R-Controlled Vowels: Bossy R!

 This week we have focused on when we put the /r/ sound after a vowel, it completely changes the way the vowel sounds. 

AR is often found in the middle of a word, like "bark" or "part." It can sometimes come at the end of a word, like "far" and "star," or sometimes at the beginning of a word, like in "art" or "arm."

OR can come in the middle of a word, such as the words "fork" and "corn," or sometimes at the beginning of a word like "orb" or "ordinary." It can come at the end of a word, like "for," but important to remember is that when we hear the /or/ sound at the end of a word it is usually spelled with a silent E (like in "more" and "store.")

The /er/ sound has a quite a few different possible spellings! The most common one is ER, which can come in the middle of a word (like "verb" or "fern"), or at the end of a word, like "her" and "sister." While less common than ER, the grapheme IR can also spell the /er/ sound in the middle of a word (like "girl," "bird,") or at the end (like "stir).  The grapheme UR can come in the middle of a word, like "turn" or "hurt," at the end of a word like "fur," or at the beginning like in "urge" or "urn."

Finally, though the grapheme OR usually spells /or/, sometimes it can also spell the /er/ sound -- but only in words that start with w! Isn't English ridiculous sometimes!? W+OR is found, for example, in "word," "world," and "work. If you hear the /er/ sound after a W, you spell it OR.

Fun Ways to Practice:

Practice reading words with all of the R-Controlled vowel sounds, including some 2 syllable words, with this memory match game. Click the picture to play:

It can be challenging to pick the correct spelling of the /er/ sound with so many possibilities! We know that ER is the most common and OR is when the word starts with W, but spellers need to monitor their work for which one looks correct. Practice picking the correct /er/ spelling here:

Can you read and sort this collection of "Bossy R" words based on the r-controlled vowel sound? If you want an extra challenge, time yourself and see how quickly you can do it with accuracy!

Heart Words and High Frequency Words

Please review the Heart Words and High Frequency words sent home April 2. The high frequency words follow spelling patterns we have recently learned, including -LE, -DGE, -TCH, open and closed syllables, and "sneaky, sly Y" (making long /e/ and long /i/ sounds at the end of words).

Heart words have parts that we can sound out and spell based on the letter sounds and phonic patterns we know, but also include some tricky irregular parts that we must learn by heart. In class, we practice spelling these words without looking after reviewing ways to remember them. Can you mark the irregular part of each heart word with a heart?

 High Frequency Words to Review: April 2

example	find
little	most
people	old
family	move
only	along
study	also
funny	animal
both	began
don’t	begin
kind	even

  Words (irregular spelling) To Review: April 2

been	four
pretty	fourth
friend	forty
because	people
many	nothing
any	*Which parts of these words do not follow typical spelling rules, and we must know by heart? Draw hearts to show the irregular parts.
women
woman
move
both