About this activity
Two short passages packed with /r/: Ron runs in the rain, he sees a red robin on a rocky road, the robin sings a really pretty song, Ron races home to rest; and Rita reads a story about a rabbit, the rabbit runs around a raspberry bush, Rita reads it right before she goes to rest. Four sentences each, with a dozen targets and no reset between them.
How to use it in a session
Read it together, then let the student read or retell it alone. A passage is a much heavier load than a sentence, and a joint reading before an independent one is a step rather than a shortcut. Ask the student to retell it in their own words afterwards, which removes the text and moves the targets into spontaneous speech — that is where carryover actually gets tested.
What to listen for
Listen for accuracy decaying across the passage. Most students hold the sound for the first two sentences and lose it by the fourth, and where the decay starts is more informative than an overall count. Watch the vocalic /r/ words — rocky, road, really — against the initial ones, since students are usually stronger on one and the passage mixes both.
Carrying it home
One passage read aloud to a family member is a realistic home task. It is short enough to finish and long enough to matter, which beats a word list on both counts.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Second through fifth, for students accurate on /r/ at sentence level.
- Do I need an account?
- No, both passages play free.
- Why connected text rather than sentences?
- Because generalisation happens in connected speech. A passage puts a dozen targets in a row with no pause to reset, which is much closer to conversation than a set of separate sentences.