Teaching Syllables in a Fun and Interesting Way in the Classroom

Teaching syllables can be fun and engaging with your upper elementary aged students.

One of the fastest ways to get a student’s eyes to glaze over and lose focus is to bring up syllables. My eyes started to glaze over as I typed that word . . . syllables. Ugh. Closed syllables. Digraphs. R-Controlled vowels. There are some serious vocabulary words to include in an uninteresting and overwhelming topic. Unfortunately it is important to know and understand syllables as they are the foundation of any good reading teacher’s repertoire.

Teaching syllables does not have to be a snooze fest. Use these resources to liven up your syllable instruction!

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What is a Syllable?

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Syllables are the building blocks of words. Syllables are small speech sounds that contain at least one vowel.

Why Teach Syllables?

When students know how to break words into syllables, they are able to:

• helps students read more accurately and fluently
• pronounce unknown, multi-syllabic words
• spell words correctly, knowing when to double letters
• build confidence as readers

Syllables Vs. Morphemes

Syllables are building blocks of words that are based on the pronunciation. Morphemes are meaning based, dividing words based on their base/root, prefixes and suffixes.

Look at the word disagreeable. If we divided disagreeable by syllables the word would be separated like this:

dis / a / gree / a / ble

If we divided disagreeable by morphemes the word would be separated like this:

dis / agree/ able

Don’t get confused by the two. Syllables are sound based, morphemes are meaning based. You can read more about teaching Greek and Latin roots here.

Science of Reading and Syllables

What Does the Science of Reading Say About Phonics Instruction? The research shows that successful reading instruction needs to include systematic and explicit teaching of phonics. Knowing the different rules of syllables help give students clear guidelines as they learn to decode.

Systematic Order to Teach Syllables

When teaching reading, I would dedicate a few days to do a deep dive into syllables at the beginning of the school year. Take the time to discuss the six types of syllables and with the older students, make sure to use lots of examples of multisyllabic words- revolutionary, exemplary, compromise, dealership etc.

After reviewing the different types of syllables, do a little bit every day or every week. Break down a vocabulary word of the day by syllable and review, review, review. Most students will remember or learn how syllables work by doing a little consistently over time.

Begin by first discussing closed syllables. Once the students seem have a grasp on the short vowel sounds created by closed syllables, you can move on to magic e syllables, and then open syllables.

There may be a little wiggle room toward the end of this list, but the most important order to teach and review syllables are:

• Closed Syllables (CVC)– This syllable only has one vowel. The vowel sound is short. The vowel will have one or more consonants after the vowel. It does not have to have a consonant at the beginning of the word. The ending consonant is what makes it a closed syllable. Examples of closed syllables include:

sell, blast, on, shop, rush, peck

• Vowel-Consonant-e Syllables (VCE)– This syllable has a vowel, then a consonant, then an e at the end of the word. The e is silent causing the first vowel to have a long sound. Examples of Vowel-Consonant-e syllables include:

grape, name, scrape, globe, theme, time, mine, flute, prune

• Open Syllables (V)– This syllable has only one vowel which is the final letter in the syllable, making a long vowel sound. Examples of words that end with open syllables include:

I, shy, why, me, no, we, he

• R-Controlled Syllables– This syllable has a single vowel followed by the letter ‘r’ (ar, er, ir , or , ur). The vowel sounds in these syllables are not long or short, they are controlled by the ‘r.’ Examples of words with the r-controlled syllables include:

clerk, fork, art, born, stir, sort

• C-L-E Syllables– Also known as the Turtle Rule, this is syllable occurs when a consonant is followed by ‘le.’ This creates the schwa sound /ul/ like table, apple, stable. Since all syllables need to have at least one vowel in them, the silent ‘e’ at the end of the C-L-E syllables acts as the vowel in the second syllable. This syllable will only occur at the end of a multi-syllabic word. Examples of words with C-L-E syllables include:

bundle, riddle, sample, sprinkle, fumble, jumble, simple

• Double Vowel/ Vowel Team Syllables– This syllable contains a vowel digraph (two vowels that create one sound) or a diphthong (Two vowels in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves toward another- coin, cloud, boy). Examples of words with the double vowel syllables include:

fraud, crawl, count, owl, noise, toys

Resources to Use in the Classroom When You Teach Syllables

Introduce & Review the Concept of Syllables with Students

I love to share this delightful video that explains syllables. The absurd goofiness hits the perfect tone for fifth grade students. I love when the weird dot pulls out the saw to cut the apple, salamander and other creatures into its syllables. The kids were shocked and completely engaged. The creators of this video captured the meaning of syllables perfectly!

Syllable Anchor Chart & Daily/Weekly Practice

Use a syllable anchor chart for student notes and use them in their interactive notebooks. This way you can refer back to it throughout the year.

Use this syllable website to see how and where words are divided by their syllables. When practicing dividing words into syllables it can be confusing and intimidating to not know for sure how to divide a word into syllables. This website, How Many Syllables, takes the intimidation away and shows you exactly where the syllables should be divided.

