The Palmetto Education Summit 2026

"First and foremost, always and forever — find the vowels." It sounds simple, but it is one of the most powerful instructional mantras a literacy teacher can carry into the classroom. The vast majority of English words follow predictable phonics patterns — and the six syllable types are the key to unlocking them. Every syllable type, every decoding decision, every spelling pattern comes back to the vowel. When students know where to look and what to expect, they gain a transferable strategy for reading and spelling words they have never seen before. Yet syllable type instruction is one of the most underutilized tools in the literacy classroom, often taught in isolation, rushed through, or skipped altogether in favor of whole-word memorization. Rooted in the foundational content of LETRS Unit 4: Advanced Decoding, Spelling, and Word Recognition, this session brings the six syllable types to life through explicit instruction, lively discussion, and meaningful hands-on practice. Participants will build their own deep understanding of each type — closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, vowel team, r-controlled, and consonant-le — always coming back to the vowel as the anchor. They will leave with ready-to-use classroom strategies they can implement the very next day. Whether you are currently working through LETRS, applying it in classrooms, or coaching others to do so, this session will change the way you look at every word on the page.