UFLI Phonics Lessons 82 & 83: April 28-May 1

This week's focus has been continuing to review r-controlled vowels. We have started with ar /ar/, followed by or, ore /or/ and now the 4 spelling combinations so far of the /er/ sound as er, ir, ur and w+or spelling patterns. When we put the /r/ sound after a vowel, it completely changes the way the vowel sounds. It makes what we call an ‘r-controlled’ vowel but does have to include the vowel or some words would be missing a vowel and therefore, not a real word!

w+or /er/ & Review of /er/
Students are confusing the /er/ sound with the /r/ sound. These are two different sounds and are tricky to differentiate but we will continue to work on this together. 

This week we were introduced to w+or also makes the or say /er/ like in world and work. 

This sound has many spelling patterns (& more to come) and how confusing is that!? So when we read these words, we need to know that er, ir, ur, (w+)or all make the /er/ sound for when we are decoding. However, when we are spelling, this is when it gets tricky! How do we know which one to use!? We have shared this general chart with the students this week but in Grade 1/2, we are going to be generally happy with using one of them and learning as we go! 

In this week's text called, The Worst Pet Ever, students are looking for all the words that have the /er/ sound based on the er spelling patterns to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern), followed up illustrating a picture of the story. Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that are re or that are not making the /er/ sound.  

Review of /ar/, /or/, /er/

We spent the other portion of our short week reviewing all of the r-controlled vowels we have learned so far. Review and practice has been perfect with this short week as we focus on putting all our learning together. 

In this week's text called Fishing At the Port, students are looking for all the words that have any of the r-controlled vowels. They are listed at the top of the page but are ar /ar/, or and ore for the /or/ sound, and the use of the four spelling patterns of /er/ as er, ir, ur and w+or. Remember we are careful to only highlight the words that have this pattern, followed up with illustrating a picture of the story.  

Heart (Irregular) Words of the Week

Heart words are words that do not decode or follow the spelling rules that we have been learning. We have to know them by 'heart'. However, once we learn more spelling rules, they may be only temporary heart words and the rules will come along later! In the meantime, we have been focusing on reviewing and learning the words below. 

This week we are reviewing:

• other
• another
• mother
• brother

And we are introducing as new words:

• father
• water

Fluency Grids

As mentioned each week, with each story, there is a fluency grid with the lesson focus that is intended to help students recognize the phonics rule and assist in reading it with accuracy and automaticity. At home, challenge your young reader to read the word (aim is to decode/read each word within 3 seconds) and then recall it each time they see it within the grid of mixed up, repeated words. A couple minutes of practice is all they need. This acts as a warm up before reading the text that also applies the same skill while building on all the previous skills as well. Each week we are building on the previous week to become more fluent readers so we can focus on what the text is sharing rather than spending all the time decoding the words. 

**If this is too much at home with all the other things you are busy with, we totally understand! We will be using it in the classroom and saving paper to keep them all together in one spot. Thank you in advance if you do give it a whirl as another way to support your little reader based on the Science of Reading.** 

Happy reading!