How it works
This sound boxes template prints five rows, each with a space for a picture and three joined boxes. Rows of 2, 4 and 5 boxes are in the Sheet menu, with a CVC sheet and mats for counters.
Read the full guide
One sound in each box
Say the word slowly. For each sound you hear, push a counter into a box, or write the letters that spell that sound. The filled-in sample shows ship: sh, i, p. Four letters, three boxes.
CVC sound boxes worksheets for kindergarten
The CVC sheet heads its three boxes First sound, Middle sound and Last sound, for words such as cat and sun. A line under each row is for writing the whole word once the sounds are in.
Mats for counters
A mat is rows of boxes and nothing else, with boxes up to 2 inches square. One mat prints 12 counters to cut out under the boxes.
- Use two colors of counters, one for consonant sounds and one for vowel sounds.
- Type a word in a picture space before you print and every copy carries it.
Questions and answers
What are sound boxes?
A row of joined boxes for sounding out a word. A child listens to the word and moves a counter into a box for each sound. They are also called Elkonin boxes, after D. B. Elkonin, a Russian psychologist, who was first to use them.
How many sound boxes does a word need?
One for each sound, not one for each letter. Cat has three letters and three sounds. Ship has four letters and three sounds, because sh spells one sound. Frog has four sounds, so it needs four boxes.
What goes in the picture space?
A drawing, a sticker or a cut-out picture of the word to sound out, or the word itself for a child who is matching sounds to letters.