1. An Overview of Syllable Awareness

Quick Look: Segmenting Words into Syllables

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Teacher Liz Quezada: Say staple.

Students and Teacher Liz Quezada: Staple. Sta-, -ple. Staple.

Early Step

Teaching children syllable awareness is an early step toward teaching them phonemic awareness, which is challenging for some to learn. Early practice with word parts (syllables) prepares children’s brains for blending individual sounds (phonemes) into whole words.

Quick Look: Blending Syllables to Produce a Word

Quick Look: Deleting Syllables from a Word

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Ashley Powell: Rabbit, can you say rabbit?

Students: Rabbit.

Ashley Powell: Good rab-, -it. It has two syllables. What's the first syllable?

Students: rab-.

Ashley Powell: rab-. Good job. And the second syllable.

Students: -it.

Ashley Powell: -it. Now, what happens if I take away -rab.? What's left?

Students: -it.

Ashley Powell: -it. Good job.

For each phoneme, students should learn the grapheme, how to make the sound, a keyword, and letter formation. This guide includes support for teaching these components and is sequenced in an order comparable to many scope and sequences found in reading programs.