PreK to Kinder Level 10 Sort It /er/ & Texts PDF

streamlined instruction

accelerated achievement

Sort It
& Accompanying Texts

The / er
er// Sound
PreK to Kindergarten
(Into to Multisyllable Words)

Developed by Marnie Ginsberg, PhD

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*BONUS: Which spelling of /er/ do you think is most frequent?

ear ly.

ear

or

works

first

ir

Her

er

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her
work
turn
first
oth er
girl
num ber

bird
af ter
nurse
learn
moth er
fath er

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Key Sentence:
Her first nurse works ear ly.

nurse

ur

Sort It List

The /er/ Sound

Read the words and sort them by their /er/ spelling. Remember to say the sounds as you write each word.

Sort It

Read & Search

The /er/ Sound

After reading this rhyme a time or two, circle the spellings of the sound /er/.
You might also find a few examples of the /oa/ and /ay/ sound spellings.

Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill went up the hill
 
To fetch a pail of wa ter; 
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumb ling af ter. 

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Write It

Have students read the word and then write the word,
saying the sounds as they write each grapheme.

first
learn
work
her
curl
mother

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Today your student is leaping ahead to a more
challenging level — to the Multisyllable Level.
Way to go!

Multisyllable Read It

Listen for the “chunks” of sounds in words:
A simple trick can help draw attention to the chunks of sounds, or syllables, in longer words.
Place your hand underneath your chin and say a one-chunk word, such as “cat” or “truck.”

How many times did your chin drop?
Yes, your chin dropped only one time because those words have
only one chunk of sounds.
Now try a two-chunk word, such as “happy” or “water.”

How many times did your chin drop?
Yes, your chin dropped two times because those words have two
chunks of sounds.
Are you sure now that this chunk trick works? Teachers, try this trick with a super-duper hard
word: antidisestablishmentarianism. (an ti dis es ta blish men tar i an is m)

How many times did your chin drop?
If you said 12 times, you are correct! Whoa, that’s a long word.
Try the chin trick with students (say each chunk separated from the others)

hopeful

brighter

singing

quickly

together

elevator

DIRECTIONS FOR BLENDING AS YOU READ—BY CHUNKS:
To read words with more than one chunk, your student needs to continue to use the Blend
As You Read method, but adapt it slightly. Here are directions:
1 . Coach your student to blend the first chunk of sounds (i.e., “re”).
2. Then ask your student to blend the second chunk of sounds (i.e., “wind”).
3. Finally, have him blend the two separate chunks together (i.e., re-wind, rewind!).

re + wind = rewind
These steps may seem so simple as to be irrelevant, but you can actually save your students a
lot of inefficient reading attempts if you teach them to use this strategy independently. Some
children will see the word “rewind” and try this: /r/ /ee/ /w/ /i_e/ /n/ /d/. If they are not fast
enough at the process, they will forget the beginning of the word before they reach the end! And
blending continuously chunk-by-chunk is what good readers do. How did you read the 12-chunk
word above, for instance?

Practice Blending As You Read — by Chunks

in side

ca bin
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can dy

help ing
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Multisyllable Read It
If your student has practiced listening to the chunks in words and has practiced reading by chunks on
the previous page, she is ready to finish learning how to do Multisyllable Read It. From now on, instead
of writing by segmenting, or separating, every sound, your student will write and say sounds in chunks.
For example, instead of saying and writing the word “happy” like this: /h/ /a/ /p/ /ee/, she will say it in
chunks, like this /ha—p/ /ee/.
So from now on, both reading and writing should mainly be done by chunks: one chunk of sounds at a
time. Teacher, cover up the second chunk until your student has read the first chunk.

1st Chunk

2nd Chunk

litt le
runn ing
with in
be low
sill y
fox es
rea son
it self
happ en
bad ly
(Notice the words like “silly” and “happen” are separated by sounds, not by dictionary rules.)

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Search & Find It

Read the words on the left and try to
find them and circle them in the word search.

each

a w s

t

t

j

r h a

first

w o

s e

i

n c g h

her

t h g

i

line

l

x

l

q m k w e v r

time

l

i

n e a k o s o d

j

y u f k b

make
eat

l

r e m a u r

l

a f v

t v g n e q d

i

i

i

t z s

i

e

l

l

z s r

o q b w p s r m r p

road

t

slow

y f m e

sweet

i

x e a t

b g

i

i

r o e
j

l

h u h p

y r w s s z
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t

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l

Read & Search

What are the 3 “er” words in this poem?

