Many R-Controlled Vowels in One Comprehensive List  

R-controlled vowels contain a vowel sound followed by the letter ‘r’. Differentiating between the various r-controlled vowels can be difficult for younger students. This list of 50 words containing r-controlled vowel sounds has been compiled to assist you in implementing your phonics program in your classroom. The r-controlled vowel digraphs in the list include the following:

• ar (as in car)
• er (as in her)
• ir (as in bird)
• or (as in corn)
• ur (as in fur).

Multiple Applications for This R-Controlled Vowels Word List 

This literacy resource can be used in numerous ways to support the diverse needs of your learners. Here are some of our suggestions:

Whole-class instruction

Project the word list on your interactive whiteboard. As a class, colour-code the words according to the r-controlled vowel sounds. Challenge the students to identify more words that contain each r-controlled vowel sound.

Individual practice

Send the lists home so your students can revise decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) the words on the list. Be sure to include only words containing letter-sound correspondences you have already addressed in class. 

Formative assessment

Use the word list as a progress monitoring tool to keep track of your students’ phonemic awareness and to identify the r-controlled vowel digraphs that require further review. 

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