Abstract:
A reading learning tool which uses finger puppets having letters thereon is provided. The puppets could include pictures of objects corresponding to the sound of the letter. The finger puppets can be worn by a student and can be arranged to correspond to a word. The student can use the sounds of the objects corresponding to the letters to assist in sounding out a word. A teacher can interact with a student by using a corresponding set of finger puppets. The student&#39;s finger puppets can be made of paper and the teacher&#39;s finger puppets can be larger and made of a more durable and visible material. The finger puppets can include more than one letter to accommodate word families and sound blends such as digraphs and diphthongs.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a reading learning tool which uses finger puppets and more specifically to a reading learning tool including a plurality of finger puppets, each puppet having one or more letters thereon which can be placed on a student&#39;s hands to help a student learn to read.  
           [0003]    2. Related Art  
           [0004]    Teaching a young student or child to read is a long process. Initially, a child learns the letters of the alphabet and then, beginning with two and three letter words, the student is taught to string together the sounds of the letters to create words. Thereafter, this process can be used to sound out and spell longer words, eventually leading to reading and writing.  
           [0005]    It is known that in order to help young students become familiar with the letters of the alphabet, including the way the letters look and how they sound, it is beneficial to allow such students to interact as much as possible with the letters and words. As such, there are numerous reading learning programs that include physical three dimensional representations of letters so that students can actually handle the letters. Likewise, it is known to represent the sounds of letters by correlating the names of objects beginning with the letter to the letter. For example, the sound of the letter “a” is typically first taught with reference to the word “apple,” and the symbol of an apple is often times used to represent the letter “a.” Numerous objects have been linked to letters to help students recollect the sound of the letters.  
           [0006]    Another reading learning tool that has been employed by one of the inventors to help a young student to sound out a word is to count the letters in the word and hold up a corresponding amount of fingers. Then, the young student knows that it must make a sound corresponding to each of the fingers, i.e. each of the letters, to pronounce, and accordingly read, the word. As such, with the word “sat,” a student would hold up three fingers, and make a sound corresponding to each finger, namely “s,” “a,” and “t” and in making those three sounds, slowly at first and then faster, the young student effectively sounds out and reads the word “sat.” 
           [0007]    What would be desirable, but has not been heretofore been provided, is a reading learning tool that allows a student to easily interact with letters which can be used by the student on his or her fingers to assist the student in reading and pronouncing words.  
         OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a reading learning tool which teaches a student to read by placing finger puppets on the student&#39;s fingers, the finger puppets having letters thereon for assisting the student to sound out a word.  
           [0009]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a reading learning tool with finger puppets having letters, and pictures of objects that start with the letter, for assisting students to sound out words.  
           [0010]    It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reading learning tool whereby both a student and a teacher can wear finger puppets with letters thereon for assisting the students to sound out words.  
           [0011]    It is another object of the present invention to provide an affordable reading learning system including finger puppets which can be made of paper for a student to use, and which can be made of a sturdier material for a teacher to use.  
           [0012]    The present invention relates to a reading learning tool including finger puppets having letters thereon which can be worn by a student. The letters can spell a word and using the puppets, a student can pronounce the letters to say the word. In addition to letters, objects that provide cues to the pronunciation of the letter can also be included on the finger puppet and can be arranged to correspond to a word. The student can use the sounds of the objects corresponding to the letters to sound out the word. A teacher can interact with a student by using a corresponding set of finger puppets. The student&#39;s finger puppets can be made of paper, and the teacher&#39;s finger puppets can be larger and made of a sturdier, more durable and more visible material. The finger puppets can include more than one letter to accommodate word families and sound blends such as digraphs and diphthongs.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    Other important objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following Detailed Description of the Invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0014]    FIGS.  1 A- 1 G show front views of examples finger puppets used in connection with the present invention in unassembled form.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1H shows a top view of such a finger puppet in an assembled form.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1I shows an alternate embodiment of a finger puppet of the present invention in an unassembled form.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIGS. 2A and 2B show front and back views of the finger puppet shown in FIG. 1A assembled and positioned on a student&#39;s finger.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIGS. 3A and 3B show a corresponding teacher&#39;s finger puppet for the letter “a.” 
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4 shows three unassembled finger puppets aligned to spell the word “dig.” 
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 5 shows the finger puppets in FIG. 4 assembled and positioned on a student&#39;s fingers.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 6 shows finger puppets bearing the letters “f,” “s” and “b” all arrangeable with finger puppets bearing the letters “a” and “t” to create the words “fat,” “sat” and “bat.” 
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 7 shows finger puppets bearing to the letters “f,” “s” and “b” all of which could be used with a finger puppet bearing the word family “at” to produce the words “fat,” “sat” and “bat.” 
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 8 shows unassembled finger puppets bearing the letters “c,” “a” and “t” arranged to form the word “cat.” 
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 9 shows unassembled finger puppets bearing the letters “f” and “i” along with a finger puppet bearing the digraph “sh” to produce the word “fish.” 
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a teacher wearing finger puppets arranged to spell the word “hot” and a student wearing finger puppets arranged to spell the word “hot.” 
