, with the further stack(s) of leaves bound to the second supporting leaf along an axis different from the hinged connection of the supporting leaves.

2. A book or pad according to claim 1 wherein the further stack(s) of leaves is (are) bound to the first said supporting leaf.

3. A book or pad according to claim 1 wherein the first axis is at an edge of the first said supporting leaf.

4. A book or pad according to claim 2 wherein the first axis is at an edge of the first said supporting leaf and the second axis is at a different edge of the same supporting leaf.

5. A book or pad according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the leaves of the stacks are all of lesser area than the supporting leaf to which they are attached.

6. A book or pad according to any one of the preceding claims wherein there are at least five of the said further stacks of leaves.

7. A book or pad according to any one of the preceding claims wherein leaves of the said further stacks bear legible indicia in a plurality of colours.

8. A book or pad according to claim 7 wherein leaves of the or a stack turning around the first axis bear indications of colour to be matched by coloured indicia on leaves of the said further stacks.

9. A book or pad according to claim 8 wherein leaves in the or a first stack each bear a number of areas of colour denoting a number of leaves from other stacks to be matched by colour with the respective leaf of the first stack.

10. A book or pad according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each leaf in a first stack bears a number of areas of colour denoting a number of coloured indicia such number not being the same for every leaf of the first stack, while leaves of the other stacks bear letters of the alphabet in a plurality of colours and one or more of these stacks also contains leaves which lack letters of the alphabet, the other stacks providing sufficient number of leaves bearing letters and without letters, such that for every leaf in the first stack, leaves in the other stacks can be turned to expose letters corresponding to the areas of colour on the respective first leaf both as to colour and as to the exact number of letters.

11. A book or pad substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

12. A method of teaching by means of a book or pad according to any one of the preceding claims comprising selecting a leaf from a first stack, and in response thereto turning leaves of said further stack(s) to expose a leaf(ves) corresponding to the selected leaf from the first stack.