2.1 Connecting R-Controlled Vowels to Other Phonics Skills

The structured literacy approach is systematic and cumulative. That means each time we teach a new phonics skill, we need to consider how it interacts with skills that students have already learned. We should explicitly make these connections for students.

R-Controlled Vowels and Magic 'e'

What happens when there's both an r-controlled vowel and a magic 'e' right after it? Well that depends on the word. In words like care, fire, and pure, the magic 'e' still works to make the vowel long. But in words like more and bore, the 'or' makes the r-controlled sound.

Because these patterns are influenced by both the bossy 'r' and the magic 'e' and the vowel sound can vary, we suggest teaching them as units or word families. Here are some examples of words that go together in families.

Suffix '-er'

After teaching the r-controlled patterns that make the /er/ sound, like 'er', 'ir', and 'ur', it may be a good time to also introduce suffix '-er'. Teaching '-er' as a suffix is a great way to help bridge phonics and morphology. 

When introducing the suffix, you can explain that 'er' is not only a vowel pattern, but can be a word part that adds meaning to a base word. 

Suffix '-er' can mean:

• "A person who does something," as in teacher (someone who teaches) or runner (someone who runs)
• "More" when comparing, as in faster or smaller
• "A thing that does something," as in printer (a machine that prints) or computer (a machine that computes

This suffix appears in many words and is one of the main reasons 'er' is the most common spelling of the /er/ sound.

High-Frequency Words with R-Controlled Vowels

We do NOT need students to memorize high-frequency words that have r-controlled vowels, like for and first. Once you have explicitly taught students to identify r-controlled vowels, they can sound out the words for reading and spelling. Below are some high-frequency words containing r-controlled vowels that you can easily incorporate into your phonics lessons. 

• her
• first
• far
• hurt
• start
• for
• better
• never
• under
• after
• over

See the full list of Dolch words separated by phonics patterns.