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a peg stand for use in holding and displaying finger puppets of the present invention, typically a teacher&#39;s finger puppets.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0027]    The present invention relates to a reading learning tool using finger puppets. A plurality of finger puppets are provided, each finger puppet having one or more letters thereon. A student learning to spell can place finger puppets corresponding to the letters of a word on his or her fingers and then make a sound corresponding to each puppet to sound out the word. A teacher can have a separate set of finger puppets to allow the teacher to demonstrate the technique. The teacher&#39;s and if desirable, the student&#39;s puppets can be supported by a peg stand when not in use. Importantly, in a preferred embodiment, the finger puppets include images of objects that provide pronunciation cues for the pronunciation of the letter or letters on the puppet. Typically, the object will start with the same sound as the letter, e.g. apple for the letter “a.” 
         [0028]    FIGS.  1 A- 1 I show unassembled finger puppets according to the present invention. By unassembled, it is meant that the edges of the base have not yet been attached to form the base into a cylinder as will hereinafter be described. As shown in FIG. 1A, the finger puppet, generally indicated at  20 , includes a generally rectangular base  30 , a vertical support  40  and an object  50 . The rectangular base  30  includes an indicia area for one or more letters. As shown in FIG. 1A, the letter “a” is on the rectangular base  30 . Both the capital and lower case depiction of the letter can be used. The base has first and second edges  32  and  34 , respectively. Extending from the rectangular base  30  is a vertical support  40  and interconnected with the vertical support  40  is an object  50 .  
         [0029]    As shown in FIG. 1A, the finger puppet  20  bears the letter “a” and the object corresponding thereto is an acorn. As is known, the letter “a” can take on more than one sound and accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1B, another object can also be associated with the letter “a,” namely, an alligator. FIG. 1C shows a butterfly associated with the letter “b.” FIG. 1D shows a cat for the letter “c.” FIG. 1E shows an ice cream cone as the object associated with the letter “i,” while FIG. 1F shows an inch worm as another object for use in connection with the letter “i,” as the letter “i” can have more than one sound. FIG. 1G shows a turtle as an object for the letter “t.” Finger puppets can be made corresponding to each letter of the alphabet, as well as word families, diphthongs and digraphs, with corresponding objects related to the sounds thereof.  
         [0030]    The finger puppets can be manufactured in any desirable manner known in the art. For example, the finger puppets can be made of any suitable synthetic or natural material. The finger puppets can be pre-manufactured and permanently labeled with letters and corresponding objects. Alternatively, pre-manufactured finger puppet blanks can have attachable and detachable letters and/or attachable and detachable objects. Letters and/or objects can be attached and detached to the finger puppet blanks by any means known in the art such as by a hook and loop fastening system. Clearly, it is also within the scope of the present invention to utilize any desired object to represent the sound of a letter.  
         [0031]    Alternatively, as shown in FIGS.  1 A- 1 G, finger puppets  20  can merely be printed on a paper page. Thereafter, a user, such as a student can cut the finger puppet  20  from the page. Alternatively, the finger puppets  20  can be attached to a page by perforations and detached from the page by breaking the perforations. Once the finger puppet  20  is separated from the page, the rectangular base section  30  can be rolled about itself and the edges  32  and  34  secured together by an adhesive such as tape  36  or other means to form a tube into which a student&#39;s finger can be inserted. The dimensions of the tube can be varied, and it might be desirable for the tube to extend the full height of the puppet. Importantly, if presented in this manner, the finger puppets  20  can be printed on color paper and/or could be colored by the students so they can have an opportunity to further gain familiarity with the letters and objects prior to use. Such paper finger puppets can be consumable so that when a spelling/reading lesson is over the puppets can be discarded. In another variation, blank finger puppets could be provided on a page or otherwise, and stamps of letters and/or images of objects or both could be used to place letters and/or images on the blank puppets.  
         [0032]    With further reference to FIGS.  1 A- 1 I, it should be noted that the letters can be presented as capital letters or lowercase letters or, as shown in the figures, both. As shown in FIG. 1A when the rectangular base  30  is formed into a cylinder, the letter “a” is depicted on forward and rearward facing areas of the finger puppet  20 . This allows a student to gain familiarity with both upper and lowercase letters, and also allows one looking at the student, such as the teacher, to confirm the proper positioning of letters on a student&#39;s fingers. However, it should be noted that it is within the scope of the art to provide only capital letters, or only lowercase letters, and the letters could appear on the front and back of the finger puppets, or only on the front. Also, uppercase and lowercase letters can be depicted together on the forward and/or rearward areas of the finger puppet  20  if desired. FIG. 1I shows an embodiment of a finger puppet bearing the letter “p” along with an image of a pumpkin as the object. As can be seen, the image of the object can be positioned such that when the base is formed into a tube to create a finger puppet, the object can be seen from both the front and back faces of the finger puppet. If desirable, an uppercase letter could be presented on one side of the puppet, while a lowercase letter is presented on the other side, both associated with an object to allow one to use the puppet to represent an uppercase or lowercase letter.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIGS. 2A and 2B shows front and back views of the finger puppet of FIG. 1A formed into a finger puppet and positioned on a student&#39;s finger. As can be seen, the rectangular base  30  has been formed into a cylinder which fits about a wearer&#39;s finger  18  such that the letter “a” and corresponding object  50  is visible from the front, and the lowercase letter “a” is visible from the rear.  
