Explaining syllables to kindergarten

Teaching Syllables In Kindergarten - Simply Kinder

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Looking for tips for teaching syllables in kindergarten? Explicitly teaching syllables is so important to building foundational reading skills. Keep reading for Science of Reading-aligned teaching tips and engaging activity ideas to use in your classroom!

Teaching syllables in an effective way that impacts reading is possible with the right instruction and activities! Go beyond clapping the syllables of a word with these teaching tips!

Check out these related posts:

What is the reading rope?
Word Mapping Activities for Kindergarten
Science of Reading Centers in Kindergarten

Read all of the Science of Reading articles here.

This article goes well with these Simply Kinder Resources:

What is a Syllable?

According to Dictionary.com, a syllable is “a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word; e. g., there are two syllables in water and three in inferno. After blending consonants and vowels, syllables are blended into words, and words are used in meaningful sentences.“

So it is a part of the word that has at least one vowel sound and needs to be blended together for reading to take place!

Teacher Tip: You can count syllables by listening to how many vowels sounds you hear! Note: vowel sounds not vowels written.

Why is it Important to Teach Syllables?

Syllable rules and types are important to teach so that students understand that English is logical and makes sense! As backed by the Science of Reading research, explicit phonics instruction is key to helping students understand spelling patterns and move to reading automaticity instead of memorization.

Knowing how to split words into syllables and decode them makes it easier for students to read accurately!

6 Types of Syllables

Did you know there are actually six different types of syllables? Wow! These are important for teachers to know and understand to help instruct their students.

Most kindergarten curriculums will not cover all 6 syllable types but some students might be ready to go beyond and learn them all.

# 1 Closed Syllables: Ends in a consonant and produces a short vowel sound.

This includes most CVC words and where reading instruction typically starts after sounds and letters are understood by students. Examples: hat, cat, sit.

This also includes VC words like on.

#2 Open Syllables: Ends in a vowel and produces a long vowel sound.

This includes CV words like hi, me, cry.

Open syllables should be taught alongside open or shortly thereafter, so students see, understand, and apply reading them differently!

#3 Silent E: Sometimes called a magic e, silent e changes the vowel to say its long sound.

Magic e has a final silent e with a consonant just before the silent e. This silent e makes the vowel before it have a long sound. Examples include kite, bike, cute.

A good way to transition to magic e is by adding e to the end of familiar CVC words and teaching the different sounds. An example is kit to kite.

#4 Vowel Teams: Two vowels that make one sound.

It’s important to teach that these vowels form one sound and not two! Examples include: mail, boat, play, meet. These are typically not taught in kindergarten but some students might be ready to start reading and writing these syllable types!

#5 R-Controlled Syllables: These syllables have at least one vowel followed by an r.

This combination gives a unique blended vowel sound. Examples include car, star, far, her, bird.

Use the All About the Sound Teacher Tip Cards to help teach and understand all 44 phonemes including r-controlled! Part of the Sound Wall Bundle Here or grab them separately here.

#6 Consonant-le Syllable: This syllable has no vowel sound as the silent e is the only vowel.

This syllable type is usually taught only after the first 5 are mastered. Examples include purple, table, and apple.

Teaching Syllables In Kindergarten

Understanding how to split words into syllables makes it easier to decode and understand which sounds to make when reading! This also transforms into writing skills! Especially for understanding the vowel sounds.

Tips for Teaching Syllables in Kindergarten:

Explicitly teach syllable types. In kindergarten, in my opinion, it is 100% appropriate to work with open and closed syllables as well as silent e.
Use mouth mirrors with students so they can clearly see their jaws open and close for each vowel sound! Remember vowels are sounds you can sing.
Talk like a whale (like from Finding Nemo). The syllables will be easily heard with whale talk.
Make it tactile – jump it, skip it, or whatever you can think of to make it fun
Watch videos about syllables like this one from Jack Hartman:

Explicitly teaching sounds, phonics patterns, syllables, and decoding skills is key to building a strong foundation for literacy. Consider using a Sound Wall with a Consonant Wall and Vowel Valley (shown below) to help students understand the sounds in each syllable.

Learn more about the Sound Wall Bundle here!

