Liz Quezada: I want you guys to tell me what is a syllable? Ready? A syllable is a ...

Liz Quezada and students: ... a word or a part of a word with one vowel sound.

Liz Quezada: Very good.

DeAngela Huggins: Okay, guys. So we're going to get ready to start our lesson today.

Narrator: Reading Specialist DeAngela Huggins is about to teach a phonics lesson about multi-syllable words. So, for the warmup, she's using flashcards with closed syllables.

DeAngela Huggins: So we're going to be working with words that have more than one syllable today. So I thought it'd be really cool that if we start with our warmup with some syllables. We're going to read that syllable. So, remember, these aren't actually words ... these are just what?

Students: Syllables ...

DeAngela Huggins: So we know a syllable is a part of a word that has a vowel sound. So you ready? Alright, is it open or closed?

Students: Closed ...

DeAngela Huggins: How do you know that it's closed?

Student: Because the 't' is blocking the 'e'. The 'e' is just saying, "Hey, let me out."

DeAngela Huggins: It's saying "Let me out." It's closed. So what type of sound would it have? Long or short sound?

Students: Short ...

DeAngela Huggins: Short sound. So let's read our syllable together. It is ...

Students: /c/, /ă/, /t/. Cat.

DeAngela Huggins: What is it?

Students: Cat.

DeAngela Huggins: Very good. Nice. Alright, here we go. Open or closed syllable? What is it?

Students: Closed ...

DeAngela Huggins: It's a closed syllable. What consonant is closing in our vowel?

Students: 's' ...

DeAngela Huggins: What's going to be the sound of our 'u'?

Students: /ŭ/ ...

DeAngela Huggins: Let's read our syllable.

Students: /tus/ ...

DeAngela Huggins: Very good.

Narrator: If the students can easily identify closed syllables, then they can quickly determine that the vowel sound is short. Putting them well on their way to reading multi-syllable words.

DeAngela Huggins: Why is it important to know that if it's open or if it's closed? Why do we need to know that? Why don't we even care, Leona?

Leona: If we know if it's open or closed, then we know if it makes its long sound or its short sound.

DeAngela Huggins: And that helps us to do what?

Student: Read and write.

DeAngela Huggins: Very good. It helps us to read and write the words. So what was our syllable? Let's go...

Students: /las/ ...

DeAngela Huggins: Very good.

Students: Enjoy this video? Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale, the American Federation of Teachers, The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and three anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., The Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

DeAngela Huggins: This is Reading Universe.