Why Syllable Division?
It helps students be able to segment a word so that they can accurately read or spell the word. Being able to analyze one syllable at a time makes it easier to do. Patterns to teach and look for:
VCCV
When introducing this syllable division patter, you can begin after you have taught closed syllables and combining closed syllables. You would guide your student to look for a vowel, followed by a consonant, consonant, vowel. The student could then divide between the two consonants which would leave them with two syllables that they can analyze more easily. The first syllable is a closed syllable (short vowel sound) and in this case the second syllable is a closed syllable. You can revisit this same pattern after teaching silent e syllables. The student would look for the same pattern VCCV, except this time the first syllable is closed and the second syllable is silent e.
V*CV or VC*V
Once students know closed, open, and silent e syllable types, they can learn the pattern V*CV or VC*V. You would guide the student to look for a vowel consonant vowel in a word. They could divide after the first vowel, leaving them with an open syllable (long vowel sound). If when reading this word they do not find a real word then they could try dividing after the vowel consonant, which will leave them with a closed syllable first.
For example:
If in the word robot the student labeled and divided after the first vowel (open syllable) they would read the word ro- bot. Which would be correct! But if they tried this with the word robin, they would read the word ro- bin. Which would not be correct. So you could guide them to try a different way of dividing the word: rob-in (VC*V) which would be correct!
Happy Dividing!
