Explore R-Controlled Vowels with This Digital Learning Activity

Differentiating between the various r-controlled vowels can be difficult for younger students. It can be hard to know when to use ‘ar’, ‘er’, ‘ir’, ‘or’ and ‘ur’. Immersing our students in these digraphs and seeing them used in the context of real words will help! 

This interactive Google Slides resource has been designed to allow your students to practise inserting the correct r-controlled vowel into a variety of one-syllable words. Students will click and drag the correct r-controlled vowel to build words based on a picture stimulus. The resource contains 22 examples for students to work through.

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource to support your phonics program. It can be used in whole-class or small-group setting, or as an individual activity for more-capable, independent learners.

We suggest the following differentiation strategies to support the diverse needs of your learners:

🆘 Support Struggling Students

• Provide an anchor chart or sound wall to help students identify which r-controlled vowel team is needed to spell each word.
• Encourage students to segment each word on a mini whiteboard or sheet of paper before building each word.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

• Encourage fast finishers to identify and spell other words that contain an r-controlled vowel.
• Have students write sentences or stories using the images and words shown in the resource.

🧑‍ Group Learning

• Project the slides onto a screen and work through them as a class by having students record their answers in their notebooks or on mini whiteboards. 

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students.

Click the Download button to access the interactive Google Slides document.

Assign this interactive activity to Google Classroom. Please be sure to open in Edit mode, not Presentation mode. Students click/drag/drop/type to build words.

Looking for more fabulous resources to explore r-controlled vowels with your students? We have you covered!

teaching resource

Phoneme Spotter Story – 'ar' Sound

A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the 'ar' sound.

teaching resource

Phoneme Spotter Story – 'or' Sound

A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the ‘or’ sound.

teaching resource

Phoneme Spotter Story – 'er' Sound

A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the ‘er’ sound.