Use these key takeaways and tips to help guide your instruction:

Explicitly teach sounds and phonics patterns to build a strong foundation
Use a sound wall, modeling, and mouth mirrors to teach sounds
Build upon these skills by teaching syllable types and the phonics rules that apply
Guide instruction with decodable readers and word work activities to practice these skills
Reteach and provide support frequently to all students
Teach all of the phonics rules and syllables types to students that are ready so they’re not guessing any words

Do you have more tips to share? Join the conversation inside the Simply Kinder Teachers Facebook Group here!

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Tips for Teaching Syllables - Lucky Little Learners

Written by: Jess Dalrymple

There’s no doubt about it – teaching syllables is an important part of reading instruction. After all, this skill shows up in primary grade level standards – regardless of where you teach. But how do you get your students to understand what syllables are, and what are the best ways to practice syllabication once it is introduced?

First, let’s dive into why it’s a benefit to young readers to understand syllables. From there, we will offer some suggestions for strategies and resources teachers can use to make teaching syllables a breeze!

Why do kids need to understand syllables?

When younger kids can hear the different sounds and syllables in words, they will have the foundation to be able to chunk apart and blend together sounds and word parts as beginning readers.

As children progress through grade levels, having a strong understanding of how words are broken into syllables can help them decode, pronounce, and spell longer words. In fact, did you know that over 80% of English words have two or more syllables! So, having a strategy for how to chunk multisyllabic words into single syllables is much more efficient than trying to sound out a long string of letters.

How to Teach Syllables

Download Under Construction HERE

Explain what syllables are

Basically, a syllable is a single vowel sound in a word. This can be confusing for kids because they will want to count the number of vowels they see in a written word. This will take some practice, but it is important to help kids understand that syllables are not single vowels; they are single vowel sounds. Try demonstrating this with a word like “beautiful”. There are five vowels, but when you listen closely, there are three vowel sounds.

beau
ti
ful

Another way to explain is by calling syllables “beats” in words. Try clapping the syllables in students’ names and in names of objects around the classroom. Have students join in as they get more comfortable! Take this one step further and sort the people and objects into groups by the number of syllables.

One more tip: Try putting your hand under your chin to count the number of syllables in words. The number of times your chin drops when you’re saying a word is the number of syllables the word has.

Try it! How many times does your chin touch your hand when you say the word ‘banana’? Your chin should have dropped three times – ‘ba-na-na’. This works because your mouth has to change positions to form a new vowel sound (aka syllable), causing your chin to drop.

Finally, kids will love this video explaining syllables:

Examples of Syllables

‘dog’ – one syllable
‘pen-cil’ – two syllables
‘bi-cy-cle’ – three syllables
‘cal-cu-la-tor’ – four syllables
‘hip-popot-a-mus – five syllables

Here’s a free site called “How Many Syllables” where you can type a word and it will tell you how many syllables, how to divide the word into syllables, and what the primary and secondary syllables are (to help with pronunciation).

4 Strategies for Teaching Syllables

1- Count Syllables

Practicing syllable counting can be simple! Call out the number of syllables in names when dismissing kids to line up for lunch, “If your first name has three syllables, line up.” Or, send kids to their literacy center by telling them to hop for each syllable in their name. “Jess-i-ca, syllable hop on over to the writing center”.

2- Teach Younger Students to Segment by Syllables

When you notice a student struggling to read a longer word, cover up all but the first syllable. Once they sound out the first syllable, reveal the next syllable to sound out, then have them put the two syllables together. Learn more about reading strategies to use with young readers.

3-

Teach Older Students Syllable Division

Look at the word. Mark the vowels.
Determine which syllable division rule (VC/CV, V/CV, VC/V, or V/V) applies.
Cut or mark the word accordingly.
Read the word.

4- Practice Syllables With Poetry

Haikus

Haikus are fun to write! Kids can get creative and write about any topic, but the poem must be three lines long:

1st line – 5 syllables
2nd line – 7 syllables
3rd line – 5 syllables

Limericks

Limericks are also a form of poetry that requires syllable counting!

They are five lines long.
Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme with one another.
Lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other.
They have a distinctive rhythm (based on number of syllables)
They are usually funny.

This site has excellent directions for how to write a limerick.

Resources for Teaching Syllables

Lucky Little Learners has something for everyone when it comes to supporting the teaching of syllables in K-2 classrooms! Our syllables resources are organized by grade level below.

