A PARENTS/GUARDIAN GUIDE
The Basics:
 Syllables- parts of a word that go together
 There are six types of syllables (we will learn about
at least 3)
 Vowel Sounds- there are two vowel sounds
o Short – the short sounds of a vowel such as the
a in apple; the o in octopus; the e in Ed; the I
in itch; the u in up
o Long- the long sound of a vowel, when the
vowel says it’s own name such as the a in
safe; the e in Pete; the I in pine; the o in home;
the u in mule
TYPES OF SYLLABLES:
1. Closed syllable – a syllable that has one vowel
and must be closed in with a consonant at the
end of it
 when you have a closed syllable the vowel makes
a SHORT sound
Examples:
Cat (1 closed syllable) catnip (two closed syllables)
Bath, clump, best, flash, up, etc.
2. Open syllable- when a syllable ends in a vowel;
the vowel will make a looooong sound
Examples:Go,label (first syllable is la/ second syllable is
a closed syllable el)
3. V-C-E (vowel – consonant- e syllable) the vowel
makes a long sound and the e is silent
Examples:
Plate, frame, cape, sale
OTHER CONCEPTS
BLENDS
- Blends are when there are more than one
consonants together and they make their own
sounds
- Examples: clump, blend, slam
DIGRAPHS
- a digraph is when you have to consonants
together that make only one sounds
- examples are: wh, sh, th, ch, (chop, path, when,
shop)
TRIGRAPHS
- three consonants together that make only one
sounds
- examples are- tch (watch)
SUFFIXES- a group of letters we add to the end of a base
word
- examples are:
1. VOWEL SUFFIXES- es, ed, ive, able, en, er, est, ish, y
2. CONSONANT SUFFIXES- s, ful, less, ness, ly, ty, ment
FLOSS RULE- usually, if there is a word that is only one syllable
and it ends in f, l, or s, we double the last letter (we
call this a bonus letter)
- examples:
o glass, ball, staff
These are just some concepts that I think will help you
out this year!!! If you have other questions, don’t
hesitate to email me!