R-Controlled Vowels (ar, er, ir, or, ur)
Produce r-controlled vowel sounds in single-syllable words.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Teach ar and or first, which have distinct sounds, then group er, ir and ur together as one sound with three spellings. That grouping is the single most helpful thing to say about this pattern, and it changes a confusing set into two clear cases plus one that has to be learned word by word. Ten minutes covers the sixteen with the grouping.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and wait 3 seconds for the student to read it.Log as correct
- Point to itPoint to the letter pattern that matters, or tap under each sound.Log as cued
- Sound it outSay the first sound together, then let the student blend the rest.Log as cued
- ModelRead it, tapping each sound; the student reads it after you.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer cards and start with the patterns the student already reads, such as 'car' and 'star'.
Read the words in a sentence, or spell them from dictation.
Matching IEP goal
Given decodable word cards, such as 'car' and 'star', Student will read the target pattern accurately in 8 of 10 words across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Sixteen words covering the five r-controlled vowel spellings: car, star, farm and park for ar; her, fern, germ and water for er; bird, girl, shirt and first for ir; corn, fork and storm for or; turn for ur. The useful fact here is that er, ir and ur all make the same sound — three spellings, one vowel, and no way to tell from the sound which to write.
What to listen for
Watch whether the student tries to hear a difference between bird, her and turn. There is none in most accents, and a student straining to hear one is being set an impossible task — telling them so is a relief and lets them focus on remembering the spellings instead. Notice water, where the er is unstressed and the sound is weaker than in her.
Carrying it home
R-controlled words are everywhere: car, park, bird, corn. Pointing out that her, bird and turn all rhyme despite three different spellings is a five-second observation that clears up a lot of confusion.
What's in this activity
- car
- star
- farm
- park
- her
- fern
- germ
- water
- bird
- girl
- shirt
- first
- corn
- fork
- storm
- turn
- burn
- purse
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- First through third, as part of structured phonics work.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all sixteen words play free.
- How do students know whether to write er, ir or ur?
- Mostly they cannot tell from the sound, because all three are pronounced the same. These have to be learned as word-specific spellings, which is worth saying out loud rather than letting students hunt for a rule.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.