         [0034]    As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, in accordance with the present invention it is preferable, though not required, to have a teacher&#39;s set of finger puppets that corresponds to the student&#39;s finger puppets so that the teacher can demonstrate the use of the finger puppets. Like the student&#39;s finger puppets, the teacher&#39;s finger puppets can be manufactured in any way known in the art. However, because the teacher&#39;s finger puppets are expected to be visible from a greater distance, and are likely to be used over a longer time, it is preferable that the teacher&#39;s finger puppets be of a high quality construction. Preferably the teacher&#39;s finger puppets are pre-made as a full set. The base portion  130  of puppet  120  can be a tube, or more preferably, a pocket having an open bottom, a cylindrical sidewall, and a closed top. The letters can be sewn, embroidered or otherwise affixed to the base  130 , and the objects  150  firmly attached to the base  130 . Additionally, it is desirable that the teacher&#39;s finger puppets have objects that face both forward and rearward to facilitate the teacher&#39;s ability to demonstrate and teach.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 4 shows three finger puppets arranged to form the word “dig.” The object corresponding to the letter “d” is a dog, the object corresponding to the letter “i” is an inch worm and the object corresponding to the letter “g” is a gate. Again, any other objects that provide the proper sounds can be utilized. The objects can be permanently or removably affixed to the bases as desired.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 5 shows the finger puppets shown in FIG. 4 arranged and attached to a wearer&#39;s fingers such that the word “dig” is spelled and the objects corresponding thereto are positioned so that the word “dig” could be sounded out by a user that is learning to read by pronouncing the beginning sounds of the words “dog,” “inch worm,” and “gate.” 
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 6 shows finger puppets for the letters “f,” “s” and “b” in a first column followed by the finger puppets for “a” and “t.” The object for the letter “f” is a fish, the object for the letter “s” is a snail and the object for the letter “b” is a butterfly. The object for the letter “a” is an alligator and the object for the letter “t” is a turtle. As can be seen, the letters “f,” “s” or “b” can be used with the letters “a” and “t” to form the words “fat,” “sat” and “bat.” 
         [0038]    As shown in FIG. 7, the letters “a” and “t” can be represented on one finger puppet as the word family “at” and the sound can be indicated by positioning two objects such as an alligator and turtle together on the finger puppet. Then, like in FIG. 6, the words “fat,” “sat” and “bat” can be formed.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 8 shows the finger puppets for the word “cat.” In this case, the letter “c” is shown with reference to the object of a cat and again, the letters “a” and “t” are cued by the objects alligator and turtle respectively.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 9 shows the word “fish” spelled out by the letter “f” whose object is a fish, the letter “i” whose object is an inch worm, and the digraph “sh” shown by the object shoe.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a teacher&#39;s hand bearing puppets and a student&#39;s hands with puppets. In each case, both the student&#39;s and the teacher&#39;s puppets show the letters “h,” “o” and “t” to spell the word “hot.” The objects corresponding to the letters include a horse, an octopus and a turtle. When the first sounds of the objects are pronounced, the word “hot” results. As can be seen, the student places the puppets relating to the word on his or her fingers and the teacher does likewise. Thus the teacher, with respect to the student, is either demonstrating how to properly place the puppets on the fingers or provide confirmation to the student that the student&#39;s actions are correct.  
         [0042]    In use, a student is presented with a word such as the word “hot.” The student will then locate the finger puppets corresponding to the letters and will place the finger puppet letters “h,” “o” “t” on its fingers. The teacher will do likewise either leading the student by demonstration or providing an example that confirms what the student has already done. The student will then attempt to read the word, i.e. sound the word out. As such, the student will know that it must pronounce each of the letters corresponding to the finger puppets that it is wearing. For the letter “h” the student could be cued by the object horse to make the “h” sound. Then, for the letter “o” the student could be cued by the image of an octopus to make the “o” sound. Finally, to pronounce the “t,” the student could be cued by the turtle to say “t.” Putting the sounds together, the student will come up with the word “h” “o” “t.” 
         [0043]    The puppets can be used to teach beginning sounds, middle sounds and ending sounds. Spelling blends such as diphthongs, digraphs, phonograms, word families, compound words and contractions can also be taught.  
         [0044]    Importantly, the students using the finger puppets gain confidence and are actively involved in the hands-on activity of discovering words. This promotes the development of reading skills.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 11 shows a stand  60  for holding, displaying and storing the finger puppets when not in use. The stand  60  includes a base  62  and a plurality of upstanding pegs  64  for supporting finger puppets  120 . The stand  60  can be made of any suitable material such as wood. The stand  60  is preferably used in connection with a teacher&#39;s puppets. Instead of pegs  64 , any other suitable support could be used such as pipe cleaners, etc.  
         [0046]    Having thus described the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the foregoing description is not intended to limit the spirit and scope thereof. What is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.