As you know, the vowels have short sounds and long sounds. Vowels say their short sounds when they are closed in by — or followed by — a consonant. If a vowel has a consonant after it, we call that a closed syllable. You can think about it like the consonant is protecting the vowel so it can say its short sound.

I am going to spell a syllable for you. Please do not blurt out the syllable! We are going to move through the syllable — both coding and labeling. Here we go.

Now, look all the way through the syllable and touch the vowel. Underline the vowel and mark it with a ‘v’ for vowel.

Now look next door, immediately after the vowel. Is the vowel closed in by a consonant?

If the vowel is closed in by the consonant then the syllable is closed and the vowel is short.

Mark the vowel with a breve and code the syllable as closed with a ‘C’ and a circle around it.

What’s the vowel sound?

Now let’s tap and read the syllable together.

/b/, /ŭ/, /p/. /bŭp/.