Description

This set of download-and-print Syl-lab-it cards also targets the ability to read and spell polysyllable words. Each deck targets one vowel sound (or two sounds in deck 5), and includes extra spellings not included in Set 1. Players must read the word on each card as they play it.

Smaller-print versions of each word have syllables circled and stressed syllables are shaded. Sometimes, syllable circles overlap, as there’s often more than one way to break a word up (e.g. by sound or word structure. Skilled readers think about both), plus coarticulation happens between syllables, not just within them.

The circles and shading make it easy to show learners that a syllable can be represented by a vowel letter alone, or a vowel letter/spelling plus one or more consonants. This is useful in teaching learners to read one syllable at a time, and adjust word stress.

These 10 games target the following spellings of these sounds:

1. /ae/ as in ‘barricade’. ‘faithfully’, ‘swaying, ‘vacated’, ‘obeying’ and ‘greatness’,
2. /ee/ as in ‘committee’, ‘seasonal’, ‘detail’, ‘extremely’, ‘angry’, ‘believing’  and ‘deceiving’,
3. /oe/ as in ‘episode’,  ‘uploading’, ‘dislocated’,  ‘overshadow’  and ‘volcanoes’,
4. /er/ as in ‘interpreter’, ‘thirstily’, ‘curliness’, ‘learning’ and ‘worthless’,
5. /ou/ and /oi/ as in ‘surrounded’, ’empowering’, ‘annoyingly’ and ‘poisoning’,
6. /oo/ as in ‘afternoon’, ‘resolutely’, ‘intruder’, ‘screwdriver’, ‘blueberry’ and ‘acoustic’,
7. /ie/ as in ‘crocodile’, ‘prioritise’, ‘satisfying’, ‘lightning’, multiplied’ and ‘satisfying’,
8. /or/ as in ‘ordinary’, ‘explore’, ‘unlawfully’, ‘already’, ‘sleepwalking’, ‘thoughtfully’,  ‘audience’, ‘warmer’  and ‘awesome’,
9. /air/ as in ‘chairperson’, ‘carelessly’, ‘bearable’, ‘area’ and ‘nowhere’,
10. /ar/ as in ‘supermarket’, ‘grasshopper’, ‘halfway’, ‘laughable’ and ‘wholeheartedly’.

There’s a choice of single-sided or double-sided card version of each game, the latter in case your Syl-lab-it decks might get jumbled up. Print on 3 sheets of A4 light card or paper (at ~110% if your printer can manage narrow margins), laminate and cut up into cards.

This is a game for two players who each start with five cards and ten tokens (counters, coins, whatever). Play continues until someone loses all their tokens, and thus the game.

There are five types of cards, three of which are used on your own turn (attack, steal, heal) and two of which can be played to spoil your opponent’s turn (deflect, overpower). Here’s a video showing how to play:

Hope your learners have great fun, and learn a lot, playing Syl-lab-it!