Syllable Frames
Get outside to actively practice spelling and remove the handwriting barrier for reluctant writers and children with poor fine motor skills.
The Activity:
· Call out a word and children must work out how many syllables it has.
· They then lay out sticks or canes for each syllable.
· They spell the word by jumping over the canes.
· The activity can be taken further by asking them to place small objects (such as stones, acorns or conkers) onto the syllable frame to represent each letter in the word.
Why do it?
· It’s more fun than more traditional methods of practising spellings.
· For those children who struggle with fine motor skills or dislike writing, they can practice the skill of spelling without the physical writing being a barrier.
· It promotes the strategy of segmenting words into syllables in order to write them.
· Physically moving as they say each syllable helps reinforce the concept.
Differentiating:
· Support: tell children the number of syllables and simply ask them to say what each is as they jump through.
· Challenge: can they spell the letters in each syllable or the whole word?
Adapting for different ages:
· For young children, set up a simple frame with three boxes. As they jump between them they can sound out CVC words, e.g. C-A-T or M-OO-N.
· Choose words suitable for the age you are teaching. Increasing both the number of syllables and the complexity of the spelling patterns within them can challenge older children.
· Words that are often spoken differently to how they are written, e.g. Wednesday (wed-nes-day) or different (often pronounced diff-rent but spelt diff-er-ent) can make working out the syllables more challenging.
This is great! I bet it works well for phonics too!