Struggling with R-Controlled Spelling? Try These UFLI-Inspired Word Charts for ar, or, er, ir, and ur, which are colorful and engaging visuals for targeted spelling support.
These word lists are an easy, no-prep solution for transitioning quickly between different small reading group lessons and wall displays. The students find them visually engaging, and they are handy to have in the classroom near the reading group. The R-controlled spelling charts feature:
Word lists are sorted in a similar fashion to UFLI lessons 77-83
Make R-Controlled Vowels Fun! Low-Prep Clip Cards for Spelling Practice.
Spelling Test Practice Made Easy – R-Controlled Vowel Clip Cards (ar, or, er, ir, ur). Lately, I’ve noticed several educators questioning whether spelling tests are still an effective learning tool. This concern often stems from students disliking them or seeing little value in the process—especially when they memorize weekly word lists, only to forget them soon after. So, what is a solution that supports both the student and teacher with long-term gains?
As a young student, I remember learning the list of the week and forgetting it by the end of the month. As an educator, I have made it a point to serve up the spelling lessons in target groups of spelling-related skills that scaffold and support the student with explicit, systematic and cumulative approaches that are fun and not soul-crushing tests. One example is the R-controlled words. After teaching an R-controlled lesson and reading, there is always time left for a game with the same skills and later an R-controlled spelling test for monitoring the students’ gains and needs. By using clip cards, the students can focus on the targeted skills without distraction or shame. Using cards with pictures makes this feel like a game instead of a test.
Gamification of the R-controlled words with these cards is engaging and tactile for the students. They can be used before or after small reading groups, as centers or part of a diagnostic intervention strategy. Another fun R-controlled game is the Uno-style R-controlled game. This game has color-coded cards that can be easily sorted to be responsive to the student’s level of need. We often sort them into groups and practice with just /ar/ and /or/, the secondary group is /er/, /ir/ and /ur/, then finally play the complete game with all the R-controlled letters for review.
There are other ways to use the clip cards:
They can be laminated and students can circle the correct answer.
Students can have spelling races and write the correct spelling on the whiteboard table. * They love this one.
They can write on paper, using the cards as a guide.
They can be displayed on the class TV and let students write or type their answers.
While exploring the invention units, I noticed that my students respond really well to picture-embedded letters and word lists. I find them incredibly helpful for staying organized. These visual anchor charts are a valuable resource to have on hand during R-controlled vowel lessons. They are influenced the UFLI lessons 77-83.
Think of a blue tongue to remind you how to correctly spell the word tongue. They both have the same /ue/ ending.
Teaching with card games.
Spelling tip today.
Think of a blue tongue to remind you how to correctly spell the word tongue. They both have the same /ue/ ending.
The other day we were playing the CVCC Uno card game after our reading group. The word tong, was one of the cards that we took the time to discuss vocabulary and meaning. That brought us to the word tongue and blue, in a roundabout way. One student was thinking the word (tong) might be “tongue.”
They were surprised when I wrote the words tongue and blue on the whiteboard. I underlined the ue and told them to think of the word blue to remind themselves how to spell this tricky word.
There are many teachable moments in these small reading groups. It is pure joy for me to hear them working out new words that they have never read before and discuss their meanings during our games. Teaching the students with flashcard games helps them to sound out new words that they may not find in regular reading passages. When they have confidence in their decoding abilities, then they can stop guessing with the whole word strategy. It is awesome, to hear the shock in their voice when they realize they can read a new word they never knew before.
The letter /ere/ can make lots of sounds. This is a tricky spelling to teach. It is mostly one of the reasons the students start to struggle with sight words. Even for students who are good at decoding, this is a very tricky thing to understand the r controlled clip cards have helpful mnemonic images for the sound connection.
These R-controlled clip cards focus on the five sounds: ear, air, oar, er, and are. Often found in tricky sight words. Students may encounter this spelling pattern in their text long before the r-controlled trigraph is formally taught.
These clip cards can be a useful bridge or introduction to the skill knowledge.
Dual-colored spelling clip cards can be found HERE.
Teaching bossy r can be easy to explain until you get to the trigraphs. Then the rules are gone and some students struggle with reading and spelling the homophones like: stair and stare.
These mnemonics were created to provide visual pictures to help students remember and relate to the words. You can find the whole set HERE.
The spelling clip cards highlight the tricky trigraphs in red, with the question “Sounds like?” above three images to guide students.
The letter /ere/ can make lots of sounds. This is a tricky spelling to teach. It is mostly one of the reasons the students start to struggle with sight words. Even for students who are good at decoding, this is a very tricky thing to understand the r controlled clip cards have helpful mnemonic images for the sound connection.
1. The “ear” Sound– Examples
The “ear” sound often makes the “ear” sound, like in the words “ear”, “bear”, and “clear”. This combination of letters can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of words. Here are a few examples:
Ear – The part of the body used for hearing.
Bear – A large animal or to carry something.
Clear – Free from obstruction or easy to understand.
2. The “air” Sound Trigraph -Examples
The “air” sound is commonly found in words such as “air”, “chair”, and “fair”. This sound can also be spelled with the letter combinations “are” or “ere”, as in “care” or “flare”. Here are a few examples:
Air – The atmosphere that we breathe.
Chair – A piece of furniture for sitting.
Fair – Just or impartial, or an event with rides and games.
R controlled Trigraphs Mnemonic Bossy r Booklet, spelling help for sounds air, ear,
Mnemonic pictures are a great way to help teach sound sorting for the various tricky spellings of the five bossy r trigraphs.
air, ear, oar, er, r . These 5 sounds can be spelled in lots of ways.
This booklet has 35 Mnemonic pictures for the vowels and bossy r – to help create a visual picture that can remind the student how the word is spelled.
R-controlled UNO-style card is a great way students can learn to read the spelling patterns with confidence and have fun at the same time. Have Pure Joy Teaching.
This is so much fun learning with a bossy R controlled uno game.
Find this game on Teachers Pay TeachersStudents think it is great! They want to play this game over and over.
Fun Uno-Style Educational Game
It helps students with reading R-controlled words
and they love playing it.
Playing Cards are grouped by colors for similar spellings
ar – or – ur – er – ir – ‘air’- ‘ear’ – ‘oar’
15 different Homophones (including a list with definitions)
The red and black text makes the decodable parts stand out.
Game Play Options
We play with cards face up, and it helps to improve their reading skills. This gives the whole group a chance to help each other when they spot a match, and it keeps everyone’s attention on reading the words.
Teacher tip – The colored groups make it easy sort and to use these as flashcards.
Group By Sounds /er/
Often I will introduce just the /er/ sounds together ( er, ur, ir) and students are surprised at how quickly they can read now that they know how to decode the 3 different spellings that all make the same sound.
This game can be found in a group with other games.
Group By the /ar/ and /or/
The r-controlled /ar/ is one of the few times in English that a consonant letter gets to say it’s name. That makes is special. With the help of the silent vowel /a/ the consonant /r/ can now say it’s name. I like to introduce /ar/ and /or/ together and we play the game with just those two sounds, then combine all the cards to play the complete game.
