The Silly Bull Syllable Kit contains a set of picture cards and corresponding syllable type name card for each of the syllable types (closed, open, silent-e, vowel team, r-controlled and consonant-le).
Help students learn and practice the different syllable types.
Here are some of the ways you can use these cards to help your student learn and use the different syllable types:
Introduce a New Syllable Type
When introducing a new syllable type, use the picture card to explain how to recognize the syllable type.
Help Students Remember What a “Syllable Type” Is
Sometimes students don’t quite know what you’re asking for when you ask about “syllable types”. By having the syllable type cards as a visual reminder, they can go “oh yeah, I know those”.
Help Students Recognize and Distinguish Between the Different Types
The Silly Bull syllable type cards look a lot alike, just like written syllables do. Students have to learn to recognize the distinguishing features of each type in order to tell them apart. Show them a picture card and have them name the syllable type, or place the cards on the table and have them match the picture cards to the written syllable type cards. Once they can consistently do this, practice by having them play concentration with the cards.
Practice What Syllable Type Say What
What vowel sound do each of the syllable types say? Have students sort the cards into three piles: those that say their short sound (closed), those that say their long sound (open, silent-e, vowel team), or those that say something else (r-controlled, consonant-le).
You can also grab some long and short Legos, and have them put a long Lego on the cards that say their long sound, and a short Lego on the one that says its short sound. Be sure to have at least as many Legos of each length as you have syllable types so they can’t guess by how many are left!
Support Review Word Decoding
When a student is trying to decode a word, especially during the Review Words section of the lesson, it is often helpful to have them identify the word’s syllable type(s) to get them on the right track with the vowel sound. Have them select the correct syllable type picture card(s), or put pennies or other markers on the corresponding card(s).
Or write review words on slips of paper and have them sort the slips under the correct syllable type card.
This post is part of a series of articles on how to get the most out of your Silly Bull Kit:
Silly Bulls: head-body-tail segmentation
Silly Bulls and the Blending Drill
Silly Bull Syllable Type Cards (you are here!)