6. Student Practice Activities for Open Syllables

Students need lots of opportunities to practice reading and spelling open syllables so that they can build accuracy and automaticity on the way to fluent reading. We've included free printable student practice activities below. Please download and share them with your colleagues!

Before your students begin the activities, make sure that they understand how to complete them. You can model the activities in a whole group setting or in a small group. 

Keep an eye out for students who may need you to step in and scaffold.

Roll & Reads are a fun, game-like way to practice reading and spelling words in isolation. After you’ve modeled how to do Roll & Reads, students can do them with partners or in centers on their own. Use this student activity to build accuracy and fluency in reading and spelling glued sounds. Students can play with partners or in small groups.

Use this read sheet to practice open syllables. You’ll want to first introduce it in whole or small groups. After students have read it with guidance from the teacher, they can use it to practice reading independently at school or home.

The goal of this game is to collect syllable cards. Players collect cards by accurately reading the open syllables. The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins!

Students should practice reading in context each day to build fluency. This text focuses on open syllables. Be sure to read How to Use Decodable Texts before implementing them with students.

Use this picture sort to build accuracy in discriminating between short and long vowel sounds.