What are closed syllables?

Right now, we are focusing on reading words that have CLOSED syllables and short vowel sounds. A closed syllable is a word that follows these rules:

  1. There is only ONE vowel in the syllable.
  2. The vowel is followed by ONE or MORE consonants (it is “closed in” by the consonants).
  3. The vowel sound is short.

Why are Closed Syllables so important to know?

Closed syllables make up over 40% of the words in the English language! Out of the 6 major types of syllables, Closed Syllables make up almost HALF of the printed words we see, read, or write every day. That is why we spend so much time teaching the common Closed Syllable patterns in Kindergarten and First Grade!

What are some examples of words with Closed Syllables?

Anytime there is only 1 vowelfollowed by one or more consonants in a word (with the exception of vowel + r) the word or word part is closed; Closed Syllables might be a whole word, or only a part of a longer word. In the examples below, the vowels are highlighted and “closed in.”

Words with 1 Closed Syllable:

atdog fishswish strength

Words with 2 Closed Syllables:

magnetpicnicsubmitattic

Words with 3 Closed Syllables:

magneticfantasticbasketball

How do I break apart a word with more than 1 closed syllable?

If a word is made up ONLY of Closed Syllables, it is pretty simple to break apart to “decode” and figure out. Here are the steps I used to teach the students how to break apart longer words with Closed Syllables:

  1. Point to the vowel or vowels in the word.
  2. Look at the first TWO vowels in the word.
  3. Count how many consonants are between them.
  4. If there are 2 or more consonants between the vowels, you split the word BETWEEN the 2 consonants:

mag net bas ketat tic

  1. If any of the consonants are DIGRAPHS (2 letters that make 1 sound, such as sh, ch, th, ph, ng, ck), you keep the digraphs together:

fish netbath tub

  1. ‘If the word has more than 2 syllables, look at the second and third vowels in the word and repeat the above steps to break the word into syllables:

bas ket ballmag net tic

NOTE: If the word is made up of ONLY Closed Syllables, the vowel in each part of the word will have one or more consonants after it. The number of vowels in a word with Closed Syllables is also the number of syllables that are in that word. That is because a syllable is the part of the word that contains the vowel sound, or the part of the word where your mouth comes OPEN when you say it.