Parent guide · Grade 2 Phonics & Reading: Syllables and Stories · Unit 3
Lesson 3.2 R-Controlled Syllables
Written for the parent. Read the Say this lines aloud as they are, or in your own words. Answers for you are marked Listen for.
At a glance
- Time
- 5 sessions of 15–20 minutes
- Goal
- I can tap and blend words such as garden , market , winter . I can read the heart words special and say which part is learned by heart. I can read “The Farmer and the Seed” and tell it back.
- You need
- Heart-word cards (printables pack)
- Primary-ruled paper and a pencil
- A King James Bible
- the lesson page (it also has a short video (7:11) and an explainer to read aloud (about 10 minutes))
Steps
Do this: The vowel and r stay together in the same syllable: gar-den, mar-ket, win-ter, num-ber, cor-ner.
Do this: Tap and blend. For each word your child touches each letter (or letter team) and says its sound, then sweeps a finger under the whole word and says it smoothly. Never guess from the first letter or a picture. If a word is misread, point to the part that was missed and blend again from the start.
Do this: Spell it. Say a word. Your child says it back, taps the sounds on his or her fingers, then writes one letter (or letter team) for each sound. Check together, sound by sound.
Do this: Heart words. A heart word is mostly regular. We tap it like any other word, and draw a heart over the one part that does not follow the rules we know yet. Practise the heart words on cards every day this week (see the table below).
Do this: The week at a glance. Day 1: warm-up, new sound, handwriting. Day 2: card review, word lists, spelling. Day 3: second new sound or more words, heart words. Day 4: read the story, talk about it. Day 5: reread the story for fluency, play the game, quick check (10 words, 1 sentence, 5 spelling words). Read the read-aloud at another time of day.
Show: Blend garden.
Say this: “Touch and say: /g/ /ar/ /d/ /e/ /n/.”
Say this: “Sweep your finger under the word and say the sounds again, faster, without stopping between them.”
Say this: “Say the word: garden . Use it in a sentence.”
Answer: garden
Show: Blend market.
Say this: “Touch and say: /m/ /ar/ /k/ /e/ /t/.”
Say this: “Sweep your finger under the word and say the sounds again, faster, without stopping between them.”
Say this: “Say the word: market . Use it in a sentence.”
Answer: market
Do this: Your child does these with you. Let them try first; help only after a real try.
Ask: Read: garden · market · winter · number
Listen for: garden = g | ar | d | e | n; market = m | ar | k | e | t; winter = w | i | n | t | er; number = n | u | m | b | er
Ask: Read: corner · farmer · thunder · harvest
Listen for: corner = c | or | n | er; farmer = f | ar | m | er; thunder = th | u | n | d | er; harvest = h | ar | v | e | s | t
Ask: Read: perfect · harbor
Listen for: perfect = p | er | f | e | c | t; harbor = h | ar | b | or
4 more practice items on the lesson page.
- Trying to read a long word all at once. Find the vowels, split the word into syllables, read each part, then put it together.
- Guessing from the first letter or the picture. Cover the picture and ask the child to tap every sound.
- Copy: Let us be good soil.
- Use the ball-and-stick lines: tall letters touch the top line, short letters touch the middle line, tails go below the base line.
Copywork: Write each word once, saying the sounds as you write: garden, market, winter, number, corner, farmer.
Word Sounds Heart part special /s/ /p/ /ĕ/ /sh/ /ŭl/ ♥ ci says /sh/ The Farmer and the Seed
Jesus told this story. A farmer went out to plant his garden. He scattered seed all over.
Some seed fell on the hard path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground. It sprang up fast, but the roots were short, and the hot sun burned it.
Some fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on good, soft soil. It grew tall and gave a big harvest: thirty, sixty, even a hundred seeds for each one!
Jesus said the seed is God’s Word. The good soil is a heart that takes in the Word, understands it and keeps it. Let us be good soil.
Retold from Matthew 13:1–23. Before reading, show your child these story words and read them together: Jesus, scattered, thorns, hundred.
Every word in this story uses only the sounds and heart words taught so far (checked by the School Launch decodability checker). Read a page a day on Days 3 and 4, and the whole story on Day 5.
- Name the four kinds of ground.
Answer
The path, rocky ground, thorns, good soil.
- What happened on the path?
Answer
Birds ate the seed.
- What is the seed?
Answer
God’s Word.
- What is the good soil?
Answer
A heart that hears, understands and keeps God’s Word.
Then ask your child to tell the whole story back in his or her own words (narration).
- Name the four kinds of ground.
Matthew 13:1–23. Read aloud.
The read-aloud is for listening, not decoding. Read it to your child at another time of day.
Write r-controlled words on paper seeds. Plant each one in a paper garden as you read it.
Say this: “Tell me the new sounds you learned this week, and read me one word.”
Listen for: I can tap and blend words such as garden , market , winter .; I can read the heart words special and say which part is learned by heart.; I can read “The Farmer and the Seed” and tell it back.
The Cow (Robert Louis Stevenson)
The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;This week: Clear words. Say every ending sound: the t, the d, the s. Open your mouth wider than feels normal.
- Day 1: The teacher says it twice; the child echoes it one line at a time.
- Days 2–4: Say it together each morning; drop one line of help each day.
- Day 5: Say the title and the poet, then the poem. Stand up and say it alone for the family.
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Hear and keep God’s Word.
Spread over the week
5 sessions of 15–20 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.
- Session 1. Warm-up, then teach the new idea (steps 1 and 2).
- Session 2. Warm-up again, then show how with the examples.
- Session 3. Practice together, then play the game.
- Session 4. More practice, handwriting and reading, and the daily habit.
- Session 5. Quick check: narration and a few practice items. Move on when it is mostly right.
For you
For families. Keep each session short and cheerful: 15 to 20 minutes, then stop. If your child is tired or frustrated, stop and finish tomorrow. A lesson can take more than a week; move on when the quick check on Day 5 is mostly “Got it.”