Kindergarten & 1st Grade Syllable Resources

Kindergarten ELA Toothy

syllable counting: 1-4 syllable words

Download Syllable Counting Toothy HERE

1st & 2nd Grade Phonics Toothy

Practice with spelling patterns to master decoding by syllables

Download 1st & 2nd Grade Syllables Toothy HERE

P

honological Awareness Toothy

It’s the Toothy® you know and love, with a twist! This phonological awareness resource includes 45 sets of phonological and phonemic awareness skills. It includes early, basic, and advanced phonological awareness activity sets. Toothy® task kits are highly engaging task card games that allow students to practice skills by answering questions in a fun, motivating way.

Download Phonological Awareness Toothy HERE

2nd Grade Syllable Resources

Phonics Day By Day

Daily review all year with all essential 2nd grade phonics skills, including syllables!

CVC Syllables
CV Syllables
CVCe Syllables
CVVC Syllables
R-Controlled Syllables
C + le Syllables
CV Two Syllables
CVCe Two Syllables
CVVC Two Syllables
Multisyllabic Words

Download Phonics Day by Day HERE

Multisyllabic Words Toothy Pack

Kids get to play the Toothy game while focusing on syllable types and decoding multisyllabic words:

Counting Syllables
Closed Syllables / CVC
Multisyllabic CVCe Words
Open Syllables
Two-Syllable Long Vowel Words
Final Stable Syllables

Download MultiSyllabic Words Toothy HERE

Phonics Centers for 2nd Grade & 1st & 2nd Grade Phonics Toothy

Students get tons of practice with spelling patterns to master decoding by syllables with these resources.

Download Phonics Centers HERE

Download Phonics Toothy HERE

Dividing into syllables for preschoolers ✅ Blog IQsha.ru

Why divide words into syllables?

There are different methods of teaching reading. Most of them suggest going from simple to complex: first learn the letters, and then sequentially combine them into words, sentences and texts. How to teach a child to divide words into syllables is the main issue for the successful formation of reading and writing skills.

Why is this so important?

division into syllables makes it easier to read long words;
helps with phonetic analysis;
trains the correct transfer from one line to another.

If this skill is successfully mastered, you can proceed to the next stage - reading whole words in one breath.

Why is it difficult to teach preschoolers to divide words into syllables?

It may seem to an adult that this is a very simple skill that can be taught even to a non-reading child. But not everything is so simple: often preschoolers do not have the skill of pure speech. Children confuse voiced and deaf sounds and cannot pronounce them clearly.

Getting to know the letters in their alphabetical pronunciation will be a big mistake. If you call the letters “em”, “sha”, “en”, then it will be very difficult for the baby to explain later why they sound differently in the word “ma-shi-na”.

What difficulties can you encounter when learning:

ignorance of letters;
speech defects;
misunderstanding of the difference between sound and letter;
inability to count to five;
no sense of rhythm;
misunderstanding what the word means, the inability to recognize it in the picture.

First you need to eliminate all the difficulties and only then proceed to the formation of a skill.

How to explain the division of words into syllables to a preschooler?

Clearly plan the process and the entire sequence of actions. It is not necessary to set a specific time frame, because each child masters the skill at an individual pace.

Prepare in advance games and additional materials in the form of flashcards and magnetic ABCs. Children perceive new knowledge visually much better, and they also like to touch three-dimensional letters and make phrases out of them.

Look at a simple algorithm and you will understand how to explain the division into syllables to a child without nerves and special education:

1. Show what a syllable is
Draw two letters using cubes, magnetic alphabet or cards , and connect them. To make it more interesting, come up with a fascinating story: two sounds met and sang a song together: "maaaaa." This song turned out because there is a vowel sound “a”. Without it, it would not have been possible to sing, so the vowel sound is an important participant in the meeting.

2. Show what syllables are
Put a vowel and a consonant next to each other and, rearranging them, begin to introduce the child to the types of syllables: open, closed, reverse and complex.

3. Make a disyllabic word
Ask how many vowels are there? Count them by touching each with your finger. How many vowels, so many syllables.

4. Move on to games.

Subsequent sessions begin with a brief repetition, gradually complicating the material. For training, we do not recommend giving preschoolers incomprehensible and long words that cannot be supported by a picture.

