Deleting Syllables with Ashley Powell

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Ashley Powell: Two big deep breaths for me.

[teacher and students breathe in and out deeply]

Okay. First graders, we are going to work on listening for syllables. Okay? Now a syllable is a part of a word that has one vowel sound. How many vowel sounds are in a syllable?

Students and Ashley Powell: One vowel sound.

Ashley Powell: So listen to my word. Are you ready? Say mas-. What's this one?

Students and Ashley Powell: Mas-.

Ashley Powell: Mas-. Good. Now say -cot. What's this one?

Students and Ashley Powell: -cot.

Ashley Powell: -cot. And if I blend these together, I get mascot. What is our school mascot? Trenton. What is our school mascot?

Trenton: A eagle.

Ashley Powell: It's an eagle. Can you flap your wings like an eagle. It's an eagle. That's right. And what was this word?

Students: Mascot!

Ashley Powell: Good job. Pan-. Can you say pan-?

Students: Pan-.

Ashley Powell: Now say -da.

Students: -da.

Ashley Powell: When we blend it together, we get ...

Students: Panda!

Ashley Powell: Let's try and challenge this a little bit. We're doing a really good job at blending these syllables. Let's see if we can now isolate, or get them by themselves, or even take them away. We're working with two-syllable words. How many syllables?

Students: Two.

Ashley Powell: Two. So let's go back to my word. Popcorn. What's the word?

Students: Popcorn.

Ashley Powell: Popcorn has two syllables. Pop-, -corn, right? What's this one?

Students: Pop-.

Ashley Powell: What's this one?

Students: -corn.

Ashley Powell: -corn. Good job. Now what happens if I take away -corn? What's left?

Students: Pop-.

Ashley Powell: Pop-. That's right. And if I take away pop-?

Students: -corn.

Ashley Powell: That's right. Let's try another one. Are you ready? Let's do rabbit. Can you say rabbit?

Students: Rabbit.

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

Students: Rab-.

Ashley Powell: 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. Let's do winter. Can you say winter?

Students: Winter.

Ashley Powell: All right, tell me the syllables. Are you ready?

Students: Win-, -ter.

Ashley Powell: Good job. If I take away -ter, what's left?

Students: Win-.

Ashley Powell: All right. You guys have done such a good job with your syllables today. Congratulations.

[Ms. Powell claps for the students.]

Announcer: For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to Eisenhower Elementary School, Enid Public Schools, and the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and two anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Ashley Powell: This is Reading Universe.