The letter r can be super bossy, making learning how to read confusing for our youngest learners.
What does Bossy R mean?
When the letter r follows a vowel, it ‘bosses’ the vowel around and forces it to make a different sound. Bossy r words can also be referred to as ‘r controlled’ words.
What are some Bossy R words?
When the vowel a is controlled by r, aka ‘ar’ words, the ‘ar’ makes the sound of the letter r.
- ‘ar’
- bar, car, far, star, shark, part
‘er’, ‘ir’, and ‘ur’ combinations in words will all make the same ‘er’ sound.
- ‘er’
- fern, stern, term, verb,were
- ‘ir’
- bird, dirt, girl, third, shirt
- ‘ur’
- burn, curl, curb, purr, turn
And ‘or’ words will produce the sound ‘or’.
- ‘or’
- born, horn, port, short, sport
As you read the words, you can hear that the r is controlling the sound of the vowel. But some learners will still make mistakes and mispronounce or misspell some of r-controlled words. Mastering this skill will make it much easier for your learner to read r-controlled words.
How to teach Bossy R words
As we’ve said before, the best way to teach any concept is through hands on engaging learning! The more emotions that are connected with learning, the more the information will be retained.
One of the best ways I’ve found teaching r-controlled words is with word sorting activities. When learners have to read the word, sort them into which combination they belong to, and write them they are engaging with the words on more than one occasion.
Here’s a Christmas themed bossy r and vowel combination game that I think your learners will love!
The game is super simple, fun, and can be played individually or with partners.
If your learner is playing individually, instruct your them to help Santa find his reindeer based on the bossy r and vowel combinations. Complete a set as an example. Make sure to encourage your learner to say the word as they locate the playing car it belongs to.
Instruct your learner to use the recording sheet to record their answers.
Bossy R Phonics Game
If playing with two or more learners, give each learner their own game card. Depending on the level of your learners, they may have one or more game cards. Place the game pieces face down in the center of the table.
Roll a pair of dice to see who begins the game (the learner with the higher number goes first). The first player takes a card, and if they can correctly read the word and locate on which game card it belongs, they get to keep the game piece. If they cannot, the next player gets a chance to identify the word and keep the game piece. The first player to get 5 pieces (or a number of your choice) per card wins!
Don’t forget to instruct your learners to record their words on their recording sheet!
Do you think your learner can help Santa gather all his reindeer? Well let’s see!
Download the Santa & Reindeer Bossy R Game Here
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