A. Syllable Sleuth: Two-Syllable Words: “group-ing,” “cash-ew,” “few-er,” “res-cue,” “Tues-day,” “fruit-y,” “suit-case,” “car-toon,” “swoop-ing”

• (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad”):

“We’ve been workin’ on some long words, sound by sound by sound. We’ve been workin’ on some long words, so we can read more words aloud. We take a word like ‘maybe’ and break it into parts. ‘May’ plus ‘be’ makes ‘maybe,’ and now it’s time to start!”

1. Teacher says: “It’s time to be syllable sleuths. We are going to find some clues to help us figure out how to break longer words into parts so we can read them. Some of the two-syllable words we’ll work on today have a base word and a suffix, some have vowel teams that make the long ‘u’ sound, and others have both suffixes AND vowel teams that make the long ‘u’ sound!”

2. Teacher writes the word on the board: “planted.”

3. Teacher says: “Not all of the words will have a base word and a suffix, but some will.”

4. Teacher asks:

“Is there a base word and suffix in this word?” (yes)

“What is the base word?” (“plant”)

“What is the suffix?” (“-ed”)

“How do we pronounce this word?” (“planted”)

5. Teacher underlines the base word and suffix and says: “This word says ‘planted.’ The first syllable, ‘plant,’ is the base word. The second syllable, ‘-ed,’ is the suffix.”

6. Teacher invites one or two students to share a sentence using the word “planted” and articulate how the suffix changed the base word.

7. Teacher writes the word “argue” on the board and says: “As I said before, some of these words will have base words and suffixes and some will have vowel teams that make the long ‘u’ sound.”

8. Teacher asks:

“Does this word have a base word and suffix?” (no)

“Does this word have a vowel team that makes the long ‘u’ sound?” (yes)

9. Teacher invites students to turn to an elbow partner and name the vowel team in the word that makes the long “u” sound. (“ue”)

10. Teacher invites a student to share with the group and underlines the letters “ue.”

11. Teacher says: “When we see this vowel team, we’ll say /ū/.”

12. Teacher invites students to identify the other vowel in the word (“a”) and makes a dot underneath it.

13. Teacher asks:

“What do we notice right after the vowel letter ‘a’”? (the letter “r”)

“What does that tell us about the sound?” (The “a” is r-controlled.)

14. Teacher draws a swoop under the letters “ar” and asks:

“How do we pronounce this syllable?” (“ar”)

15. Teacher draws a swoop under the letters “gue” and asks:

“How do we pronounce this syllable?” (/gū/)

16. Teacher invites students to blend the two syllables to say the word: “argue.”

17. Teacher distributes the Syllable Sleuth Word List in a transparent sleeve, white board markers, white board erasers, and white boards (if students are not sitting at a desk).

18. Teacher says: “Remember, a sleuth is a detective. When you’re a syllable sleuth, your job is to search for the clues that let you know you have found a syllable. As a syllable sleuth, you will look for vowel sounds to see how to divide the words into syllables to read them. Remember that some of the words today will have base words and suffixes and some will have vowel teams that make the long ‘u’ sound, and some will have both.”

19. Students complete the Syllable Sleuth Word List individually or in pairs.