A short, decodable story embedding r-controlled — ir words. Students read the passage then highlight all the target words.
Beth's Thirsty Bird
Skill: R-Controlled — IR • Sight Words: the, is, a, and, to, was, it, she, he, they, said, have, with, you, are, be
Coloring page included in PDF
Beth was a kind girl. She sat by a tall fir pine and saw a little bird. The bird sat on a stick and did not sing. Its dish in the dirt had not a drop. Beth thought, "That bird must be thirsty."
First, Beth went to get a fresh drink. She put it in the bird’s dish. Then, she held the dish up. "Here you go, little bird," she whispered. The bird flew down from the fir pine. It took a long drink. Then it gave a glad chirp. Beth felt full of mirth.
Circle or highlight all the IR r-controlled words in the story above. How many did you find?
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
shirt
third
bird
chirp
chirp
first
bird
third
bird
shirt
bird
first
third
chirp
first
Target words: bird, first, third, shirt, chirp
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5 Word Search
Find and circle the r-controlled — ir words hidden in the grid. Words go across, down, and diagonally — a fun way to reinforce r-controlled — ir word recognition.
Next step: once your child can sound out these words, have them read a matching decodable mini-book. Each R-Controlled — IR reader is a printable story + coloring page using only sounds they've learned.
These free r-controlled (ir) worksheets provide structured phonics practice for the IR r-controlled vowel. Activities include a decodable passage embedding target words in a fun story, a word sort activity to distinguish real and nonsense words, phrasing practice cards for fluency building, and a rapid naming (RAN) chart for automaticity. Each worksheet prints cleanly on standard US Letter paper.