Do Aikyusha's developmental exercises

Syllable Rules

To stimulate cognitive interest and keep the desire to learn, do not use incomprehensible and difficult rules in the lessons. An adult should know them in order to prevent mistakes and explain new material in an accessible way.

The question of how to correctly divide words into syllables in Russian is periodically reviewed in scientific circles. The current approach is:

1. The syllable begins with a consonant: so-ba-ka. An exception is the consonant sound Y (lay-ka).

2. Deaf, hissing and voiced sounds belong to the next syllable. This rule is surprising in adults, because they used to teach differently. Now the division looks like this: sha-shka, mi-shka.

3. That's not all: from now on, double consonants are not separated when pronouncing: leaf-ve-ny, a-kku-rat-ny. On the letter, the hyphenation rule remained unchanged.

4. Each syllable has room for only one vowel.

5. Unpaired voiced consonants (p, l, n, m) close syllables in the middle of a word.

Games for dividing words into syllables

Teachers have simplified the learning of this important skill and developed many effective tasks in a playful way that can be easily used both at home and in the lessons in a developing studio or kindergarten.

Clap the word game

The facilitator shows a picture and says in one breath what is shown on it. Players must clap their hands as many times as there are syllables. To consolidate and maintain interest, give the participants words with a different number of syllables. Such a game will help you remember the division into complex syllables, and you can also organize it for 2-5 people or arrange a competition with collecting chips for the correct answers.

Game "How many syllables - so many steps"

An adult asks players to name words on a certain topic, for example, birds. The queue members call them and take as many steps forward as there are syllables in their word. The one with the longest word wins. If the number of steps is the same, then the game continues. An additional bonus can be given for the ability to correctly stress. As a result of such entertainment, children dynamically and effectively work out the skill of dividing into syllables and expand their vocabulary.

The game "Who will collect the most pictures"

You show pictures and name words of one or two syllables, and the players in response raise the number 1 or 2 or one or two hands. The one who completed the task correctly the fastest gets the picture. Then the game is complicated by the inclusion of three- and four-syllable words. This lesson perfectly trains the ability to quickly and mentally divide words into syllables, and also develops auditory perception.

Add a syllable game

The facilitator gives the children cards with the first parts of two-syllable words. The participants lay them out in front of them, and the adult reads the second part aloud. The task of the child is to understand whether the named syllable is suitable to complete the word. If yes, then the kid takes the card. The winner is the one who collects all the words faster. Please note: syllables must be only open and consist of two letters. Such a game helps to master the skill of reading and will clearly show the division into syllables.

How to train the division of words into syllables with a preschooler?

Oral explanation must be constantly reinforced with practice through games and fun activities. Regular lessons will bring this skill to automatism. The most effective teaching method is considered to be a combination of simple written and oral exercises.

Oral exercises to reinforce the skill of dividing words into syllables

"Pick the word"
Place cards with letters in front of the child so that they form a word. Now ask the kid to correctly divide it into syllables.
Feel It
To learn to hear the syllables, ask the child to place his hand horizontally on the larynx. Then say the word together and count how many times the chin dropped. Each downward movement means one syllable.
"Create a Melody"
Hand out crayons to the children and have them pretend they are drumsticks. Say the word and have the young musicians knock on the table as many times as they hear the syllables.

Syllable writing exercises

Color the Words
Give the children sheets of words written in different sizes and fonts. The task of the children is to paint each syllable in a different color.
Divide the words
Write different words on a piece of paper or board and ask the child to divide them into syllables using vertical lines.
Dots-boats
Write a word on a card and divide it into syllables with vertical lines. Then disassemble each part: mark the consonant + vowel below with a smooth line (boat), and mark the closing consonant in a closed syllable with a dot. This task helps to form word schemes and trains the skill of fluent reading.

It is not difficult to teach a child to divide words into syllables if you turn each lesson into a game and a fun quest that brings pleasure and good mood to all participants.

Aikyusha and the team

We teach a child to read syllables easily. 5 funny games

Teach your child to read by syllables, but nothing works? Do you repeat 10 times, but after a couple of seconds he forgets everything, and all your attempts end in screams and tears? Of course, school is coming soon and a slight panic seizes you, but relax and don't worry. Maybe your child is just not ready yet, or maybe you started wrong. Stay with us and find out everything.

