Before you teach the new material, you'll need to select a teaching strategy for introducing and teaching open syllables.

One way to introduce open syllables is by telling students the Alphabet Queen story (based on The Alphabet King, (opens in new window) an original story by dyslexia therapist Jennings Miller). This is a fun, interactive strategy that makes the concept of open syllables easy to remember. 

Students learn that vowels are special letters that hold great importance. This is an essential concept that’s repeated throughout the phonics continuum because unlocking the sound of the vowel unlocks the word’s pronunciation, and in turn the word’s meaning. 

In the story, the queen protects her precious vowels by having the consonants stand guard. When the vowels run into a consonant, they say their short sound. Sometimes the consonants need a break. When the consonants leave and no longer stand guard to close in the vowels, the vowels can run out of the open gate and scream their name.

The Alphabet Queen story is made up of five parts that you will read aloud with students over five separate lessons (they will not be consecutive). The story builds as your lessons on syllable types become more complex — starting with closed syllables, then introducing open syllables, ‘y’ as a vowel, magic ‘e’, and r-controlled vowels. You will tell this story during the lesson when you introduce each new phonics pattern. It is a fun way of doing explicit instruction!

For this skill, you will review the part of the story about closed syllables and introduce the part of the story about open syllables.

Watch as reading coach Carla Stanford uses the “The Alphabet Queen” to make learning about the concept of open and closed syllables interactive, fun, and informative for second graders at Riverside Elementary School in Toledo, Ohio.

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Carla Stanford: Are you ready for a story?

Narrator: Reading Coach Carla Stanford is introducing these second graders to the concept of open and closed syllables. And she's using an engaging and interactive story called the Alphabet Queen to do it.

Carla Stanford: A long, long time ago, far, far away, there was an Alphabet Queen. And the Alphabet Queen, she was in charge of all of the letters and sounds. Just like a dog's name is dog. And the sound that it makes is ... What sound does a dog make when it communicates and says ...

Student: Woof!

Carla Stanford: Exactly and just like a cow, the name of the animal is cow. But what sound does a cow make?

Students: Moo!

Carla Stanford: Well, the Alphabet Queen said, oh my goodness, in my land, I want all of my letters to have names and I want them to have sounds. So she said, this is the letter ...

Students: 'G'!

Carla Stanford: And the sound is ...

Students: /g/!

Carla Stanford: This is the letter ...

Students: 'T'!

Carla Stanford: ..and the sound is ...

Students: /t/!

Carla Stanford: /t/. Clip that sound. I love it. So the Alphabet Queen went around and she named all the consonants. Can you say "consonants"?

Students: "Consonants."

Carla Stanford: She named all the consonants. And she said, here's your name, here's your sound, here's your name, here's your sound. Well, then the Alphabet Queen said, oh my goodness, I have some letters that are precious. Can you say "precious"?

Students: "Precious."

Carla Stanford: These letters are so precious, and they are called vowels. Say "vowels."

Students: "Vowels."

Carla Stanford: And the vowels are so precious, I need to keep them inside of a fence to keep them safe. So the Alphabet Queen put all of the vowels inside of the fence. So she put 'a'. What's another vowel?

Students: 'E'.

Carla Stanford: What else?

Student: 'I'.

Ms. Stanford: 'I'. Another vowel?

Student: 'O'.

Carla Stanford: 'O'.

Max Venia: One more?

Carla Stanford: 'U'. And you're right. 'Y' is a vowel but today we're only going to focus on the always vowels. Are y'all okay with that? Another day we'll talk about that other sneaky vowel. So the Alphabet Queen said, oh my goodness, these are my most precious vowels. I have to keep them in here to keep them safe, but my goodness, I have to keep the gate closed so they'll be safe. So the Alphabet Queen said, consonants, you stand guard. I want you to guard the gate and keep the gate closed. So everyone say, "the gate is closed!"

Students: "The gate is closed!"

Carla Stanford: Well, when the gate is closed, friends, the vowels could not get out and they would throw their arms up in the air. Let me see your arms up in the air. Throw their arms up in air, and they would say their short sound. So 'a' would say /ă/! They would run up and try to get out, and they couldn't. 'E' would say, /ĕ/! 'I' would say, /ĭ/! 'O' would say, /ŏ/!. And 'u' would say, /ŭ/!

So anytime that the gate is closed, the vowel always says it's short sound. So let's just look at that for a minute. I want you to think about this. What is the vowel in this word? Everyone tell me.

Students and teachers: 'E'.

Carla Stanford: This is the vowel. When I look next door, the gate is closed. What is the gate?

Students and teachers: Closed.

Carla Stanford: And when the gate is closed, the vowel throws its arms up in the air and says ...

Students and teachers: /ĕ/.

Carla Stanford: So let's tap this ...

Students and teachers: /w/, /ĕ/, /b/. “Web.”

Carla Stanford: And this little guy right here, like the little smiley face, it's called a breve. And it's just like the same thing. Throw your arms up. That's like the symbol for the short vowel. So when the vowel is closed in, it says a short sound. But guess what, friends? Guess what friends.

Students: What?

Carla Stanford: Excellent. Sometimes the consonants need to go on vacation because everyone needs a break. Don't you agree? So when the consonants went on vacation and they were not guarding the gate anymore, the vowels got so excited and they ran out the door, they threw their arms out, and they screamed their name. So everyone arms out, say /ă/!

Students: /ă/!

Carla Stanford: /ĕ/!

Students: /ĕ/!

Carla Stanford: /ĭ/!

Students: /ĭ/!

Carla Stanford: /ŏ/!

Students: /ŏ/!

Carla Stanford: /ŭ/!

Students: /ŭ/!

Carla Stanford: And /o͞o/, because ‘u’ actually has two sounds when it's running out the gate. So when the gate is open, we call that an open syllable. The gate is open. So watch what happens. It's magical. Watch this.

Touch your vowel. So everybody look at your vowel. What is our vowel?

Students: 'E'.

Carla Stanford: Look next door. Is the gate open or closed?

Students: Open.

Carla Stanford: Open! So what is this going to say?

Students: "We".

Carla Stanford: /ē/! So it's going to say "we". Oh my goodness, you guys, you have just learned about open and closed syllables. We're going to do more work with that. Are you ready? Have you ever heard about the alphabet plan?

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillen Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to the Toledo Federation of Teachers, Riverside Elementary School, and Toledo Public Schools in Toledo, Ohio. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUteaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute and First Book. This is Reading Universe.

Here are some materials you’ll need to teach The Alphabet Queen.

The Alphabet Queen Story with Illustrations

Print the illustrated story for your whiteboard. You can cut out the letters or write them on sticky notes. As you tell the story aloud, you can move the letters in and out of the Queen’s protective pen.

Download Story

Or you can download these ready-to-go Google slides with The Alphabet Queen story illustrations to project on your whiteboard. The letters can be dragged in and out of the protective pen with your cursor as you tell the story.

Vowel Flash Cards

Additionally, you will need vowel flash cards to introduce the long vowel sounds.

Download Flash Cards