If You Ever
Anonymous

If you ev er ev er ev er ev er ev er
If you ev er ev er ev er meet a

whale,

You must nev er nev er 
nev er nev er nev er, 
You must nev er nev er
nev er touch its tail.
For if you ever ever ever ever ever.
If you ever ever ever

touch

its tail,

You will never never never never never
You will never never meet

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a noth er whale.

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Read & Search

After reading this rhyme a time or two, circle the spellings
of the /er/ sound. You might also find some examples of
the /oa/ and /ay/ sound spellings.

The Peacock and the Crane
adapted from Aesop’s fables
by Terri Jenson

A Pea cock, puffed up with pride, met a
Crane one day. The Pea cock was ea ger to
show off. He spread his tail fea thers in to a
great fan to try and im press the Crane.

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Read & Search

The Peacock and the Crane
(continued)

“Look!” he said. “What have you got that

e ven comes close to this? Just in my tail I
have all the col ors of the rain bow. If

on ly you were so luck y. Your wings are
dull and gray, like dust.”
The Crane heard the Pea cock’s mean
words, but they did not hurt her. She knew
she was not like oth er birds. With a flu tter,
she spread her gray wings
wide and burst
ngs wid
in to the bright sky.

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Read & Search

The Peacock and the Crane
(continued)

High er and high er she went. “Come
with me if you can,” cried the Crane. But
the Pea cock could do no more than stand
in the dirt and fluff his fea thers.

What’s the Moral?
Fine fea thers do not al ways make fine birds.

*Aesop (EE-sop) 620-560 BC
Not much is known about Aesop except that he loved to tell stories. Some say he was a
Greek slave who won his freedom by weaving a fantastic fable.
A fable is a story with a lesson or moral. Most of his fantastic fables are about clever
animals who mimic the silliness of human nature.
The well-known moral teachings of Aesop’s fables are as appropriate today as they were
more than 2000 years ago.

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Read & Search

The /er/ Sound

After reading this poem a couple of times, have student highlight or underline the /er/ sound words.
1) Ask your student if she understands what a poem is. Explain that lines in poems often end with
rhyming words, such as “can” and “ran.” Sometimes rhyming parts make poems easier to memorize.
2) Read “Little Bird” together, helping your student to Blend as She Reads.
3) Afterwards, ask what the poem is about and if she can find the words that rhyme.
4) Teacher will re-read to model fluency to show how a poem should sound, while the student follows
with her eyes on text. Student can then re-read as many times as she wants, practicing sounding like
the teacher.

Little Bird
by Terri Jenson

Litt le bird,
Hat of green,
Sits in tree,
Songs he sings.
Cle ver bird
In want of rest,
Turns his hat
In to a nest.

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Match It

The /er/ Sound

Read each sentence. Then draw a line to match it with the picture!

If you get too much of this, it can
burn your skin and turn it red.
What can curl up in your lap
and purr?
What num ber is af ter nine?
At first it looks like a worm, but it
can turn in to a thing with wings.
What can sing and chirp?
When you mix dirt and wa ter,
what do you get?
Who works to cure sick peo ple?

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Make It Stick

The /er/ Sound

DIRECTIONS:
Have student try to read all the words in 1 minute. At first, you may need to read
them aloud as your student follows along. There are 20 words repeated twice.

were*

girl

sure**

word

search

ear ly

her

third

wa ter

dur ing

bird

o ther

first

work

earth

world

turn

learn

heard

per son

wa ter

were

ear ly

world

o ther

search

first

girl

her

heard

sure

third

earth

word

turn
per son

dur ing work
learn

bird

* The “ere” in “were” and the “ure” in “sure” both represent the /er/ sound and turn up in other words.
** The “s” in “sure” is like the “s” in “sugar.” “S” before “u” can be /sh/ in some words.

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The /er/ Sound

Make It Stick Review

+ /i_e/ & Vowel + “e” Review

DIRECTIONS:
Have student try to read all the words in 1 minute. At first, you may need to
read them aloud as your student follows along.

heard

num ber

age

co lor

right

write

be hind

over

nice

turn

word

earth

night

lett er

find

place

quite

space

rule

work

first

try

note

here

fa ther

size

why

mo ther

sure

fire

world

learn

girl

third

search birds phone

un der in side a lone
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The /er/ Sound

ear ly.

ear

or

works

first

ir

Her

er

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Key Sentence:
Her first nurse works ear ly.

nurse

ur

Read the words and sort them by their /er/ spelling. Remember to say the sounds as you write each word.

Sort It

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