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

Breaking a word into syllables is a fundamental skill 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 when it comes to 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 in which students must select the correct method of separating a word into its syllables, 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.

Multiple Applications for This Syllables Resource

This versatile phonics resource can be used in your classroom in a variety of ways.

Independent Activity

Allow more-confident students to 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 the correct way to break the word into syllables. Guide students in their thinking by asking prompting questions related to 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 mini-whiteboards 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 the dropdown arrow next to the Download button to choose between the interactive Google Slides document or the Microsoft PowerPoint version of this resource.

This resource was created by Lisamarie Del Valle, a Teach Starter collaborator.