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How to teach open syllables.
An open syllable ends in a single vowel with no consonant to close it in, so the vowel says its long name: me, go, hi, and the first part of pa-per. It is usually taught right after the closed syllable, because the contrast between the two is what makes each one clear. Here is how to teach it, from a single word to reading longer words.
Contrast it with the closed syllable they already know
Start from what is secure. Write cap and read it: the consonant closes the syllable, so the vowel is short. Now cover the last letter to make ca: nothing closes the vowel now, so it says its name. Hearing cap become ca is the whole idea, and it lands faster as a contrast than as a rule.
Teach the long vowel at the end of the syllable
Read a set of one-syllable open words in a row so the pattern is steady: me, we, go, no, hi, she. Point out that the vowel is the last letter and it says its name. Keep the set small and in one place before you mix it with closed words.
Read it, spell it, then use it in a sentence
Read
The child reads the open word and says the long vowel. If they shorten it, uncover the word slowly so they see there is no consonant closing it.
Spell
You say an open word, the child writes it and explains why the vowel is long: nothing closes the syllable.
Use it
Put the word in a short sentence built only from words the child can already read.
Move into two-syllable words and divide between the parts
Open syllables really pay off inside longer words. Show a word like ro-bot or ti-ger and divide it after the vowel so the first syllable is open and long. Read each syllable by its type, then blend. This is the reader's first taste of syllable division, and the free decodable word lists group words for exactly this step.
This is one of the six syllable types. The full order is on our scope and sequence.
See it in action. In the Lillory app, children split longer words in The Great Divide and read them part by part in Word Giants at Level 4, exactly the division this guide describes.