Why do we teach 7 syllable types?
For several decades, researchers have been studying how the brain learns to read, spell, and write. Today we refer to this research as the Science of Reading. The Science of Reading research shows that structured literacy is the best way to teach most children, especially children with dyslexia or other reading difficulties, to read and spell. According to the International Dyslexia Association, structured literacy consists of the following six components: phonology, sound to symbol, syllables, morphology, syntax, and semantics.
In this Teaching the 7 Syllable Types blog series, we will take a deeper drive into one of the components of structured literacy: syllable types. Over the next few weeks, we will learn about the seven syllable types, as well as syllable type activities that will help your students master the alphabetic code. Today's post is going to focus on the most common syllable type: closed syllables.
What is a syllable type?
To begin, you may be thinking,"What exactly is a syllable?" A syllable is
a unit of sound that contains consonant(s) and a vowel sound. English consists of single syllable words and multisyllabic words. For children to become proficient in the alphabetic code it is imperative they understand the seven syllable types, and know how to divide multisyllabic words into syllables for reading and spelling.
Some kiddos may think that English is a very tricky and confusing language. English may seem tricky especially since there are 44 phoneme speech sounds and 26 graphemes or letters. However, English is about 96% predictable! The secret to students' success is explicit structured literacy instruction, and teaching kiddos how to break words into smaller parts to make the words easier to read and spell.
What are the 7 syllable Types?
So, let's talk for a few minutes about what precisely are the 7 syllable types.
You may have read there are only 6 syllable types, and that is because some websites or blogs combine vowel teams and vowel diphthongs into one syllable type. Either way is correct. The key to remember is that kiddos need to be taught with explicit phonics instruction and have immediate corrective feedback.
Explicit and systematic instruction is key to kiddos learning to read and spell. So what does this mean? Teaching children to read is a "bottoms up" approach. This means we teach children starting with the basic teaching of letter to sound correspondences. Then move to blending and segmenting those sounds to read and spell words. Depending on the instructional needs of your kiddos you could start reading and spelling words with two phonemes and then move to three phoenmens.
In today's post, we will be focusing on CVC closed syllables. Did you know that closed syllables is one of the most common syllable types in the English language? Closed syllable types account for about 43% of syllables in texts. (Stanback, 1992) What does this mean for our students? Learning the seven syllable types and how to break multisyllabic words into those syllable types will help kiddos become better readers and spellers.
How to Teach Syllable Types: Closed Syllables
A closed syllable is a single syllable word or syllable (part of a multisyllabic word) where the vowel is "closed in" by one or more consonants. Since the vowel is "closed in" by at least one consonant the vowel is usually short or the vowel says it short vowel sound. For example, if we look at the word "hop." The vowel o is closed in by the consonant p, and will say its short vowel sound. (see in the syllable types anchor chart below) There are a few exceptions as in these spelling patterns: -old,-ost,-ind, and ild.
When introducing closed syllable types to students, I first show this flipchart with the closed syllable "not". I ask students to think of the closed door as a visual cue for remembering closed syllables. The final consonant “t” is like a closed door, it is closing in the vowel “o” making it say its short vowel sound.
Next, students receive a closed syllable types anchor chart. I use the gradual release model ( I do, We do, You do) to scaffold my instruction for reading closed syllable types.
How to teach syllable types:
First, I identify and label the vowel in the word with the letter v. Next, I underline any consonants that are directly after the vowel, label them with the letter c, and explain how I know the vowel is going to say its short vowel sound. Then I model how to tap (draw a sound dot for each phoneme), say each sound, and blend the sounds together to read the word. We continue this same process throughout the "Let's Practice Together," and " Your Turn" of the anchor chart.
Examples of Syllables: Closed Syllables
Here are a few examples of syllables:
CVC - got, fig, ran, hen, cup
CVC with digraphs- shop, chip, that, shed
CCVC ( blends and digraphs)- flash, crash,graph
** While digraphs are spelled with two letters, a digraph grapheme only makes one sound. Examples: /ch/ spelled ch, /f/ spelled ph, /sh/ spelled sh
You can also grab a free copy of my closed syllable types word list from my Boom tm store.
