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+ Elkonin Boxes Presented by Sarah, Jessica and Jany

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+ Usually seen as a strip divided into a series of boxes. Sometimes the boxes have images above them, but not always. To use this strategy at its simplest form, teachers say a word and students are required to move one object (bingo chips), into each box, in reference to the number of sounds they hear in the word. How to Use Elkonin Boxes

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+ Purpose Elkonin boxes help with decoding, specifically building phonemic awareness. They are designed to help students identify individual sounds in words. Otherwise known as phoneme segmentation. They also help students understand the alphabetic principle.

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+ Further Uses Targeted Skill Phoneme counting: How many (sounds) do you hear in this (word)? Identification of sound positions Where do you hear the /g/ in pig (at the beginning middle or end of the word)? Letter-sound association What letter goes with the first sound in this word: book?

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+ Think Outside the Box! Not all boxes look the same and use the same materials. Using plastic cups, battery powered lights and magnetic letters are just a few unique ideas.

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+ Elkonin Boxes in the Classroom This video shows Elkonin boxes in action!

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+ What does the Research Say? 1. There have been manystudies that test theeffectiveness of word boxphonics instruction, on earlygrades (K-1). Joseph (2000)tested 48 students in grade1 on word identification andspelling performance.Students were randomlyselected to either the wordboxes instruction condition,or more traditional phonicsinstruction (choral reading,writing words onchalkboard). Pretests andpost-tests were completed,and results showed that students in the word boxescondition significantly outperformed students in amore traditional phonicscondition (Joseph, 2000).Word boxes lessons can bea viable phonics approachto teaching children tomake connections betweenphonemic and orthographicfeatures about words(Joseph, 2000).

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+ Research Continued 2. Effective phonemic awareness instruction teaches children to notice, think about, and manipulate sounds in spoken language. Phoneme blending and phoneme segmentation are two important components of this instruction. Elkonin, a Russian psychologist, explored students ability to manipulate phonemes by asking them to place counters in boxes (Elkonin, 1973). Additionally, recent research on best practices by the National Reading Panel, indicate that many effective reading programs use this technique. Students who use Elkonin boxes are able to hear sounds in words, segment words and demonstrate an understanding of letter-sound correspondence (Clay, 1993).

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+ Lets Try It! Remember the student should move the token as they say the sound! With a partner you will each take a turn as the teacher and student. Each group will receive a set of boxes and tactile materials to place inside them. In reference to the picture at the top of the boxes, have the teacher say the word to the student (once blended and once stretched out). Have the student stretch the word out themselves as they place the tokens in the boxes to represent the number of phonemes in the word.

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+ Get Creative! Some target areas may be: Spelling (basic and multi- syllabic words) Letter-sound association In the same groups, choose some different materials from the front to create your own twist on Elkonin boxes. Challenge yourself to make this tool engaging and effective for a student beyond the basic phoneme segmenting level that we just addressed. You and your partner will then share your spin on Elkonin boxes with the class.

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+ References Bakken, J. P., Obiakor, F. E., & Rotatori, A. F. (2013). Learning disabilities: Practice concerns and students with ld. Wagon Lange Bingley, West Yorkshire: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Beller, L. (2006). Elkonin boxes: A multisensory technique for teaching literary skills. TTAC Network News. 3. Joseph, L. M. (2000). Using word boxes as a large group phonics approach in a first grade classroom. Reading Horizons, 41(2), 117-127. WETA. (2014). Reading Rockets; Elkonin boxes. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/elkonin_boxes http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/elkonin_boxes