1 Decodable Reading Passage
A short, decodable story embedding r-controlled — ir words. Students read the passage then highlight all the target words.
Beth's Thirsty Bird
Coloring page included in PDF
Beth, a little girl, saw a bird on a tall fir. The bird looked thirsty. Beth ran to its bird dish. Oh no! The dish was full of dirt. Beth must help the bird first!
She took the dish. She felt grim. “I must get rid of this dirt,” Beth thought. She gave the dish a quick swirl with some wet. She saw the dirt go. Then she put in fresh, clean wet. The bird saw her and gave a chirp. It took a big drink. Beth had such mirth. “There, little bird,” she said. “That will help.” The bird felt good, not thirsty. Beth smiled.
Circle or highlight all the IR r-controlled words in the story above. How many did you find?
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2 Word Sort
Cut out the word cards and sort them into the correct columns: Real Words vs Nonsense Words.
Real Words
Nonsense Words
bird
dirt
fir
firm
first
girl
sir
stir
third
swirl
jirz
lirz
wirz
firz
rirz
tirz
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3 Phrasing Practice Cards
Practice reading these phrases for fluency. Cut out the cards and read them quickly and smoothly.
the bird on dirt
a dirt in fir
the fir and firm
a firm with first
the first on girl
a girl in sir
the sir and stir
a stir with third
the third on swirl
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4 RAN Chart (Rapid Naming)
Read each word in the grid as quickly as you can. Time yourself and try to beat your best time!
Decodable RAN Chart — R-Controlled — IR
shirt
third
bird
chirp
third
first
shirt
chirp
bird
first
chirp
shirt
bird
first
bird
third
Target words: bird, first, third, shirt, chirp
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📖 Decodable Readers
Printable mini-books for R-Controlled — IR practice. Each reader includes a story + coloring page illustration.