Skill: Bossy "r" spelling/reading pattern (ir)
Bossy “r” is bossy but polite, it lets the vowel go first, but it doesn’t let it say its sound. The consonant “r” sound is the dominant distinct sound.
The spelling “ir” is usually pronounced “ur” (bird = burd), except when followed by final “e” (fire).

Read these words.
admiral | first | skirt | third |
birch | flirt | smirch | thirsty |
bird | girdle | smirk | thirty |
birth | girl | squir | twirl |
birthday | irk | squirrel | T-shirt |
chirp | quirk | squirt | virtue |
dirt | shirk | stir | whir |
fir | shirt | stirrup | whirl |
firm | sir | swirl | zircon |
Dictation/Spelling Practice for (ir) words
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Read the sentences below.
- Kirk heard the bird chirp.
- Do not squirt the thirsty squirrel.
- The girl exercises to firm her muscles.
- The girl has thirty skirts and ten shirts.
- I like the first and third verse of the song.
- Can you make thirty pinwheels whir?
- My birthday is on the first day of the third month.
- The bird ate a squirmy worm.
- May I be first to quench my thirst?
- Kirk made a flirty smirk at Shirley.
- Does Kirk's smirk irk Shirley?
- Is the girl's skirt dirty?
- The bird chirped at the squirmy squirrel.
- How long will the pinwheel whirl and swirl?
- We named our hamster Squirmy because she'd wiggle, twist, and squirm.
Write one or more sentences. Include two words in your sentence that have the spelling pattern (ir), as in bird.
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Illustrate your sentence on the back of your paper.