Sound Box Phonics Cards
Sound Explorers Phonics
Elkonin Sound Mapping Cards
Short A Families (-at, -an)
Tip Laminate cards and have students write letters in the boxes with dry-erase markers!
Cut along dashed lines
-at family
Card 01
cat
Tap & Blend
c • a • t
-at family
Card 02
bat
Tap & Blend
b • a • t
-at family
Card 03
hat
Tap & Blend
h • a • t
-an family
Card 04
fan
Tap & Blend
f • a • n
Unit 1: Sound Segmenting Practice Page 1 of 8
Sound Explorers Phonics
Elkonin Sound Mapping Cards
Short A & O Families (-an, -op)
Tip Have students push physical chips into the boxes for each distinct sound!
Cut along dashed lines
-an family
Card 05
van
Tap & Blend
v • a • n
-an family
Card 06
pan
Tap & Blend
p • a • n
-op family
Card 07
mop
Tap & Blend
m • o • p
-op family
Card 08
top
Tap & Blend
t • o • p
Unit 1: Sound Segmenting Practice Page 2 of 8
Sound Explorers Phonics
Elkonin Sound Mapping Cards
Short O Families (-op, -ot)
Tip Green dot is the starting sound, yellow is middle, and red is ending sound!
Cut along dashed lines
-op family
Card 09
cop
Tap & Blend
c • o • p
-ot family
Card 10
pot
Tap & Blend
p • o • t
-ot family
Card 11
hot
Tap & Blend
h • o • t
-ot family
Card 12
dot
Tap & Blend
d • o • t
Unit 1: Sound Segmenting Practice Page 3 of 8
Sound Explorers Phonics
Elkonin Sound Mapping Cards
Short E Families (-et)
Tip Short 'e' is a quick sound! Practice making a smiley mouth shape to say /e/.
Cut along dashed lines
-et family
Card 13
net
Tap & Blend
n • e • t
-et family
Card 14
wet
Tap & Blend
w • e • t
-et family
Card 15
jet
Tap & Blend
j • e • t
-et family
Card 16
pet
Tap & Blend
p • e • t
Unit 1: Sound Segmenting Practice Page 4 of 8
Sound Explorers Phonics
Elkonin Sound Mapping Cards
Short I Families (-ig)
Tip The short 'i' sound can be tricky! Remind students that it is the sound in 'igloo'.
Cut along dashed lines
-ig family
Card 17
pig
Tap & Blend
p • i • g
-ig family
Card 18
wig
Tap & Blend
w • i • g
-ig family
Card 19
dig
Tap & Blend
d • i • g
-ig family
Card 20
fig
Tap & Blend
f • i • g
Unit 1: Sound Segmenting Practice Page 5 of 8
Sound Explorers Phonics
Elkonin Sound Mapping Cards
Short U Families (-ug)
Tip Help students make a relaxed /u/ sound (like an umbrella opening up!).
Cut along dashed lines
-ug family
Card 21
bug
Tap & Blend
b • u • g
-ug family
Card 22
mug
Tap & Blend
m • u • g
-ug family
Card 23
rug
Tap & Blend
r • u • g
-ug family
Card 24
hug
Tap & Blend
h • u • g
Unit 1: Sound Segmenting Practice Page 6 of 8
Phonics Instruction Kit
Sound Explorer Playbook
Teacher Guide
Why use Elkonin Box Cards with Words?
These reading-first Elkonin cards help students practice **orthographic mapping**. Seeing the complete word at the top provides an immediate reading print-anchor, allowing students to orally segment the spoken sounds, align them with the correct letters, and write each phoneme independently in the blank sound boxes below.
High-Impact Classroom Routines
1
The "Read, Tap & Map" Blending Routine
First, ask students to read the full word printed clearly at the top (e.g., "cat"). Next, they tap the green dot and isolate the onset sound (e.g., /k/), the yellow dot for the middle vowel (/a/), and the red dot for the final sound (/t/) as they track from left to right.
2
"Sound Slicing" with Magnetic Tiles
Give students three colored magnetic letter tiles corresponding to the letters of the word. Have them look at the print word, then physically place the individual letter tiles onto the three Elkonin boxes below as they sound out each phoneme individually, "slicing" the word into its separate phonological pieces.
3
Laminated Dry-Erase Orthographic Writing
Students read the target CVC word aloud, cover it with their hand (or a card index), segment the individual phonemes orally, and write the mapped letters inside the blank boxes from memory. To check their answer, they lift their hand or slide the card over, verifying their orthographic structure!
Scaffolding & Differentiation
For Struggling Readers:
If a student struggles to read the CVC word at the top, guide them by having them look at the bottom right corner (upside down) to see the simple dot-spaced letters, or orally pre-teach the targeted vowel word family.
For Advanced Learners:
Challenge students to identify words that rhyme with the displayed word, replacing the onset letter with a new letter inside the first Elkonin box to build an entirely new CVC string.
Unit 1: Phonics Implementation Package Page 7 of 8
Phonics Mastery Record
Sound Explorers Tracker
Unit 1: Short Vowels
Student Name ___________________________
Date Started ___________
Target Benchmark 24/24 CVC Words Map
| Card # | Word & Family | 1. Word Reading | 2. Sound Segmenting | 3. Written Mapping | Notes & Observations |
|---|
| 01-04 | -at/-an cat, bat, hat, fan | | | | ___________________________ |
| 05-08 | -an/-op van, pan, mop, top | | | | ___________________________ |
| 09-12 | -op/-ot cop, pot, hot, dot | | | | ___________________________ |
| 13-16 | -et net, wet, jet, pet | | | | ___________________________ |
| 17-20 | -ig pig, wig, dig, fig | | | | ___________________________ |
| 21-24 | -ug bug, mug, rug, hug | | | | ___________________________ |
Qualitative Assessment Benchmarks
Phase 1: Word Reading Student orally reads the target CVC word at the top fluidly and automatically without sounding it out letter-by-letter.
Phase 2: Sound Segmenting Student isolates and enunciates each phoneme cleanly, touching the color-coded sensory dots in left-to-right order.
Phase 3: Written Spelling Student correctly matches letters to sounds, writing the complete consonant-vowel-consonant structure in the Elkonin boxes.
Unit 1: Phonics Implementation Package Page 8 of 8