Phonics
Strategy: Syllable Types Instruction
Appropriate Grade Level: 1st grade-3rd grade
Procedures/Steps:
1. Start with the first syllable type, found below, and teach students the characteristics of
it. Finding a way to use manipulatives really helps students visualize the syllable type
and compare it to others.
2. Practice the syllable type with single syllable words. Having students sort words into
piles that follow the rule and those that don’t is a great way to gain practice with the
syllable type.
3. Practice the syllable type with two and three-syllable words.
4. Go back and repeat the process with the rest of the syllable types found below.
5. Students practice multi-syllabic words that combine syllable types. This is where
students work on generalizing their knowledge so while games were great, now is the
time to move onto more real world situations like books and magazines.
6. Teach kids to divide syllables. One method is Spot and Dot Syllable Division.
7. Teach the schwa sound. It replaces the sounds of vowels such as the u in support.
Comments and/or tips:
 As you teach students about the different syllable types, make sure to inform them
that there may be “rule breakers” out there. Show some examples of words that
don’t follow the rule.
 Write words on index cards the follow the rule. Have a volunteer read the card
and have the class join in to say it together with power 3 times. *Having students
say things with power is from Grace Pilon’s Workshop Way and means to say it
with confidence.
 Games and/or manipulatives are great as guided practice!
 For individual practice, give students 5-10 sound-spelling words following the
guided practice. Write each word on the board after students complete it to give
them immediate feedback and a chance to self-correct. Following the sound
spelling you can ask students how many words they now know how to spell to
give them a confidence boost.
Source:
Knight-McKenna, M. (2008). Syllable types: A strategy for reading multisyllabic words.
Teaching exceptional children, 40, pp. 18-24.
Karen Evans
Phonics
Closed
Open
Single vowel followed
by one or more
consonants
Syllable that ends with
a vowel, usually long
Examples: Cab, dog,
in, dish, let. Rule
breakers: find and cold.
Examples: Hi, me, go,
sky
Rule breakers: to and
do
A syllable with a single Examples: Bike, skate,
Vowel-Consonantvowel followed by a
note, close
Silent e
consonant, then the
vowel e. The first
Rule breakers: love and
vowel is long and the
give
final e is silent.
A syllable with two
Long vowel team
Vowel Teams
vowels next to each
examples:
other. They can be
Meat, road, mail, say
long vowel teams,
make a long vowel
Variant vowel team
sound, or variant vowel examples:
teams which make a
Stew, paw, book
“whiny” vowel sound.
Rule breaker:
bread
A syllable with one or Examples: Car, her, fir,
R-controlled
two vowels followed
for, fur
by r. The r changes the
vowel sound to neither Rule breakers:
long nor short.
Fire, admire
Examples: table,
Consonant le, al, or el A syllable that has a
consonant followed by bridle, uncle, local,
the letters le, al, or elmedal, chapel, rebel
the only syllable type
without a vowel sound.
A syllable such as sion, Examples: tension,
Other final stable
tion, ture, sure, age,
nation, culture,
syllables
cious, and tious
composure, rampage
Phonics