5 Easy Syllable Type Activities to Teach Closed Syllables
The orthographic process happens when pathways within the brain are created to connect the phonemes/speech sounds to the graphemes/letter(s). When these pathways are created, we can permanently store words into our long-term memory. This is why speech to print practice is so important for kiddos. Students need repeated practice and repetition for these pathways to be built within the brain.
Remember explicit instruction is key. For this reason, the gradual release (I do, We do, You Do) instructional practice should be used for all the following syllable type activities.
Here are 5 easy, fun, and engaging activities to help your students learn how to create the the pathways within brain to connect the phonological and orthographic processors. These pathways will help students become better readers and spellers of closed syllable types.
Sound Chains and Word Chains
To ensure that students are hearing all the sounds in a word scaffold instruction by using a sound chain. Once students are able to correctly hear all the sounds move to Word Chains.
Directions for Sound Chains--
The teacher says a word. “cub” (Teachers may show students pictures of the word too.)
The student repeats the word. “cub”
Using small manipulatives (small chips, small felt squares, small erasers) the student will stretch out the sounds in the word. /c//u//b/
Then the student will move one manipulatives for each phoneme into a sound box.
2. Word Chains
A word chain helps students build sound to symbol pathways within the brain. Students will be able to hear the phonemes within a word and connect the grapheme or letter that spells the given sound.
3. Phoneme Grapheme Mapping
Phoneme Grapheme Mapping combines phonèmes (sounds) and the graphemes (letters) to help students read and spell words. This activity supports the pathways within the brain that connects the phonological process and the orthographic processor.
Directions for Phoneme Grapheme Mapping:
Please note: Teachers may use pictures, or this activity could be completely oral.
The teacher says a word. “stem”
The student repeats the word. “stem”
Students “finger spell” the word to tap or stretch out the sounds in the word. When students are "finger spelling" a word they will tap sounds moving from left to right to simulate reading.
Students write the letters that spell the phonemes in the sound boxes. Finally, students write the word.
4. Scaffolded Word Sort Activities
•Picture Sorts with Phoneme Grapheme Mapping -
Teachers can scaffold this activity from strictly dealing with sounds in isolation to connecting sound to symbol correspondences. Before starting this activity, it is important that students can hear the explicitly taught phoneme(s). If students are having trouble sorting the pictures by the given phoneme, have students work on phonemic awareness activities until they can accurately hear the given sounds.
Let’s Begin:
•Review the names of the picture before starting the sort and share again during the lesson if a student is unsure of a picture’s name.
•The teacher should explicitly teach the sounds that students are listening for in the picture/ sound sort. For this sort, students are sorting the pictures by short o and short u. Using the gradual release model, the teacher should begin by explicitly modeling how to sort a few of the pictures. Continue the activity with “We do, and I do” portions of the gradual release model.
•Once students have correctly sorted the pictures, have them stretch out the phonemes that spell the name of one of the pictures. Then students write the letter that spells each sound in the Elkonin boxes. Continue until all the names of the pictures are spelled.
5. Review Reading and Spelling Game
Remember students need repeated practice and repetition for these pathways to be built within the brain. Playing review reading and spelling games is one fun and easy way to engage students in meaningful practice. Try some of these activities with your kiddos.
Boom cards are interactive task cards that allow students to practice skills that have been covered in lessons. These digital interactive task cards are great for seat work, independent work, and/or virtual learning days practice. You can click on the picture to learn more.
Game Boards
Another simple way to have students practice review reading and spelling features is through a simple board game. For this game I created words cards (closed syllable types), a game board, and use foam dice or a spinner.
For reading, students draw a card and read the word. If they read the word correctly, they may roll the dice and move on the board. The first player to reach the finish line wins the game. For spelling, the game is played in the same format, except the teacher calls out a word. Students must spell the word correctly to move on the game board. Click on the picture below to take advantage of this freebie located in my Boom Store.
Next Steps in Teaching the Syllable Types
Once students can read and spell closed syllables, teachers can instruct students on how to read multisyllabic VCCV words or use the Rabbit Syllable Division Strategy. We will talk more about how to teach students to read and spell VCCV multisyllabic words in the next post.
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