How to teach a child to read in syllables so that he likes it?

If your child already knows the letters, but does not want to learn to read by syllables, most likely you simply did not explain why he needs it. Arguments like “to learn to read”, “to do well in school and be no worse than others” do not work. The child needs to understand why he is doing this at the moment? That is, you must “sell” him the idea of learning to read in syllables so that he wants it himself and is still satisfied.

How to do it?

Start with what your child is interested in. For example, while walking around the city, draw his attention to the poster of a cinema or circus and ask: “Are you interested in knowing which cartoon will be shown in the cinema? Let's honor." Or here is another good example: “Ice cream, what flavor would you like? Let's read what they offer here? Of course, the child will say that he cannot read and ask you to help him. Then you explain to him why you need to be able to read and what is the use of this.

The idea is "sold" - you can start learning!

If your child does not yet know the entire alphabet, then at the same time as learning the letters, you can begin to make small words out of them. Did the child learn two or three letters? For example "M", "U", "I". Excellent! Fold them immediately into the word "MEW" and ask the child who does this. Then ask him to repeat after you syllable by syllable: “meow”, pausing after the first syllable.

Thanks to this approach, it will be easier for the child to read longer words in syllables in the future.

5 fun exercises for teaching children to read by syllables

The first rule that all parents should remember before starting to teach their child anything up to 7 years old is no coercion, always translate everything into a game. Then your child will be happy to participate in the process, and you will see the result faster.

Therefore, all the exercises that we have selected for you are in the form of a game.

Surprise eggs

Take some plastic Kinder Surprise eggs and small cardboard cards with letters. Think of a game scenario. For example, put the letters in the eggs that make up the name of the child's favorite cartoon character according to the principle - one egg - one letter. Then call the child and say that you need to find the name of the hero, otherwise he is lost and cannot find his way home. Then begin to open the eggs together and fold the name in such a way that there is a small distance between the syllables, for example "BIN-GO". As soon as you add up the name, ask the child to read it in syllables and call the hero so that he can find his way home.

When the child manages to name all the characters, you can give him the toy characters he called (if there are such toys at home) or turn on your favorite cartoon.

Find a double

Take blocks with letters and together with your child make a syllable out of two letters. For example, let there be a syllable "BA". Say the syllable several times so that the child remembers it. Then ask him to find the familiar syllable "BA" on the pages of any book.

Of course, it may not work the first time. But nothing, praise the child for every syllable found and say that this is just a game and in case of failure you should not be upset.

This exercise develops visual memory well and helps the child get used to syllables.

Let's be friends

What could be more boring than just combining vowels and consonants into syllables? Another thing is to teach letters to be friends so that they make up words. You will need a metal board and letters on magnets. Arrange the letters on the right and left in this order:

Then tell the child that the letters quarreled and they need to be connected and made friends. Move together the letter "A" to "U" and read what happened - "AU". So the child will understand that connecting letters into syllables is fun and will begin to connect syllables into words with pleasure.

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Also learn to read by syllables with our free games.

Pick me up

In this exercise you will have to get a little creative. Take an A4 sheet and draw a dog on it. Sign the word “SO-BA-KA” under the drawing by syllables. Then take scissors and cut vertically so that you get three equal parts with pattern elements and syllables. Ask the child to read each syllable separately, and then ask the dog to collect and read the word syllable by syllable.

If you have no time to draw yourself, look for similar puzzles in the store.

This fun activity will quickly help your child learn to read long words.

Transformer Word

Blocks or cards with letters are suitable for this exercise. For example, put together the already familiar word “SO-BA-KA” with your child. Read it syllable by syllable and disassemble it into individual letters. Say: “And now you will see how much our “DOG” can give us new words! Let's watch?".

Then form new words from individual letters: “SOK”, “TANK”, “BOK”, “KO-SA”. Make up words in turn, ask the child to read each syllable by syllable and explain the meaning of what they read.

This exercise allows you to learn to read several words from familiar syllables in one session.

Practice with your child every day for 10-15 minutes and in a couple of weeks you will see the first results. Your child will learn to combine letters into syllables and will already be able to read small words in syllables. And most importantly, he will do it with great enthusiasm and pleasure, because the whole learning process is an exciting game.

And if you have no time to experiment and study with your child on your own, enroll your child for a free trial lesson in our online school.