Many parents are searching for ways to help, encourage, and improve their child’s literacy skills. In this post, I will help you take some of the guesswork out of what you can do to help your child if they are learning, or struggling to learn, how to read. I will give you: some background knowledge on syllabication, a few actionable tips and tricks, and some fun activities you can slip into your daily routine. Let’s dive in.
Do you get that deep glow of satisfaction when your child comes home with a great report card or is recognized by the teacher for their learning progress? When they do well, do you secretly hope they have done better than the snobby neighbor’s child across the street? Don’t panic, your secret is safe with me!
A syllable is more than just the beats you hear in a word. The syllables of any word in any language always has only one vowel sound in it.
As parents, you want the best for your kids, especially when it comes to their schooling. You are not alone; Understanding the importance of syllables for kids will help build a foundation of solid reading skills. As you know, being a strong reader is an integral component in your child’s social/emotional and educational development (e.g., self-esteem, confidence, decoding skills, spelling, etc…) and syllables are a huge part of the early literacy building blocks required to be a strong speller and reader. Take that snobby neighbour across the street, we are on to you!
Are syllables important?
You’ve probably forgotten why understanding syllables are important. The reason is that you have developed syllable automaticity; you use them in everyday life without even thinking about how or why.
For example, I recently went out for dinner with a friend to a new Brazilian Restaurant. *side note – it’s been a long time since I had been to a restaurant, THANK-YOU Covid!) As I skimmed the menu I decided to celebrate the occasion by ordering us an adult beverage spelled c-a-i-p-i-r-i-n-h-a. While I did not say it exactly as it is supposed to said, the server said that I was very close. I broke down the word into manageable chunks (syllables and put it back together. It was a natural process, but only because I had solid literacy instruction from my teachers and my family when I was a young lad.
If you are wondering how to pronounce Caipirinha, it is like this – KAI-pi-rin-ya, and it was delicious.
According to this article posted on understood.org:
When kids and adults learn to read, they’re connecting how words sound to how those sounds are represented by letters. Phonics instruction helps make those connections. Phonics instruction also teaches spelling patterns and spelling rules. It teaches about parts of words called syllables. Learning common syllable patterns can help people become better readers and spellers.
It is my opinion that knowledge of syllabication is one of the most important foundational skills that a child must master in order to increase the likelihood that they will become a strong reader (i.e., a reader who can synthesize, comprehend, and question the texts that they will inevitably come across throughout the normal course of a day)
My 3 top reasons why syllables are important
1. Helps decode new vocabulary
Breaking down unfamiliar words when reading a text makes it easier to decode the sounds in a word and then be able to blend them back together to make the sounds in each syllable and ultimately read and say the word correctly. This process will eventually become automatic.
(For example; TA-ble-top)
*geek-out note, The capital letters in TA-ble-top represent where the spoken emphasis is put when breaking a word into syllables. (TA-ble-top) Syllables are the ‘why’ of pronunciation!
2. Makes spelling more accessible
(e.g., splitting words into bite-sized chunks makes them easier to spell out when writing. (e.g., MISS-iss-ip-pi)
3. Promotes reading accuracy and fluency
The ability to separate unfamiliar words into manageable portions makes them easier to read, understand and pronounce.
Keeping Syllables Simple
Understanding syllables, their types, and how they work can initially be quite challenging for little readers to grasp. Syllable awareness takes time, patience, and practice.
Singular and Multi-Syllabic words
One syllable words
-typically contain a singular, short vowel sound (A, E, I, O, U); below are some examples:
· bat
· log
· map
· shop
One syllable words are usually taught when your child is first introduced to reading, but as they progress, they will start reading words with multiple vowel sounds, such as:
Two syllable words
· Free-dom
· Bed-room
· Pan-cake
· Pop-corn
Three syllable words
· Bas-ket-ball
· Bi-cy-cle
· Li-brar-y
· Um-brel-la
Four syllable words
· Dis-cov-er-y
· Im-pos-si-ble
· O-be-di-ent
Five syllable words
· Re-frig-er-a-tor
· Vo-cab-u-lar-y
In the primary years, understanding how to segment words, like the ones listed above, into syllables can be a tricky endeavor. However, with practice, syllable counting will become second nature and will help strengthen their literacy skills.
How To Count Syllables
An easy trick to counting syllables is to count the number of ‘beats’ in the spoken word. (Sometime this gets confusing, for example the word ‘pot’ is one syllable – ‘pot’. It is not two syllables – PUH-ot.) Another more accurate approach is to count the number of times you hear a vowel sound, either short or long.
Step 1 – Select your word
Step 2 – Say the word out loud
Step 3 – As you say the word, clap each time you hear a vowel sound
Step 4 – Count the number of claps made; this is the number of syllables in the word
Encourage your child to clap out the syllables in their name or the name of their favourite book character!
*Fun Fact – the letter ‘y’ is considered a vowel when it makes either a short or long vowel sound (e.g., in the word ‘happy’, there are two vowel sounds in the word happy, so therefore it has two syllables, HAP-py.
*geek-out note – there are two different types of syllables in the word ‘happy’. The first syllable (HAP) is a closed syllable, and the second (py) is an open syllable. I’m sensing a future blog post to dive a bit deeper into open and closed syllables coming in the very near future. In the meantime, find out what you can and drop a note in the comments to let me know you are doing your homework :-)!
3 Fun Syllable Activities
When teaching your child a new skill, keeping it fun is one of the most important aspects to remember. It doesn’t have to rival a trip to an amusement park, but with only a small amount of effort, you can create some pretty interesting activities which in turn add valuable schema to your child’s life experiences. When learning is light-hearted and filled with activities that kids are excited to participate in, children naturally engage in their learning, and as a result, their learning becomes much more memorable. Those fun experiences are anchor points in a developing brain that can be recalled with ease.
An excellent approach for teaching syllables is to use words that relate to your child’s favourite activities, pets, family members, friends, books, or programs.
1. Dinosaur Syllable Stomp-A-Rama!
Younger kids will love getting active doing the dinosaur stomp; it’s also a great way to burn off that excess energy! Rather than clapping each time they hear a new syllable, encourage your child to stomp like a T-Rex! Add a roar or two to show those syllables who’s boss!
2. I Am A Robot!
Every kid loves the staccato, mechanical tones of robot talk. This stiff, stilted way of talking is a great way to count syllables as each word is said slowly and broken into short chunks. Why not add an element of free play and help them build their own robot or robot costume to enhance their learning experience?
3. Keeping Count
You will need a clean piece of paper and a brightly coloured marker for this activity. Ask your child to make a mark on the paper each time they hear a new syllable. Then count the number of marks to see how many syllables they heard in each word. You can also use a large sheet of paper, paintbrushes, and bright poster paints to make this game much more fun!
FI-nal Thoughts
When your child is first learning to read, it’s not important for them to thoroughly understand the ins and outs of syllables. You can leave that to the teachers if you want. Instead, your goal as a parent may be to introduce the idea of syllables through some fun word games so that later, when they learn more about syllables, they will have a healthy background knowledge to build upon
Happy SYL-la-ble counting!