It is okay if you need to check the syllabication of a specific word. There are lots of times where a student might ask about the syllable division of a specific word and I have to go back and check. I’ll say something like, “hmmm I am not sure about that word. I need to look it up and get back to you.” If I have a moment, I will look it up right then. If I don’t, I will circle back at a later moment.

Repeated practice throughout the year will help students to understand and master the skill of syllable division which will help to improve their reading fluency and spelling.

Make Dividing Syllables as Visual as Possible

Provide the students with lots of visual opportunities to break a word down by syllables. Many students don’t understand syllables and will randomly insert lines in words. Use your document camera and dry erase board to showcase what syllable division looks like.

If you notice in the picture below, I used a highlighter to visually identify the closed syllabled for the first two lines of words. For the last three lines, I pulled student names to come up to the board and divide a specific word up by syllables. I called five students at a time so that the activity didn’t take forever.

This was a great way for me to assess who was understanding basic closed syllables and who needed more review.

Sign up for a vocabulary word of the day website, like the New York Times, or get a vocabulary word of the day calendar to read with students. As part of your word study, break the words into its syllables.

Your weekly spelling list is another great resource to use when dividing words up into syllables (If it was created by a research based program- Into Reading, My View etc. and not a group of teachers from your district pulling together lists of random words). Do this as a whole class together until you see your students successfully dividing syllables.

Most students will typically insert random lines and slashes into words so it looks like they have the skill, when in fact they really have no clue.

Don’t think of teaching spelling as an isolated skill that isn’t necessary since students have access to spell check. Think of it as another way of teaching reading- decoding and fluency skills in addition to building vocabulary.

Why Students Struggle With Phonics

Not Developmentally Ready for Phonics

Some students may struggle with decoding, phonics and syllable instruction because they may not be developmentally ready for structured development of phonological awareness lessons in kindergarten or first grade. There is a reason that Finland has some of the highest literacy rates and does not formally start to teach reading until students are 7 years old.

Chronic Ear Infections

Interestingly, students who struggled with chronic ear infections at a younger age may be more likely to struggle with phonemic awareness. If you think about it, this makes sense. In an ear infection, the narrow tubes can become swollen and blocked, leading to mucus in the middle ear and causing noises and sounds to be muffled.

This can cause the natural exposure to spoken language to be hindered when a child is constantly struggling with ear issues, missing out on some development of phonemic awareness. One way to help students who struggle with phonemic awareness is through the read aloud.

Resources for Teaching Phonics in a Structured Way

There are quite a few programs out there that teach word structure in a systematic way. I have used a few over the years that I have found were successful for students.

This doesn’t mean other programs don’t work (Orton-Gillingham is one I have heard most often, but do not have experience using), just that when I was a resource teacher and reading specialist the school district that I worked for used the programs listed below with relative success.

These programs and resources were intended for a more targeted small group intervention but are effective in teaching students about syllables, phonics and decoding words. These resources are typically targeted for students in the K-5 grade levels, but older students who struggle with decoding would most likely benefit from one of these more structured programs.

Out of the options listed below, Wilson would be the most age appropriate for older students as many of the others are decorated with a more elementary touch. They are good programs, just ones that may make older readers more self-conscious about the workbooks in which they are working on their reading skills.

• Wilson Reading System
• Get Ready for The Code

• Explode the Code

• SRA Reading Mastery- I didn’t add a link because it looks like this program has not been updated within the past 10 years.
• Lexia

Which Resource is Best?

Low-Cost Option

Get Ready for the Code is the best for a low-cost intro to phonemic awareness, phonics and overall fine motor skill development. There are three workbooks that cost around $15-20 depending on where you find them. The content is best suited for students in Kindergarten and First grade. You can certainly work with older kids, but it has a very primary feel to the entire work book.

Medium-Cost Option

Lexia would be perfect for a homeschool family who doesn’t really know the structure of teaching phonics and syllables. It is also a program I would advocate for any student with an IEP for reading and/or receiving intervention reading services. Lexia will be more powerful than any aide and most interventionists. Since it is a computer program students can do a little bit each day.

Lexia is well worth the cost breakdown per student. I purchased the program for my own children to use at home during the Pandemic and the cost came out to about $150ish per child for an entire year’s worth of access. I believe there was a second child discount. Needless to say it was well worth it. (FYI- I don’t receive any money for endorsing the program, I just truly think it is a great reading resource)

Most-Expensive and Best Option

If money was not an issue, getting trained in a structured program like Wilson would be the best for students. Orton-Gillingham is another possible option, but I am not familiar with their program. This is also the most impactful for any reading interventionist teacher and is a worthwhile investment for any school district.

Check Out My Other Engaging Vocabulary Posts

Resources for Teaching Schwa

The Ultimate Greek and Latin Roots Word List

Guide to Teaching Prefixes and Suffixes

Executive Functioning and Reading Comprehension Challenges

Making Words Teaching Strategy

How to Teach Greek and Latin Roots

The Magic of the Teacher Read Aloud

The Importance of Teaching Idioms Throughout the Year

Teacher Classroom Resources

How Do You Handle Syllables?

Do you ignore them? Do you only teach them when they show up as part of the spelling list? Whatever you do, I think breaking syllables down into smaller teaching chunks, a little bit each day or week, will be more helpful for the students in your class.