Phonics Lesson 80 ur, ir /er/ & Phonics Lesson 81 w+or /er/ & Review of /er/: Mar 23-27 (Reading Practice Book)

Phonics Lessons - Mar 23-27

This week's focus has been continuing to review r-controlled vowels. 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! We have started with ar /ar/ and or, ore /or/ before March Break and this week, we have been looking at different spelling combinations that make the /er/ sound as er, ir, ur and when w is right before or to make the or say /er/.  

Students are confusing the /er/ sound with the /r/ sound. These are two different sounds and are tricky to differentiate. To make the /er/ sound, your mouth is open slightly, teeth are apart and your lips are pushed outward slightly. Your tongue is in the middle of your mouth, touching your top teeth. The /r/ sound is a super tricky sound to make. To make the /r/ sound, your tongue is up and pulled back. Your tongue is wide in your mouth and strong. We will continue to work on this together. 

Lesson 80: ur, ir /er/

Two other ways to make the /er/ sound is with the spelling patterns ir and ur. With the ir spelling, the /er/ sound can come in the middle of a word, such as girl and bird. It can also come at the end of the word such as sir and stir. 

With the ur spelling, the /er/ sound can come at the beginning of the word such as urge and urn, in the middle of a word, such as turn and hurt but also it can also come at the end of the word such as fur and blur. 

In this week's text called A Turtle Can Surf, students are looking for all the words that have the /er/ sound using the spelling patterns of ir, ur in the words to highlight (the whole word that has that spelling pattern). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that are re and not making the /er/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

Lesson 81: w+or /er/ & Review of /er/

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

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). Be careful for spelling patterns that are included in the story that are re and not making the /er/ sound. Students are also asked to illustrate the story to demonstrate their understanding of the text.

The /er/ 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! 

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 with focused in class practice. These will eventually (if not already) be on spelling word lists or word rings. 

This week we are reviewing:

• pretty
• nothing
• other
• another

This week's new words:

• mother
• brother

Fluency Grids
With each lesson, 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.

Homework Reminders
Students have been working on the story or stories in their Reading Practice book this week that will come home each weekend. At school, they work with a partner to complete their fluency grid, read with someone their story and highlight the focus words. Following, they are illustrating a picture for the text to show their understanding. 

At home, students are to finish the above tasks and read to an expert the week's lesson(s). After completing, parents are to initial at the indicated spot at the top. 

This week, we are have completed two lessons so there will be two stories to complete in their white Reading Practice booklet after the clip. Please see the information letter in the front of the book for more, detailed information about this weekend practice book coming home. Please return on Monday (or Tuesday if there is a no school day on Monday).

Happy reading!