PRIMARY SPELLING & PHONICS • GRADE 2–3 ORTHOEPY • CARET â = /ɛər/ STUDENT WORKSHEET • PAGE 1 OF 2

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Open Caret Sound • Marked â • Digraph ai = â

“The sound of a in care is marked with a caret: câre. The digraph ai in fair has the same sound: fâir.”

Wheeler's 12 Core Caret Words:
care • dare • fare • hare • pare • rare • share • snare • spare • stare • chair • fair

1 12-Word Caret Orthographic Matrix

Copy each caret â word on the guidelines, taking care to place the circumflex (^) over each target â:

care • dare • fare

hare • pare • rare

share • snare • spare

stare • chair • fair

2 Wheeler's Socratic Inquiries • Dropping Final -e

Wheeler Rule: When adding -ing to words ending in silent -e, drop the -e. Write the new words:

care + ing:

dare + ing:

share + ing:

stare + ing:

3 Homophone Discrimination & Context Fill

Fill in the blanks with the correct homophone (hare / hair or fair / fare):

1. The swift wild ________________ ran through the field, and its soft brown ________________ shone in the sun.

2. The coach ________________ was two dollars, which everyone agreed was a very ________________ price.

Wheeler's Orthography Rules • Caret A (â)

1. 1. Caret â Quality: The caret/circumflex (â) indicates the open front vowel before liquid r (/ɛər/), preventing it from sounding like flat ă or long ā.

2. 2. Dropping Final E: Primary spelling rule: Words ending in silent final -e drop the -e before vowel suffixes: care → caring, dare → daring.

3. 3. Digraph Team : The vowel digraph ai before r sounds identically to caret â: fair, chair, hair, pair, stair.