Syllasearch
 Syllasearch is an activity that establishes and enhances the
knowledge that is needed to accurately and automatically
decode multisyllabic words.
 It provides practice at recognizing many of the important
syllables that comprise multisyllabic words.
 It supports students in analyzing words into their
constituent syllables, and synthesizing those syllables into
words.
 Syllasearch procedures can be used with multisyllabic words
that students encounter in trade books and other reading
material.
Syllasearch Procedure
1. Meet the words- Teacher introduces words.
2. Find the Syllables- Break the words into syllables and build
matrix.
3. Collect the Words- Use the syllables in the matrix to build
words.
4. Cagey Questions- Words from matrix are read in connected
text.
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Syllasearch
The purpose of Syllasearch is to support students’ development of
multisyllabic word decoding.
It does so by providing students with
opportunities to analyze words into their constituent syllables and to
synthesize those syllables into words.
The words and syllables below are from the MEDIUM LIST- SET 4. of the
SYLLASEARCH WORDS AND SYLLABLE LIST They are used as examples
in the procedures that follow. The procedures can be applied to any
multisyllabic words.
MEDIUM LIST- SET 4
WORDS
center
market
marvel
marvelous
marshal
marmalade
brisket
chapter
SYLLABLE MATRIX
cen
mar
bris
chap
ket
ter
vel
shal
ma
ous
lade
Tell students that the game they are going to play, Syllasearch, will help
them read long words (multisyllabic words) fast and easily. Explain that
Syllasearch has three parts.
In the first part, Meet the Words, the students will become acquainted
with a set of words. This means that you will read the words aloud and the
students can read along with you.
In the second part, Find the Syllables, students find syllables within the
words and the matrix is built. Those syllables become the parts that
students use to make words in the third part of the game.
The third part, Collect the Words, has two versions, both of which will be
described.
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Meet the Words:
Display the complete set of words in a column in a pocket chart or on the
white board.
Tell students that these are the words that they will use in the game. Go
down the column, pointing to each word, reading it aloud. IF there are any
words that you think the students may not have heard of, you may use the
word in a brief sentence or give a student friendly definition for the word.
For example, “Marvel. If you marvel at something, you express your great
surprise or admiration. Her fellow members marveled at her seemingly
infinite energy.” DO NOT BELABOR THE MEANING OF THE WORDS.
THIS IS NOT A VOCABULARY LESSON.
Assure students that if some of the words are unfamiliar now, it is all right
because the game will help everyone learn them. Stress that an important
first step in learning the words is to both hear them and say them. Read the
words aloud again, encouraging students to say them with you. Keep Meet
the Words brief and fast paced. At another time you might want to come
back and deal with the meanings or other aspects of the words in more
depth. But as the introductory phase of Syllasearch, Meet the Words is
only to provide the students with a context of a “set” of words that they will
deal with in a particular game of Syllasearch.
Before beginning the next phase, Find the Syllables, remove the complete
set of words.
Find the Syllables:
Place the first word in the list you have selected in the pocket chart and
pronounce it somewhat deliberately, asking the students to say it with you.
“This word is center. Read it with me, center.”
With the word still in the pocket chart, invite a student up to name the
letters in the syllable and articulate the sound the syllable makes. This is
repeated for each syllable.
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“What letters make the cen sound in the center?” (c-e-n)
“What sound do the letters c-e-n make in center?” /cen/
“What letters make the ter sound in center?” (t-e-r)
“What sound do the letters t-e-r make in center?” /ter/
As the student names the letters in the syllable and articulates the sound
the syllable makes, put the corresponding syllable card in the pocket chart,
arranging the cards in a matrix identical to the one on the Syllable Matrix
for that set of words. Continue in this way until all the words in the list
have been shown and pronounced, and all the syllable cards are arranged
in the matrix. For example, the syllable card ‘cen’ should appear at the top
of the first column of the matrix. The syllable card ‘ter’ should appear in
the second column, second row. (See matrix below)
NOTE: An easy way to keep track of where the syllable cards go is to put a
small code in the corner of each card. You could code your columns with
letter name and each of your rows with numbers. The first column would be
A, the second B and so on. The first row would be 1, the second row 2 and so
on. For example, on the ‘cen’ card you would mark ‘A1’ in the corner and the
‘ter’ card would be marked ‘B2’. Use a pocket chart to hold the cards when
building the matrix. A pocket chart allows the syllable cards to be easily and
repeatedly removed and replaced.
You will notice that syllables are repeated in several words. Once a syllable
has been put in the matrix and it comes up again in another word, just tell
the students that the syllable is already in the matrix. You may ask the
student to point to it in the matrix.
cen
mar
bris
chap
ket
ter
vel
shal
ma
ous
lade
Tell the students that they now have all the parts of the words and are
ready to go on to the part of Syllasearch called Collect the Words.
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Collect the Words:
In this part of the game, students collect words by combining syllables from
the matrix columns. There are two versions for Collect the Words.
VERSION 1:
Ask the students to look at the matrix and listen to the word that you say.
After you say the word, invite a student to come to the chart and build the
word. You can start with any word on the list, but only say the word, you do
not show the word.
“Listen to the word I say, marvelous…marvelous.”
Invite a student to come to the chart to build the word. The student should
pull away one syllable from each column to build the word, placing the
syllable cards below the matrix to form the word. So the display would look
like the following:
cen
ket
ter
lade
bris
chap shal
ma
marvelous
Have the students read the word that was built from the syllables, and
return each of the syllable cards in the word to their place in the matrix.
Students can write the word, as you write the word on the whiteboard or put
the completed word card (not the syllables that make the word) at the far
right of the pocket chart, so that the display looks like the following:
cen
mar
bris
chap
ket
ter
vel
shal
ma
ous
lade
marvelous
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Continue in this same way until all the words have been built, pronounced, and
written. At the completion of this version of Collect the Words, the final
display should look as follows, with the exception that the list of words can
be in any order.
cen
mar
bris
chap
ket
ter
vel
shal
ma
ous
lade
center
market
marvel
marvelous
marshal
marmalade
brisket
chapter
VERSION 2:
This version starts with the matrix. The difference is that instead of you
telling the students what word to make, as in Item 1 above, call on a student
to come and make any word he/she likes, noting that there are eight real
words that can be made. When a word is made, write that word on the
whiteboard, or place it in the pocket chart as a way of keeping track of
which of the words have built.
OTHER WAYS OF PRACTICING
1. Have the students make their own set of syllable cards with index
cards and markers.
-Using the matrix on the board as a model, students can arrange the
cards in the same formation on their desks, and try to build the eight
words. They can check their success with the list of words they wrote in
Version 1.
-Working in pairs, ask the students to make some words with the
syllables, both real and nonsense words, pronounce them to their
partners, and then write them.
2. There are a variety of game-like “overlays” that can be applied to
Syllasearch, such as keeping track of how fast a student or pair of
students can build all eight words, etc. The important point is
repeated practice of finding the syllables (analysis of words) and then
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collecting the words (synthesis of words) will help students tackle new
multisyllabic words. It is important, however, that the repeated
practices be fun. If they get boring and too pedantic they lose their
power.
3. Teachers have found it useful to develop sets of words and syllables
for multisyllabic words that students will encounter in trade books
and other materials that they will read. When creating these sets,
check dictionary.com for correct syllable division. When creating the
matrix, be sure that no two syllables that follow each other in a word
are presented side by side in the matrix.
_______________________Cut Here ___________________________
Read the word… Say it with me….
What letters make the _______ sound?
What sound do the letters _____ make?
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SYLLASEARCH
A Decoding Strategy
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Education Research and Dissemination Program
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