5. Lesson Plans for Open Syllables

In this section, you’ll find:

• A lesson plan for introducing open syllables
• A lesson plan for reinforcing short vs. long syllables
• Materials for teaching the lessons, including those needed for "The Alphabet Queen"
• Support for adding syllable work into your phonics routine
• A word list to support lessons and student practice  

The Reading Universe lesson plans are free to download and use in your classroom.

• The Alphabet Queen Story (opens in new window)
• Illustrations for the Alphabet Queen Story (Google Slides)
• Lesson Plan Checklist: How to Teach a Syllable Type
• Open Syllables Flash Cards

Now that students know about closed and open syllables, you can add syllable work into your daily phonics routine. This will become even more important as students learn more syllable types and begin practicing with multisyllable words.

During syllable work, you spell syllables aloud and then have children practice using the steps for identifying and labeling them.

You can also incorporate syllable work into the other parts of your lesson. For example, during your listening game, say a word and have students identify the vowel sound as short or long by making the motion of a breve symbol (arms in the air above their heads in the shape of a smile) or macron symbol (arms straight out like a ‘T’) while saying the short or long vowel sound. You can also add syllables to your flash cards (opens in new window) as part of your warm-up. Ask students to identify the vowel, then guide them to look immediately after the vowel and ask if the vowel is closed in. Then have them identify the vowel sound and read the word.

Ultimately, syllable work is all about decoding words. Doing syllable work in small groups that focus on reading is a great way to provide guided practice in this skill. Remember students should stop using scaffolds such as coding and labeling as soon as they’re beginning to read closed and open syllable words with automaticity.

When choosing words to use as examples in your lessons, start with simple and build toward more complex.

For example, when we begin with open syllables, we want to use simple consonant-vowel words, like be. We do not want to initially use words that have digraphs, like she, or blends, like pre. 

Using nonsense syllables alongside real syllables is an excellent way for students to practice the steps of identifying open syllables in unfamiliar and familiar ways. 

We’ve made it easy for you to select words for your lessons! The lesson plans and activities in our resource hub include words, phrases, and sentences for practicing open syllables.