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How to Explain Syllables to the 3rd Grade

A syllable is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) sound that you hear when you pronounce a word. The number of times that you hear the sound of a vowel in a word equates to the number of syllables the word has. As children learn to read, they are introduced to simple basic words, such as cat, mom and dog. When they progress through the higher grade levels, they will be challenged with harder words. Syllabication instructions will help them to decode and pronounce words.

Instructions

- 1
  Begin syllabication instruction by providing explicit multisensory lessons on the concept of a syllable.
- 2
  Distribute mirrors to each student. Partner each student in pairs of two, so that one student can watch his partner's mouth, as they both pronounce words.
- 3
  Ask students to say out loud a variety of words that vary in length, as they look in the mirror.
- 4
  Instruct students to count the number of times their mouth opens as they pronounce the word. To accurately count the number of syllables (or the number of times their mouth opens), ask the students to clap as they pronounce each syllable in the word. This is how to determine the number of syllables in a word. For example, the word "cafeteria" should elicit five claps because it has five syllables.

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