Cycle

Spell words with r-Controlled

Vowels er, ir, and ur. 25
R-Controlled Vowel Sounds
When a vowel is followed by an r, it makes a special sound.
These sounds are called r-controlled vowels.

Some of these phonemes are:

“ur”
“or”
“ar”
“er”
“ir” as in star
corn
fern
church
skirt
“er” as in fern
How many words can you think of that have ‘er’ in them?

her h-er feather f-ea-th-er

germ g-er-m paper p-a-p-er

term t-er-m finger f-i-ng-er

spider s-p-i-d-er tiger t-i-g-er

ladder l-a-dd-er water w-a-t-er

“er” as in fern
Can you put these words into a sentence?

spider A spider has eight legs. finger He cut his finger.

ladder I climbed up the ladder. tiger The tiger was sleeping.

I drank some
feather The bird lost a feather. water
cold water.

paper She made a paper airplane.

“ur” as in church
How many words can you think of that have ‘ur’ in them?

curb c-ur-b nurse n-ur-se

purple p-ur-p-le hurt h-ur-t

turtle t-ur-t-le curtain c-ur-t-ai-n

blurt b-l-ur-t fur f-ur

purse p-ur-se turn t-ur-n

‘ur’ as in church
Can you put these words into a sentence?

curb Mom parked the car on the curb.

purple Her purple socks were wet.

turtle The turtle was slow.

nurse The nurse gave me a needle.

hurt Shane hurt his knee.

curtain Melissa opened the curtain.

“ir” as in skirt
How many words can you think of that have ‘ir’ in them?

shirt sh-ir-t chirp ch-ir-p

squirt s-qu-ir-t third th-ir-d

birth b-ir-th dirt d-ir-t

girl g-ir-l circle c-ir-c-le

bird b-ir-d stir s-t-ir

“ir” as in skirt
Can you put these words into a sentence?

shirt Taj buttoned up his shirt.

girl The girl built a sandcastle.

bird The bird had a broken wing.

third Ahmed came third in the running race.

dirt Millie had dirt on her paws.

Can you read these words?

fern term chirp

first curb burn

perky birthday alert

perfect

SPELLING WORDS
 fern
That plant is a fern.
• How many vowels are there in the word “fern”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “fern”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “fern”.
• What word will you create if you change the first sound ‘f’ to ‘st’
in the word fern?
term
What does that term mean?
• How many vowels are there in the word “term”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “term”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “term”.
• What word will you create if you change the first sound ‘t’ to ‘g’
in the word term?
chirp
I hear a bird chirp.
• How many vowels are there in the word “chirp”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “chirp”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “chirp”.
 first
He is first in line.
• How many vowels are there in the word “first”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “first”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “first”.
• What word will you create if you change the first sound ‘f’ to ‘th’
in the word first?
• Give an antonym (opposite) of the word first?
curb
Let’s wait at the curb.
• How many vowels are there in the word “curb”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “curb”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “curb”.
• Give an antonym (opposite) of the word first?
burn
Do not burn the toast.
• How many vowels are there in the word “burn”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “burn”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “burn”.
• What word will you create if you remove the first sound ‘b’ in
the word burn?
perky
What a perky dog!
• How many vowels are there in the word “perky”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “perky”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “perky”.
• Give an antonym (opposite) of the word perky?
birthday
Tomorrow is my birthday.
• How many vowels are there in the word “birthday”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “birthday”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “birthday”.
• What are the two words combined in the compound word
birthday?
alert
Be careful and stay alert.
• How many vowels are there in the word “alert”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “alert”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “alert”.
• Give an antonym (opposite) of the word alert?
perfect
I found the perfect gift.
• How many vowels are there in the word “perfect”?
• What is the vowel sound in the word “perfect”?
• How many syllables are there?
• Think of some words that rhyme with the word “perfect”.
• What word will you create if add a prefix ‘im-’to the word
perfect?
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