R-Controlled Vowels (ar, er, ir, or, ur) — Spelling
Literacy · Grades 1–3 · 18 cards
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
Sort the words into ar, or, and the three-spelling group as you build them. Ar and or can be spelled by ear; bird, her and turn cannot, and saying that plainly saves a student a lot of fruitless listening. Group the ir words together — bird, girl, shirt, first — since seeing four in a row is how the spelling becomes familiar. Ten minutes covers the sixteen.
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
The sixteen r-controlled words — car, star, farm, park, her, fern, germ, water, bird, girl, shirt, first, corn, fork, storm, turn — as a spelling task. Derived from the flashcard deck, and this is where the pattern actually bites: er, ir and ur sound identical, so spelling them is a memory problem that reading is not.
What to listen for
Watch which of the three spellings the student defaults to. Most default to er, since it is the most frequent, which means bird and turn are the errors to expect. Notice first, where the ir is followed by two consonants and the word is often spelled furst — a phonetically reasonable attempt that the rule cannot rule out.
Carrying it home
Ask which spelling a word uses rather than for the whole word. Bird, her or turn — the answer has to be remembered rather than worked out, and the asking is what builds the memory.
What's in this activity
- car
- star
- farm
- park
- her
- fern
- germ
- water
- bird
- girl
- shirt
- first
- corn
- fork
- storm
- turn
- burn
- purse
Questions
- How is this different from the flashcards?
- Same sixteen words, built from letters. Spelling is where three spellings for one sound become a real problem, which reading never exposes.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, it plays free with no account.
- Is there a rule for er, ir and ur?
- Not a reliable one. They are pronounced identically in most accents and have to be learned word by word — which is worth telling students so they stop looking for a pattern that is not there.
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.