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Skill Explainer

4. Videos: See Open Syllables in the Classroom

Open Syllables Skill Explainer

Teaching Open and Closed Syllables with the Alphabet Queen

Reading coach Carla Stanford uses a fun, interactive story called “The Alphabet Queen” to teach open and closed syllables. Working with second graders in Toledo, Ohio, alongside teacher Max Venia, Ms. Stanford keeps the class engaged as she explains that the vowels are “precious letters” that can make two sounds — long and short. Students learn that if a vowel is closed in by, or protected by, a consonant, it will say its short sound. If it is not followed by a consonant, it will say its name, or long sound.

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Produced by Reading Universe, a partnership of WETA, Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book
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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.

Quick Look: What Is a Syllable?

Liz Quezada, a second grade teacher at La Verne Heights Elementary School in California, and her students practice reciting the meaning of a syllable.

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Liz Quezada: I want you guys to tell me what is a syllable? Ready? A syllable is a ...

Liz Quezada and students: ... a word or a part of a word with one vowel sound.

Liz Quezada: Very good.

Open and Closed Syllables: How to Differentiate Between Them

DeAngela Huggins, a reading specialist at Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta, works with a small group of students to review open and closed syllables.

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DeAngela Huggins: Okay guys. So we're going to get ready to start our lesson today.

Narrator: Today, Atlanta teacher DeAngela Huggins works with a small group of students to review open and closed syllables. It's a warmup that will prep them for reading two syllable words later in the lesson.

DeAngela Huggins: All right, so we're going to be working with words that have more than one syllable today. So I thought it'd be really cool that if we start with our warmup with some syllables. So I'm going to show you a syllable on a card, and you're going to think about it and tell me whether or not that syllable is an open syllable or if it is a closed syllable. Okay? And then once we decide if it's open or closed, we're going to read that syllable. So remember, these aren't actually words. These are just what? Syllables. And we know a syllable is a part of a word that has a vowel sound. So you ready? All right. So this is our first syllable. Is it open or closed?

Students: Closed.

DeAngela Huggins: How do you know that it's closed?

Student: Because the 't' is blocking the 'e'. The 'e' is just saying, "Hey, let me out."

DeAngela Huggins: It's saying, "let me out." It's closed. So what type of sound would it have? And long or short sound?

Student: Short.

DeAngela Huggins: Short sound. So let's read our syllable together. It is ...

Ms. Huggins and students: /k/, /ĕ/, /t/. Ket.

DeAngela Huggins: What is it?

Students: Ket.

DeAngela Huggins: Very good. Nice. Here we go. Open or closed syllable. What is it?

Students: Closed.

DeAngela Huggins: It's a closed syllable. What consonant is closing in our vowel?

Student: 'S'.

DeAngela Huggins: What's going to be the sound of our 'u'?

Narrator: Ms. Huggins uses the up motion to remind her students to say the short sound for the letter 'u'.

DeAngela Huggins: Then we have open or closed?

Students: Closed.

DeAngela Huggins: What's the sound of our vowel?

Students: /ă/.

DeAngela Huggins: And let's read it.

Students: Las.

DeAngela Huggins: Why is it important to know that ... if it's open or if it's closed? Why do we need to know that? Why do we even care? Leona?

Leona: If we know if it's open or closed, then we know if it makes its long sound or it's short sound.

DeAngela Huggins: And that helps us to do what?

Leona: Read and write.

DeAngela Huggins: Very good. It helps us to read and write the words. So what was our syllable? Let's go.

Students: Las.

DeAngela Huggins: Very good. Here we go. One another one. Open or closed syllables?

Students: Open.

DeAngela Huggins: Open. So if it's open, Georgia, what's this honor of vowel?

Georgia: /ō/.

DeAngela Huggins: /ō/. Now let's read our syllable together. It is ...?

Students: Bo.

DeAngela Huggins: What is it?

Students: Bo.

DeAngela Huggins: Very good. And then our last one. Can you tell me? Dun, dun, dun! Do you think it's going to be open or closed?

Student: Closed.

DeAngela Huggins: Let's see, what is it?

Narrator: Now Ms. Huggins will have them read the syllables again. This time without the extra work of decoding. This practice takes just a minute and helps build fluency.

DeAngela Huggins: Very good. You guys did a very nice job. Let's read them one more time. Let's go.

Students: Tus.

DeAngela Huggins: Here we go.

Students: Ket. Do. /dō/

DeAngela Huggins: /dō/ does look like the word do, but because this is just a syllable, it's just a part. So it is /dō, /and we have ...

Narrator: To extend this activity. You could put two of the syllable cards together and show how to read a two syllable word.

Students: Hap.

DeAngela Huggins: Very nice job.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. 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.

DeAngela Huggins:

This is Reading Universe.

Pronounce the Vowel Sounds

Morgan Walton, a reading specialist at Stillmeadow Elementary School in Stamford, Connecticut, demonstrates how to pronounce each vowel sound, including the long vowels found in open syllables.

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Morgan Walton: I am going to demonstrate how to pronounce the vowel sounds. I'm going to start with the short vowel sounds. Vowels spell the short sound when they're enclosed-syllable words ... /ă/ as in apple ... /ĕ/ as in edge ... /ĭ/ as in itch ... /ŏ/ as in octopus ... /ŭ/ as in up. The next group of vowel sounds are long vowels. Vowels spell the long sound when they're found in an open syllable. The silent 'e' syllable, and some vowel teams ... /ā/ as in acorn ... /ē/ as in eagle ... /ī/ as in ice ... /ō/ as in oval ... /ū/ as in unicorn. The next group of vowel sounds are spelled with vowel teams or diphthongs. They make a distinct sound that is neither long or short ... /aw/ as in "saw" ... /o͞o/ as in ooze ... /o͝o/ as in book ... /ow/ as in house ... /oi/ as in oink. The next set of vowels are called r-controlled vowels ... /ar/ as in "arm" ... /er/ as in bird, fern, and turn ... /or/ as in horn. The last sound is called schwa. Schwa is the sound that we say in an unstressed syllable ... /ə/ as in balloon.

Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (opens in new window); the AFT (opens in new window); the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation (opens in new window); and three anonymous donors.