Teaching ER, IR, and UR R-Controlled Vowels through Phonics Centers

Teaching ER, IR, and UR R-Controlled Vowels through Phonics Centers

Hey, y'all! Over the last few years, I've learned so much about phonics rules and how to teach my students these. But one thing that was missing from our curriculum was targeted practice with the skill our class was currently working on. I mean, we'd read a few sentences that had examples of the phonics spelling pattern, but that was all the curriculum would offer. So, I started incorporating my own targeted phonics centers in order to meet my students' needs. This week, we're working on er, ir, and ur words with /er/ sounds from r-controlled vowels. 

My students have loved having these centers as part of our phonics rotations. In our class, we do a whole class phonics lesson for the skill we're learning. Then, we break into four rotations: teacher table, read to self, computers, and phonics centers. 

I leave the last few skills we've been learning in our rotation choices and add in the new centers as we learn the skill. This gives kids time to play the centers they're comfortable with or may need more practice with, and challenges the kids who are ready to jump in to the new spelling pattern. 

With /er/ words, there isn't a definitive rule on when to use er, ir, or ur. There are some general guidelines, but they don't always follow the rules. For instance, it's usually "er" at the end of a word referring to a person, like "teacher" or "writer," or when comparing things, like "taller" or "longer." It's usually an "ir" if the /er/ sound is followed by m, d, t, or th, as in "bird." "Ir" can usually be found in the middle of a word.  "Ur" is the second most common spelling of the three, and can be found in the middle of words or syllables, or the beginning of syllables, as in "urgent."

Because these spelling patterns are so tricky, this set of phonics games doesn't include a sound sort. But it does have matching games, alphabetical order puzzles, seek and finds, roll and reads, spin and graph games, Bump and Scoot games, and read and write cards. You could still have students sort the words by spelling if you'd like with the matching cards. 

I like to include a mix of partner games and independent games so that students can work alone if they need or want to. I usually keep the roll and read games at the teacher table for a quick skills check during our small group time. And I save the Scoot game for an end of the week assessment or for quiz-quiz-trade during morning meeting. 

You can find out more about these phonics centers in my TPT store here. It's part of a larger growing bundle of phonics centers and interventions designed to last an entire school year. You can find out more about the bundle here. 

I hope this helps you bring more engagement to your phonics or literacy rotations. I'm always adding new resources and freebies to my TPT store, so please consider following me so you don't miss anything new. 

Have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you soon. 

Stay cozy,