Elkonin+Boxes

=** Elkonin Boxes or Sound Boxes **=

This strategy is part of the Reading Recovery program. When I was looking for a strategy to implement, I came across sound boxes in another resource. I didn’t think about the fact that this simple little task I do every day could be considered a strategy. I use for writing purposes but it also makes students aware of the sounds they hear within words when they are reading as well. It helps to slow them down and make them think about what they are hearing themselves say. In writing it is one of the very few visual aids we have to help our students figure out an unknown word.
 * Rationale **

I am really not sure how to go about using this strategy in other content areas. I was trying to think of whether it would be useful for vocabulary words, but I decided not because it doesn’t work with what the word means just how to write it down. Any suggestions? I think its biggest application is for struggling readers and writers. A teacher may not be able to do this with her whole class but she could pull one or two who are really struggling to teach this strategy.
 * Implementation Suggestions **

I think this strategy works well especially for students struggling with reading and writing. The strategy becomes more difficult as they show the teacher whether they can handle it or not. It is a really awesome strategy in that it teaches the students a way to figure out an unknown word in writing other than just sounding it out in their head or I guess more than that it is teaching them how to be able to do that. Because they are speaking it out loud, physically writing it down, and reading what they wrote in the boxes to write in their story it works for a variety of learners. I am really surprised at how well my students enjoy doing boxes. I think they like the fact that they have something to do besides just guesses at a word or doing inventive spelling. It really has built confidence in their writing ability. Where before they might not write a word or as much because they weren’t sure how to spell it and they didn’t want to be wrong.
 * Diverse Learners **

Marie Clay in her Literacy Lessons Part 2 book has a very strict order for how these boxes should be introduced and used. I followed her guidelines in implementing this strategy. These would happen over the span of several lessons. Depending on the child it could be a couple days or more than a week if a child is struggling with the concept.
 * Procedure **

I started by having the student clap the syllables in words when she come to a word that was a little tricky and lent itself to be broken down into syllables in either reading or writing. For example, she wanted to write the word umbrella. She kept leaving off the um when she would say it and just call it brella. So I repeated the word for her and had her look at my mouth. Then I clapped the word as I said it. She then realized umbrella had three parts. She could hear the first syllable when she focused on what I was saying. She was then able to successfully clap the syllables in the word. We practiced clapping words throughout lessons at different times and parts. She caught on quickly to the task so we moved on to the next step.

Once she gained control over that task we moved to hearing all of the sounds in a word. Again I had her look at me and practice slowly articulating all of the sounds in a word so she could see my mouth moving and hear the words. Then I had her try. You can make flash cards with pictures on them. I happen to have a set of picture cards that I use. The words they represent have 2, 3, and 4 sounds in them to practice with before we start using words from her writing. An example of a word with 3 sounds would be cat /c/a/t/. Some can be tricky so it is important to look over them before hand and think about what sounds go together.

After we practiced words slowly, we then used boxes for those same words we practiced with on the flashcards. The number of boxes you use will depend on the number of sounds in the word. We started with 2 sounds and worked our way up. For words with two sounds, I used 2 boxes. I modeled first and then had the student try. For the word “toe”, I said “toe” slowly /t/oe/ and then moved chips or small markers of some kind up into the boxes. The chips were placed below the two boxes and moved up always from left to right into the boxes. I put my finger on the first chip and said the sound for /t/ and pushed it up into the box. Then I put my finger on the next chip and said the sound /oe/ makes as I pushed it up into the next box. I then said the word together, toe, and I had the student try what I just did.

After she was able to use the boxes with words on flash cards, that have different numbers of sounds in them, we tried the boxes with a word from her writing that she didn’t know how to write. In her journal writing she wanted to write the word sister. I made 5 boxes for the word because that is how many sounds you hear in the word. First, I had her clap the word sister into syllables. Then I had her say the word slowly. I got out the chips and had her push the sounds into the boxes. Finally I had her write the sounds she heard. She did very well with this task and was able to write all of the sounds she heard /s/i/s/t/r/. For the final step I wrote in any letter she missed saying “to make it look right we need to add and e in front of the r”. This helped to show her that several letters can work together to make one sound. She was then able to copy the correct spelling of the word into her writing.

As she moves along in the process, and she happened to pick up on things quickly, I will be able to eliminate some of the steps. There will be no need to clap or move the chips up and say the sounds. Now I usually just draw the boxes and tell her to say it slowly. Most usually she is able to get most all of the sounds correctly written in the boxes. Once she has complete control of the sound boxes, I can move into letter boxes with her. This is taking it a step further in that she knows letters work together to make sounds and those sounds make words. I will then draw boxes for every letter in a word. The goal is that she will understand what sounds go together. So when she sees a word like sister she will know that e and r together make the /er/ sound. Beyond that is independent writing and being able to do those things in her head as she is writing a story.

The changes made in this strategy are all based on how the child is doing and when they need to move to the next stage in the process. Marie Clay is very clear that they stages need to be followed in order for a certain reason. However, they can go more quickly or slowly based on the individual child.
 * Potential Issues/Changes **

Clay, M. (2005). Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals: Part Two Teaching Procedures. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
 * References **

Johns, J., Lenski, S., & Elish-Piper, L. (1999). Early Literacy Assessments &Teaching Strategies. Kendall/Hunt.

Additional information from implemented strategies:

Sound boxes help students break words into sounds. This strategy is useful in helping students writing unknown words. They need to be able to slowly articulate the word so they can write down the sounds they are hearing in the words.
 * Strategy Description **

I use this strategy on a daily basis with my Reading Recovery students. They are all first graders who struggle with reading and writing. In this specific instance I was working with a first grade girl who is in Reading Recovery as a second round student. She started just a few weeks ago working with me one on one every day for 30 minutes.
 * Description of the Class **

The introduction to Elkonin boxes went very well. It only took me a few days to get to using sounds boxes with her actual writing. She is a second round Reading Recovery student so I just began with her a few weeks ago. She is reading at a higher level and writing more than my other students I get at the beginning of the year. I think some of those factors helped her to pick up on this concept quickly. I hear her saying words slowly when she goes to write them. I usually stop her and we do boxes because I have that ability working with her one on one. I think that it won’t be long before I am able to move from the sound boxes to the letter boxes.
 * Reflection **