Using Phonics-in-a-Box in the classroom

Each Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box session is designed to complement daily reading instruction,with 20–30 minutes dedicated to explicit phonics instruction and practice for whole class and differentiated instruction.

Scroll through the steps of the Phonics-in-a-Box teaching pathway:

Sound groups:

Teacher Resource Book

The Teacher's Resource Book is your comprehensive guide for easily and successfully implementing the Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box program in the classroom.

There is a Teacher's Resource Book for each box, which includes:

• Series background, rationale and overview
• Easy-to-follow lesson plans
• Audio of letter sounds accessible by QR code
• Assessment information
• Photocopiable blackline masters.

Flashcards

The Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box 1 Alphabet Flashcards are used with students so they can learn the sounds of the 26 letters of the alphabet. The lower-case letter appears on the front of the card and the upper-case letter appears on the back.

The Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box 2 Consonant Flashcards teach students double consonant sounds, consonant digraphs and consonant blends.

The Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box 3 Vowel Flashcards explore long vowel sounds, r-controlled vowel, long /oo/ vowel sounds, diphthongs and the schwa/unstressed vowel sounds.

Flashcards are also available for individual purchase.

One-Word Readers

Each One-Word Reader includes eight words beginning with the focus letter or letter combination and a picture for each word.

There are 26 One-Word Readers in Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box 1, one for each letter of the alphabet, arranged into the five letter sets.

There are 24 One-Word Readers in Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box 2, each one focusing on a different consonant sound, and are arranged into three groups: double consonants, consonant digraphs and consonant blends.

There are 32 One-Word Readers in Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box 3, each one focused on a different vowel sound from the five vowel groups: long vowels, r-controlled vowels, long /oo/ vowels, diphthongs and the schwa/unstressed vowel.

Decodable Story Books

The Decodable Story Books are used to practise reading phoneme–grapheme correspondences, CVC words and high-frequency/sight words, and to build concepts about print skills.

These Story Books are to be read with students once they are familiar with the initial letter sounds in Box 1, the consonant letter sounds in Box 2, and the vowel sounds of Box 3.

The Story Books are engaging stories that also support students to make meaning when reading – that’s why we’ve called them Story Books!

You can find a list of all Decodable Story Book titles HERE.

Look inside a Decodable Story Book:

Meet The Author

Nelson Phonics-in-a-Box is authored by Deborah Foreman, a practising Literacy Leader and classroom teacher in North Adelaide, South Australia. Deborah has conducted in-depth research into early child language acquisition, and has used this knowledge to develop a phonics approach that incrementally and consistently builds students’ phonics ability.