One of the aspects of the Orton-Gillingham reading program is teaching students to learn the six kinds of syllables. Teachers, who are specially trained in Orton-Gillingham, use many fun and creative ways to help students learn how to recognize, decode and spell these different syllables.
Without a strategy for chunking larger words into manageable parts, students may look at a longer word and simply guess or skip the word altogether. Since students learning to read cannot just rely on memorizing what words look like, it's important for them to learn to decode. A fun way to learn the 6 kinds of syllables is to visualize a clover.
Closed syllables: words/syllables that contain one vowel and end in a consonant or digraph (sh,ch,th,wh)- c
at,d
ip,c
ut,h
ush
Consonant-Le: words/syllables that end in a consonant followed by "le" -pi
ckle, jug
gle, bu
gle
Open syllables: words/syllables ending in a vowel that says its name- m
y, t
a/ble, b
e
Vowel teams
: words/syllables where the vowels or vowel/consonant combinations are next to each other in a word with the first vowel saying its name- p
ai
nt, b
ea
ch, b
oa
t, sn
ow
,d
ay
Some Irregular vowel teams (diphthongs) that include ou,oi, etc. do not allow the first vowel to say its name ( l
oud, p
oint, etc.).
Silent or Magic e
: words/syllables that end with "e" and contain another vowel that is signaled to say its name by the "e"- cak
e
, pil
e
R-controlled:
words/syllables that contain the following: ar, ir, er, or, ur- b
ur
n, b
ir
d, b
ar
n, f
or
t, butt
er
Spring Bake Sale: Tuesday, March 27
