Syllable Practice

Quick start

Syllable boxes for reading longer words — a 30-second refresher.

1. Pick a word source: Built-in words (ready-made words, already divided into syllables), Nonsense (made-up words built from the syllable types you allow), or My words (paste your own, with the breaks marked: nap|kin, un+lock).
2. Choose how many parts — 2, 3, or 4 syllables (an affix counts as a part). Pick more than one to mix. The built-in list has far fewer 4-part words than 2- or 3-part ones.
3. The word appears whole. Have the student find the vowels and decide where to divide, then tick Show breaks (or press D) to check. Show types (T) names each syllable type and Mark affixes (A) picks out prefixes and suffixes (both need Show breaks, and switch it on); Mark schwa (S) dims the vowel in a syllable that says schwa.
4. Tap a box to point at a syllable, then press Blend (B) to sweep through the word.
5. Move along with Next / Back — or → / ← and Space.
6. Open Word settings to limit the syllable types, affixes, and sounds to what you’ve taught. Everything starts switched on — switch off what you haven’t taught yet.
7. Copy word list puts the words in the current set on the clipboard, one per line with their breaks marked, ready to paste into a document or back into My words.

Your choices are saved on this computer, so the page comes back the way you left it.

How Syllable Practice works

Once students can blend one-syllable words, the next step is longer words: find the vowels, divide the word into syllables, read each syllable by its type, then put the parts together. Each box here holds one syllable (or one prefix or suffix). The word starts out whole so the student does the dividing; the checkboxes under the boxes reveal the breaks, the syllable types, and the affixes when you want them.

Syllable types

The page sorts every syllable into one of six common types, worked out from its spelling:

• closed — one vowel, ends in a consonant, vowel is short: nap, rab.
• open — ends in its vowel, vowel is long: ti (tiger), o (open), and -y endings like by (baby).
• magic e — vowel-consonant-e: shine, cake.
• vowel team — two letters (or igh) for one vowel sound: rain, low, bread.
• r-controlled — a vowel followed by r: gar, ter.
• -le — consonant + le at the end of a word: ble, dle.

Programs differ on the order they teach these, so the types are plain toggles rather than a numbered sequence. A syllable whose vowel is really a schwa (the on in lem·on) is still labelled by its spelling — closed here — which is how most programs treat it. Mark schwa (S) points those syllables out: the vowel is dimmed with a dotted underline and the label adds schwa. Only the clear cases are marked, and stress can move a schwa about (con·tent the noun and the verb), so an unmarked syllable is not a promise that its vowel is full.

Prefixes and suffixes

Affixes are taught as fixed chunks that are read as a unit, not sounded out, so they are handled separately: each has its own toggle under Word settings, and an affix is never hidden by your sound choices (a student who knows -er as a chunk needn’t have met r-controlled vowels). Common practice is to peel the affixes off a long word first and divide only what is left. With Mark affixes on, affix boxes get a dashed border and their label says prefix or suffix. The built-in list marks an affix only where the rest of the word is a word on its own with the affix keeping its usual meaning (un+safe, hope+less); in in·vite or dis·rupt the first chunk is just a syllable.

The two prefix groups under Word settings are named by spelling, which is how programs decide when to teach them: un, in, dis and the rest look like closed syllables and say a short vowel; re, de, pre and pro look like open syllables and say a long vowel when they are real prefixes (re·print, de·frost). be and a are spelled open but say /bi/ and schwa (be·side, a·round) — like every prefix they are read as a chunk, not sounded out, so the name is about what the chunk looks like, not a rule about its vowel.

Word sources

Built-in words are hand-divided and sorted by their number of parts. Nonsense builds made-up words from the syllable types and sounds you allow, and can attach a real prefix or suffix; real words are screened out where the page can recognise them, but with two or three syllables an occasional real word may slip through. Nonsense is spelled, not sounded: oo is used when either oo chip is on (the same for ow and ea), and a nonsense oo is read with whichever sound the class knows. My words takes your own list.

Typing your own words

One word per line (or separated by commas or spaces). Mark each syllable break with | (/, -, or · also work) and each prefix or suffix with +: nap|kin, ti|ger, un+lock+ing, re+fill+a|ble. The page works out each syllable’s type from the break you marked; a word with no marks is shown as a single box and, if it has more than one vowel sound, labelled ?. A syllable like care, fire, more or pure counts as r-controlled (its e is silent). To overrule a label, add a colon and then one letter per part, run together, in the order the parts appear — c closed, o open, e magic e, t vowel team, r r-controlled, l -le — e.g. lem|on:cc. Prefixes and suffixes take up a letter too (any letter; p or s reads well): un+ti|dy:pco. A * after a syllable marks its vowel as schwa: lem|on*, a*+round. Your own words are never filtered by the settings: you typed them, so they always show, and a word you type replaces the built-in word with the same spelling. The box holds about 1,500 words; a word over 30 letters is counted as unreadable. Text you have typed but not yet applied is kept across a reload, and the notice line says it is waiting for Use these words. Inappropriate words are screened out.

Word settings

Everything starts switched on. Switch off the syllable types, affixes, and sounds you haven’t taught yet, and the built-in list and nonsense generator narrow to match. The sound chips and group buttons are the same ones the other reading tools use, with r-controlled vowels added as a group of their own. A built-in word shows only when every syllable’s type is on and every sound in it is on; the affixes are checked against the affix toggles instead. Switching a syllable type on also switches on the sounds it can’t exist without — magic e sounds for magic e, the vowel teams for vowel team, the r-controlled vowels for r-controlled, the short vowels for closed and open — but only when that whole group is off; a group you have narrowed is left as it is, and turning a type off never touches the sounds. If a type is on while all of its sounds are off (or -le is on without l and short e), the notice line under the settings says so. A glued sound (group 6) welds only while its chip is on: king is then k·ing and needs the ing chip. Switch the chip off and the word is read letter by letter (k·i·ng, man = m·a·n) and needs those letters instead, so hand·bag and thank·ful stay in the list before group 6. -y syllables lets you hold back ba·by-type words while keeping other open syllables. Schwa syllables hides every built-in word with a marked schwa (lem·on, a·round) until you have taught it.

On the stage

Show breaks (D) splits the whole word into its boxes. Show types (T) puts the type under each box. Mark affixes (A) picks out prefixes and suffixes. Both of those label the boxes, so they need Show breaks — switching either on switches Show breaks on too. Mark schwa (S) dims the vowel in a syllable that says schwa and adds schwa to its label; it is greyed out while Schwa syllables is off under Word settings, since no schwa word can then appear (unless My words is on — your own words are never filtered). Colour vowels (V) tints the vowel letters — switch it off when the student should be finding the vowels. Tap a box to point at it; Blend (B) sweeps across the boxes. Next, Back, Space, and the arrow keys step through the list; Shuffle reorders it. Raise boxes nudges everything higher on short screens and projectors.

Keeping a record

Copy word list copies the current set, in its current order, one word per line with the breaks, affixes, schwa marks, and any type overrules (:cr) marked, so you can paste it into a lesson plan or back into My words later. Copy settings (at the bottom) copies every choice on the page as a block of text; Paste settings reads it back in. Everything is also remembered on this computer.