Teaching the ir sound can be quite tricky as it's an entirely different type of vowel that is modified by its bossy neighbour, the letter r. Students need explicit instruction to understand how these r-controlled vowels work. Fortunately, I have lots of interactive games, word lists, teaching resources, and more to make teaching and learning ir sound words as easy as possible!
Welcome to the word of r-controlled vowels! The ir sound is a special type of vowel sound made by pairing the short i with the r. That bossy r causes the short i to shift, making ir words tricky to decode for beginning readers. For example, the word "bird" can be segmented into individual phonemes, but students might get stuck trying to blend the short i and the r together. It's not the same /i/ as in hit; it's "er".
As you can imagine, this is confusing for students. I think we've all watched a student try to sound out words with this pattern only to end up with a confused look when the short i sound doesn't really fit the final word. Inexperienced teachers may try to modify the pronunciation to make the vowel fit, but that can be even more confusing!
Explicitly teaching r-controlled vowels will absolutely pay off. It unlocks a whole lot of new words for students, reducing their stress and confusion. The easier students find it to decode, the more they enjoy reading!
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What is the ir sound?
There are five r-controlled vowels:
- /er/
- /or/
- /ar/
- /air/
- /eer/
You're probably noticing that /ir/ is not on that list! That's because it's actually a special subset of the /er/ sound.
It usually occurs in the middle of a word, bookmarked between consonants or consonant blends at the beginning and end, like in the word bird or twirl.
It's not a common variation, only occurring in 4% of er words, but it should be included as part of your -er instruction to set your students up for success.
To set you up for success, I have spelling generalisations for r-controlled vowels, which make it easy to see the different spelling patterns, their locations in words, and frequency. Super helpful for planning instruction!
Once you get teaching, add r-controlled vowels to your literacy wall with these r-controlled vowels spelling posters. They offer students a visual reference point for the different patterns so they can decode and encode quickly.
Ir Word List
I have a free printable ir word list, which also includes all of the other r-controlled vowels. It makes it so much easier to have lots of examples to pull up during a lesson instead of trying to think of the words on the spot!
- bird
- birch
- chirp
- firm
- girl
- mirth
- shirt
- sir
- third
- dirty
- skirt
- smirk
- swirl
- thirst
- affirm
- birthday
- confirm
- firstly
- sirloin
- thirteen
- whirlpool
My word list breaks down ir words by the number of sounds in each word to make it easy to find the perfect example for sound boxes.
Resources for Teaching Ir Words
First, I want to make sure you know that every single one of the resources above and below is included in The Hive! It's essentially an all-in-one teacher dashboard that includes your daily schedule, digital learning tools, lesson plans, and much more. It also includes a massive resource bank with thousands of printable worksheets, games, interactive lessons, and apps. There's nothing else like it!
I've stocked The Hive full of evidence-based instructional activities that focus on key phonics skills, like r-controlled vowels, diphthongs, and more. You can find exactly what you need, attach it to your timetable, and use it instantly!
Start your free 14 day trial of The Hive today!
Our apps make it easy to map out new words, break them apart, and study them in depth. These ones are ideal for ir sounds!
Our famous Word Builder
Beedle
Decodable Sentences
Flash Cards
Tic Tac Toe
Four in a Roll
Plus, there are loads more!
- Elkonin Boxes
- Decodable Words
- Nonsense Decodable Words
- Roll A Silly Sentence
- Spinner Picker
- ... and more!
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Teaching Ir Sound Words
To teach ir words, you'll want to start with my r-controlled vowel ER PowerPoint. It covers the entire topic in-depth and is the most appropriate way to introduce, model, and consolidate this new learning. It includes over 550 slides and intentionally guides students through the learning process. It's everything you need to get started (and then some)!
Once students are ready to start practising these skills on their own, introduce some of the following activities. They're ideal for practising in small groups, during independent work, or for whole group practice too.
ER Sound Clip Cards
These clip cards practise all the variations of the -er sound, including ir, ur, and or. It's a great way to reinforce all the orthographic mapping and encoding you've been doing together as a whole class!
Grapheme Detectives
Since the ir spelling pattern sounds identical to er and the other spelling variations, it's essential that students spend time attending to each individual word and its specific structure. Grapheme Detectives requires students to focus specifically on how the words are spelled and identify which spelling looks correct, making it easier for students to write these words independently later on.
Word Sort
This differentiated -er word sort is the perfect way to practise sorting words by their spelling variations and can easily be scaled up or down to make it more challenging! There are three versions: word cards with the image and word, just the word, and just the image. They all focus on sorting words with er, ir, and ur - encourage students to notice patterns for when different spelling alternatives are used.
Read and Match Decodable Sentence Mats
There are several versions of decodable sentences on The Hive. Some require students to match sentences to images, while others require them to write out the sentences, too!
They're great reading practice for early readers, and I have sets to match all of the different r-controlled vowels.
Editable Fluency Texts
Give your students real-life practice decoding r-controlled vowels through these differentiated fluency texts. Each one is editable as well, so you can customise it to your specific dialect or however you deem fit.
Roll It, Read It, Keep It
For this activity, students set up a gameboard with decodable word cards face down. They roll the dice to see which card to start with, and if they can read the word, they get to keep it. I also like to have students play this as a partner game where one student must spell the word correctly to keep it. Such great encoding practice!
Phonics Review Worksheets
Although I prefer to use interactive activities and games whenever possible, sometimes you need students to put their thoughts on paper. These -er worksheets offer your students opportunities to engage with the -er sound in meaningful ways, like using sound boxes, unjumbling words, and more.
This requires them to attend to the sounds in individual words and put their skills into action. Plus, they're ready to print and go, so you can use them right away!
You could also use any of the above printables as assessments too.
Open-Ended Assessments
Speaking of assessments, gauge what your students know before, during, and after teaching using these open-ended assessments. There are no multiple-choice bubbles or true or false questions. Students must list out what they know, segment words, and demonstrate genuine understanding. They're so helpful to see who's really learning the -er sound and who's not quite there!
Another great way to assess student understanding is with these phonics check-in templates.
Tic Tac Toe
You'll love The Hive's interactive Tic Tac Toe app, but these board games are a great way for students to play the game in partners or small groups too!
Phonics Flip
This game works just like UNO, and kids LOVE it! It's a great way to work with all the different spellings of the /er/ phoneme.
Other R-Controlled Vowel Games & Activities
There are quite a few r-controlled vowel games on The Hive, with more coming! These are fantastic for partner activities or literacy centers and are all ready to go.
- Rhyming task cards - Rhyming is a fantastic way to practice phonological awareness and help students identify the -er phoneme in other words! These rhyming task cards can be used for r-controlled vowels, diphthongs, and all long vowels, so you can introduce the activity once and use it all year.
- Odd One Out Task Cards - On each card, students are shown for images. They must say (or think) each rhyming word, then choose which one doesn't fit the pattern. This set of task cards includes long vowels, diphthongs, and r-controlled vowels, and is recommended for grades 1-3!
- Connect 4
- Snakes & Ladders
More Phonics Resources
- Teaching Hard and Soft G & C Sound Words with Gentle Cindy
- Schwa Sound Words, Printables, and More
- How To Orthographically Map Tricky High Frequency Words
- Phonemic Awareness vs Phonics: What's the Difference?
- Ow & Ou Sound Words
- Ch Sound Words
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