Today the students were introduced to Elkonin boxes. Elkonin boxes will be used in the classroom 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 a token into a box for each sound or phoneme. In some cases different colored tokens may be used for consonants and vowels or just for each phoneme in the word. Another way to practice segmenting words is to use the beads on a pipe cleaner. The pipe cleaner with beads is also included in the take home bag. (We used these on Monday, but we did not get any pictures of us using them.) The Phonological Awareness (PA) Take Home Bags will be sent home tomorrow. Your child will have a lot of the materials that we will use at school in this bag so you are able to practice at home with your child.
Why use Elkonin Boxes?
- They help students build phonological awareness by segmenting words into sounds or syllables.
- They teach students how to count the number of phonemes in the word (not always the number of letters).
- They help students better understand the alphabetic principle in decoding and spelling.
How to use Elkonin Boxes
- Pronounce a target 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 the child count the number of phonemes in the word, not necessarily the number of letters. For example, wish has three phonemes and will use three boxes. /w/, /i/, /sh/
- Direct the child to slide one colored circle, unifix cube, or corresponding letter in each cell of the Elkonin box drawing as he/she repeats the word.
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