Sound Boxes

Ready to learn a new word? Elkonin boxes or sound boxes are just as simple as; boxes that represent sounds in words. They are used to build phonological awareness skills by segmenting words into individual sounds, or phonemes. To use Elkonin boxes, a child listens to a word and moves an object into a box for each sound. You can then have your child write the letter that matches the sound they just said. 


How to use them....

• Pronounce a  word slowly, stretching it out by sound
• Ask the child to repeat the word.
• Draw "boxes" or squares on a piece of paper, chalkboard, or dry erase board with one box for each syllable or phoneme.
• Have your child  slide one colored circle, cube, or other object in each box as they say the sounds of the word again. 

I like to use colors to represent where sounds fall in words. We think of a stoplight. In a stoplight the color green means GO, like the beginning of the word. Yellow means slow, you are in the middle of the word. Red means to stop, you are at the end of the word.

Below you will find colored sound boxes to use at home.  These boxes are for CVC words, consonant-vowel-consonant words.

Here is a sample list of words you can use:

sun

bug

cat

mat

ship*

math*

chop*

big

*words with digraphs. Digraphs are two letters that make only one sound. These two letters will go in only one box, because it makes only one sound.   

Beginning Middle and End boxes