66 Clapping out Syllables
Isabelle Ritz
Strategy Overview
Clapping out syllables is where students clap out the parts of a word. Students can hear that words are made up of smaller parts, which helps them with breaking up words they will eventually need to write. There is variety of ways to introduce this starter to the class. Students can clap out syllables whole group, small group, or independently. One way is to have students sort and group words by syllables. Clapping out syllables is a critical skill because it “helps children notice the sounds in each part of word and they will later use their knowledge of word parts to spell words” (Lastinger Center for Learning, n.d.).
Strategy in Action
Teacher will provide groups of children with an array of cards with a word and picture on it. Words can have 1- 4 syllables. Students should clap out the syllables of each word and then place the card into groups by syllables. For example, all words with 2 syllables should be grouped together and all words with 4 syllables should be grouped together. Teacher should prompt students around how many syllables they clapped out, if they noticed it was a compound word, and prompt around saying each smaller part of a word.
