What? Yes, when r follows a vowel, r changes the vowel sound - R-controlled vowels!

As children become readers, they will decode many words with r-controlled vowels. When a vowel is followed by an r, the r changes the sound of the vowel. An r-controlled vowel is neither short nor long.  For example, in the word cat the vowel is short (consonant, vowel, consonant).  When the vowel is followed by an r, the combination ar,  produces a new sound /ar/ as in cart (consonant, r-controlled vowel, consonant). 

Introduce r-controlled vowels one at a time using vowel cards.  Explain  when a vowel is followed by an r, the r changes the vowel sound. The letters join together to make one new sound. Have children reference the vowel cards below to read words.

Begin by introducing the /ar/ controlled vowel.  While running your finger along the arrow have children make the /ar/ sound.

Introduce addition r-controlled vowels: er, ir, or and ur

Have children sort words according to the position of their r-controlled vowel - Beginning, Middle or End?

Word Cards for Where do you hear the sound?

Say each picture with children- cart, Bert and sports. Provide several word cards for three different sounding r-controlled vowels. Mix up the cards and then have children read them and sort them according to their r-controlled vowels. Word cards used for this activity include: artist, start, garden, star, fern, herd, her, term, born, torn, corn and order.  Find them below.

Cards for sorting activity

Extended Fun Activities

Bingo Game - R controlled vowels

Demonstration Video

Analogies - Learning the Fun Way!

A fun activity to teach kids relationships and analogies.  Examples include:

(1) Transportation -  A car is to a road AS a boat is to water AS a plane is to the sky.

(2) Sports - Chalk is to hopscotch AS a hoop is to basketball AS a goal post is to soccer.

(3) Food - Corn is to tortillas AS a tomato is to salsa AS wheat is to bread

(4) Shapes - A circle is to pizza AS a square is to a cracker AS an oval is to watermelon

Folding Directions

Welcome Autumn!

Patterning and Sequencing Fun - Both skills foster decoding - the reading of unknown words.  Working with picture patterns and sequencing activities will  provide kids with a foundation in recognizing letter patterns to read words.  All words consists of letters and letter patterns and must be positioned in a certain order to form a word.  Sequencing supports kids with the concept of directionality and order placement of letters and letter patterns to form words.

                           Introduce Activity

Simple to Complex.  When children have a good understanding of patterns introduce the game. 

Game Board and Cards are included at the end of blog.  The game board can also be used with the sequencing cards.  Children draw sequencing cards from the stack.  They must answer the question to move their markers  on the game board..

Fun with Sequencing

Sight Word Assessment and Practice

There are 11 sight word lists, 20 words per list.  List one is usually introduced in kindergarten, lists two through five in first grade with the remaining lists taught in second grade and possibly third grade.

To assess, have children read leveled lists of flash cards and circle words read incorrectly or with too much hesitation.  Words should be read with automaticity. In the example below, the child read 19/20 sight words on list one correctly with no hesitation (green cards) and 18/20 sight words on list two (pink cards). The word said was read incorrectly on list one. The words have and with were read incorrectly on list two.   Continue the lists until 4 or more words are read incorrectly. It is helpful to use different color index cards for the different lists. 

Review and Practice with Bingo Cards - Printable Cards Below

Assessment Forms for the 11 Sight Word Lists

Lists 7-11

Printable Bingo Cards

Fill in Bingo Cards to be Used as Determined

Video with all sight word lists - Have children practice reading the lists on each slide or the slides with lists children have mastered.

Alphabet Fun

Alphabet Fun -Have children place the letters in alphabetical order matching uppercase with lowercase letters.

           The alphabet mat was made using a 22 in. by 18 in. piece of tag board and decorative tape. Foam letters can be found at Target or most educational stores.

Additional alphabet activities - Children practice identifying  upper-and-lower case letters automatically. In this activity, children will rapidly recognize and name letters in random order.

Children have fun using magnetic letters to identify the letters of their names and other familiar words.