A syllable is one beat of a word, and every syllable has a vowel sound. Third graders use that idea to read long words in pieces and to spell them one piece at a time. A handful of patterns do most of the work. Two small words joined together, such as rainbow, split between the small words. Two consonants in the middle, as in pencil or rabbit, split between those consonants. One consonant between two vowels, as in tiger, usually splits before the consonant.
A word that ends in a consonant plus le, such as table or apple, keeps the consonant with the le. Each question on this worksheet shows one word written three ways, and your child circles the one that is divided correctly. Early rows use compound words, later rows use words with three beats. Clap each beat and say the parts out loud before circling.
What your child will learn
Split compound words between the two small words
Split words with two consonants or double letters in the middle
Keep a consonant and le together at the end of a word
Find every beat in a word with three syllables
Common Core standard: RF.3.3.C
Worked example
Pencil has a vowel, two consonants, then another vowel, so it splits between the n and the c: pen-cil.
Common mistake
Splitting a word where it looks even instead of where the vowel sounds are, which leaves a syllable with no vowel.
Helpful hint
Clap the beats, then check that every part has a vowel sound.