Syllable Division

Syllabication / Syllable Division

Syllabication is a strategy used to segment multisyllabic words into syllables or manageable chunks in order to figure out unfamiliar words. The process of syllabication trains the brain to break up words as they are reading. This allows children to eventually read more fluently and expand their vocabulary. Students begin through step by step guidance with this skill until eventually they will be able to rely on this as a word attack strategy/skill to figure out unknown words in a text they are reading. There are six syllable types and four syllable patterns your child will learn. Your child will learn to identify the vowels and consonants in words to divide up a word into its written syllables. They then will use the syllable types to help them determine what types of vowel sounds they will use when decoding the word. Your child may receive some words to practice syllabication within their reading folders throughout the year. Encourage your child to use a post it, write the word and use this as a strategy when they are trying to figure out a tricky word. You can practice this by giving your child words with more than 1 syllable to figure out how to read the word. The key is don't tell them the word, let them use this to figure out the word. Often children will look at this activity like solving a puzzle. The children are very motivated to use and practice this strategy.