Student Assessment Project Lesson Plan
Lesson Title: Elkonin Boxes for Phoneme Segmentation Fluency Grade: 1
Learning Target: Given three- or four- phoneme words, the students will be able to orally segment
them into their proper phonemes with 80% accuracy five days in a row.
Grade Level Guide: Content Standards:
Content Curriculum Focal Points Common Core State Interdisciplinary Connections
Standards
NCTE/ IRA Standard 3 Maryland CCSS.1.RF2 This lesson is a Language Arts
Students apply a wide range of Demonstrate understanding lesson with no interdisciplinary
strategies to comprehend, of spoken words, syllables, connection.
interpret, evaluate, and and sounds (phonemes).
appreciate texts. They draw on d. Segment spoken single-
their prior experience, their syllable words into their
interactions with other readers complete sequence of
and writers, their knowledge of individual sounds
word meaning and of other texts, (phonemes).
their word identification a. Identify the number
strategies, and their of sounds (phonemes)
understanding of textual features heard in spoken single-
(e.g., sound-letter syllable words.
correspondence, sentence b. Produce the sounds
structure, context, graphics). (phonemes) heard in
single-syllable words.
Academic Language:
Elkonin boxes: Call them sound boxes
Phonemes: Call them sounds, and then later tell them that sounds are also called phonemes
Segment: Say “break the word into sounds”
Students’ Needs:
Students should have the prior experience of segmenting phonemes while clapping them out. This prior
knowledge will help them be successful in reaching the goals of this lesson. Review of this skill will
occur at the beginning of the lesson. This lesson utilized Universal Design for Learning by being very
interactive, providing many opportunities to respond, and following the “I do, we do, you do”
framework.
Student Name Additional Support With: What the Teacher Will Do:
Cody (at-risk for Phoneme Segmentation; he The teacher will provide extra
reading failure) tends to segment the word into support for Cody in three ways.
onset and rime rather than 1) Give him more time to respond
segmenting each phoneme. 2) Sit where he learns best
3) Provide specific one-on-one
assistance to him
Materials:
Student needs: nothing
Teacher needs: Smartboard, Smartboard template (see resources), Elkonin boxes parking space sheets,
toy cars
Language Function: Student will be identifying phonemes and separating them orally.
Lesson Plan
Before:
This activity will be introduced by first reviewing an earlier activity where they clapped out the
sounds in words. For example, the teacher says “how many sounds do you hear in the word cat?
Listen to me clap them out! /k/ /a/ /t/! Now we’ll do some together!” They will do several more
words together. Then the teacher will ask the class to do one on their own.
During:
Next, the students will move to the carpet and the teacher will show the students an Elkonin
boxes template on the Smartboard. She will say, “What picture do you see here?” And the
students will respond with the word, such as “mouse.” The teacher will ask them to clap out the
sounds. They should respond with clapping three times while saying the phonemes /m/ /ow/ /s/.
The teacher will praise them. Then, she will point to the boxes and say “We know that there are
three sounds in the word ‘mouse’ and there are three boxes under the picture.” She will then
move a token into each box on the Smartboard as she says the sounds. Then she will pull up
another image that the class will do together. After they do some as a group, she will call on
specific students to come up to the Smartboard and move the tokens as they say the sounds.
Allowing students the chance to come up to the board will serve as reinforcement. Formative
assessment will occur all throughout the lesson as the teacher observes the class and makes sure
that they are pronouncing each phoneme correctly. There will be many opportunities to respond
throughout the before and during sections of the lesson. The goal will be to provide at least
fifteen opportunities for the students to respond. These will be in the form of choral responses of
segmenting phonemes and a final check for understanding in the form of thumbs up/ thumbs
down before switching to the after portion of the lesson.
After:
Once the students have indicated that they are able to segment phonemes through the thumbs up/
thumbs down response, they will return to their tables. The teacher will pass out a different kind
of Elkonin boxes. It will be a piece of paper that has three parking spaces on one side and four
parking spaces on the other side. Students will all be given four toy cars. The teacher will say a
word to the whole class and the students will “park” a car for each phoneme. To add a
challenge, the teacher will also provide some words that contain four phonemes. The students
should realize this and flip their papers over to be able to accommodate all four phonemes. After
the teacher says each word, she will circulate the room providing help where needed, ensuring
students are correctly segmenting the phonemes, and providing behavior specific praise to
students.
Assessment: Detail the assessments that will be used within the lesson. Be sure to include formative
assessments, formal, informal, summative, etc.
Type of Description of Modifications or Evaluation Criteria
assessment assessment accommodations
Informal/ formative Students will It is okay if Cole Students should be paying attention by
participate in the has to repeat after looking at the board and the teacher,
choral responses the teacher or not talking out of turn, keeping their
another student hands to themselves, and responding
when the teacher asks them to.
Formal/ summative Students will Cole can have Given three- or four- phoneme words,
correctly segment the assistance from a the students will be able to orally
phonemes in words paraeducator or segment them into their proper
while using the the teacher during phonemes with 80% accuracy five days
Elkonin boxes at their this independent in a row.
tables work time
Plan for Classroom Management:
During circle time, students will be sitting in their designated squares on the carpet. They will have
been practicing the classroom rules of “hands to yourself” and “quiet while the teacher is speaking” the
whole year. Active learning will occur because the teacher will give students many opportunities to
respond and to practice segmenting phonemes. There will be positive reinforcement in the form of
behavior specific praise throughout the lesson.
Paraeducator Support:
During the “before” portion of the lesson, the paraeducator will be participating in the review.
During the “during” portion of the lesson, the paraeducator will sit behind the students and make sure
that they are on-task.
During the “after” portion of the lesson, the paraeducator can sit at the table with the RtI Tier 2 students
and assist or direct them. This way, the teacher will be free to circulate the room and monitor progress.
Resources:
Smartboard Elkonin boxes template:
[Link]
