Ahoy, Mateys! It’s Time for a Syllables Treasure Hunt!

The ability to break a word into syllables is a fundamental skill that falls under the vast umbrella of phonological awareness. Distinguishing the distinct vowel sounds in words and making syllable breaks based on the location of these vowel sounds can greatly assist our students in decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) unfamiliar words.

So, I hear you ask… How can syllabification be taught in a fun and exciting way that will keep students highly engaged? With an interactive treasure hunt, of course! 

This pirate-themed interactive resource includes 20 activity slides where students must select the correct method of separating a word into its syllables by drawing upon their knowledge of syllable types. If they make the correct choice, they have found the treasure and can move on to the next task. If they make an incorrect choice, they can return to the previous task for another attempt.

Skip the Syllable Clapping Games! Go with Digital Syllable Games!

This versatile phonics game can be used in your classroom in various ways.

Independent Activity

Let more-confident students work through the resource independently by assigning the activity in Google classroom. Ensure that the students complete the activity in Presentation mode, not in Edit mode.

Targeted group activity

Work on the resource as a targeted support activity with a group of less-confident learners. When examining each word, encourage the students to share their reasoning for breaking the word into syllables correctly. Guide students in their thinking by asking prompting questions about their understanding of syllable types.

Whole-class lesson 

Project the presentation onto your interactive whiteboard and work through the slides as a whole-class lesson or review. You might like to provide your students with dry-erase boards so they can write down how they think each word should be broken into syllables before discussing the correct option as a class.

No Preparation… Just Download and Go!

Click on the Download button to access the interactive Google Slides document.

This resource was created by Lisamarie Del Valle, a teacher in Florida and a Teach Starter collaborator.