Ever heard of open and closed syllables? If not keep reading. If so, these open and closed syllable pages are a great way to practice them…and sneak in a little drawing, too!
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**The free download can be found at the END of this post. Click on the teal download button to snag the PDF.
Why Open and Closed Syllables?
Understanding the concept of open and closed syllables can help learners become better readers AND better spellers of words with more than one syllable.
When learners come to a longer word and get stuck, one thing you can say is, “The first syllable is an open syllable.” If learners know about open and closed syllables, this can help them start to break apart the word to read it.
When learners need to spell longer words, we teach them to break the word into syllables. Knowing how to listen for open and closed syllables helps them spell out each syllable. You can read more about this kind of spelling in my Finger Tap Spelling post.
Open and Closed Syllable Pages
I’ve shared some open and closed syllable games and a fun “Cut the Cheese” activity that’s part of an entire 6 Syllable Types Interactive Pack before.
But today, I’m sharing some open and closed syllable pages that my 2nd grader has been working on recently. It was right up her alley because she LOVES to express herself through drawing! I loved how the drawings helped me to know if she was actually reading the words.
These free pages have two levels of learning. Level 1 compares the VCCV closed pattern with the VCV open pattern. Level 2 is more difficult and has learners comparing VCV words for open AND closed syllables.
Is it Open or Closed?
These are the steps I teach my learners to follow to discover open and closed patterns. It’s inspired by All About Reading. This information is also included in the free PDF.
- Find the two vowels in the words. (example: in basket, the a and e are the vowels.)
- Look BETWEEN the vowels.
- If there are two consonants, split the word in between the two consonants. (bas – ket) This makes the first syllable CLOSED. (It ends with a consonant and the vowel makes its short sound.)
- If there is one consonant, the consonant typically likes to hang out with the second syllable (ro-bot). This makes the first syllable OPEN. (It ends with a vowel and the vowel makes its long sound.)
- In some cases, the one consonant in between the vowels likes to hang out with the first syllable. When this happens, the vowel makes its short sound because it’s a closed syllable, as in the word wag-on.
*I encourage my learners to try words that have one middle consonant with an open, long vowel sound first (WAY-gon). If it doesn’t make sense, they should try it with the closed, short vowel sound (WAG-on).
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Enjoy!
~Becky
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