Early writing: A penny activity to help children hear letter sounds in words (Photos)

When young children are learning to write, it helps to teach them how letter sounds work together to make words. To do this effectively, children must hear the sounds in oral language and relate these sounds to letters.

Taught as Reading Recovery™ procedures all over the world, the use of 'Elkonin' or sound boxes help children make the connection between the sounds they hear in a spoken word and the letters that represent those sounds in print.

Each box represents a sound in a word. It is important to start with short, simple words in order to learn the procedure and consolidate basic phonetic skills (consonants and short vowels) before moving on to words with letter combinations and exceptions.

Please continue to the video for an introduction to using Elkonin boxes.

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Children learn how letter sounds work together when they can hear the sounds in the words that they say.

Photo credit: 

M.Anne West