New
New
Lesson 21 of 24
The 'er' spellings, including 'er', 'ir' and 'ur'
I can read and spell words containing the three most common representations of the ‘er’ phoneme: 'er', 'ir' and 'ur'.
Lesson 21 of 24
New
New
The 'er' spellings, including 'er', 'ir' and 'ur'
I can read and spell words containing the three most common representations of the ‘er’ phoneme: 'er', 'ir' and 'ur'.
These resources were made for remote use during the pandemic, not classroom teaching.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- er', 'ir' and 'ur' are common representations of the 'er' phoneme.
- How to spell the common exception words: some and come.
- A mnemonic can help us to remember tricky spellings.
Keywords
Digraph - two letters that represent one sound
Mnemonic - a word, short poem, or sentence that can help you remember things such as spelling rules
Common misconception
Pupils can think spelling generalisations are always true e.g. 'er' found at the end.
Careful with wording. Say 'ir' and 'ur' are 'often' not 'always' found in the middle. Show a familiar exception to the rule if necessary.
You can generate stories to help group words with similar spellings, to support memorisation. The girl wore a skirt and shirt. She liked to whirl and twirl and came first in a race.
Teacher tip
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
Prior knowledge starter quiz
Download quiz pdf
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these are a proper noun?
Which of these are a proper noun?
ball
sky
Q2.Match each word to the number of phonemes it contains.
Match each word to the number of phonemes it contains.
4
2
3
Q3.Choose two more spellings that can also represent the sound 'er', like in never.
Choose two more spellings that can also represent the sound 'er', like in never.
ea
eer
Q4.Choose the word that rhymes with bird.
Choose the word that rhymes with bird.
bid
hid
Q5.Choose the word that rhymes with 'dirt'.
Choose the word that rhymes with 'dirt'.
dent
hot
Q6.Which of these words have two syllables?
Which of these words have two syllables?
shirt
turn
Assessment exit quiz
Download quiz pdf
6 Questions
Q1.Pick the spelling that matches the sentence. Please __________ here.
Pick the spelling that matches the sentence. Please __________ here.
cum
coom
Q2.Choose the 'er' spellings that match to the words.
Choose the 'er' spellings that match to the words.
ir
er
ur
Q3.Match the grapheme to where they commonly appear in a word.
Match the grapheme to where they commonly appear in a word.
the end
the middle
Q4.Correct the spelling in bold in the following sentence. She came thurd in the race.
Correct the spelling in bold in the following sentence. She came thurd in the race.
Q5.Correct the spelling in bold in the following sentence. The cat ran after the berd.
Correct the spelling in bold in the following sentence. The cat ran after the berd.
Q6.Correct the spelling in bold in the following sentence. The children went to visit the cherch.
Correct the spelling in bold in the following sentence. The children went to visit the cherch.