R-Controlled Vowels a.k.a. “The Bossy R!”

Meet the Bossy R
“Listen up, vowels!
I’m the letter R, and if you want to hang around me, you have to understand that
I’M in control!”

R-Controlled Vowels
• When a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) is next to the letter ‘r’, they have a different sound.
• We call these “R-controlled vowels” because the letter ‘r’ controls how we say the vowel sound.
• These vowel sounds are ‘ar,’ ‘er,’ ‘ir,’ ‘or,’ and ‘ur.’
• We will learn and practice the vowel sounds for R-controlled vowels.

Day 1: ‘ar’
• The sound of ‘ar’ is the same as the letter ‘r’ saying its name. What is the name of letter ‘r’?
• That’s right. When you see ‘ar,’ just think of the name of letter ‘r.’
• You can also think of a pirate!
ARRRRR!
ARRRRRRR controlled vowels!

Get Ready to Read! ‘ar’
• We are going to read words with the vowel sound
‘ar.’ I will read the words first; then, we will read them together, and last, you will read them by yourselves.
• Some of the word families will have ‘ar’ at the end. Others will have ‘ar’ in the middle.
• ‘ar’ has the most word families of all the Rcontrolled vowels!
• Today, we will learn four of the word families.
Next time, we will read four more.

‘ar’ Word List – I Read
• bar
• car
• jar
• tar
• scar
• star
• card
• hard
• yard large charge bark dark hark lark mark park shark

‘ar’ Word List – We Read
• bar
• car
• jar
• tar
• scar
• star
• card
• hard
• yard large charge bark dark hark lark mark park shark

‘ar’ Word List – You Read
• bar
• car
• jar
• tar
• scar
• star
• card
• hard
• yard large charge bark dark hark lark mark park shark

Review – ‘ar’
• What sound does the vowel sound ‘ar’ make?
• That’s right, ‘ar’ says the sound of the name of ‘r.’
• Next time, we’ll be practicing more word families with ‘ar’!
• Your “ticket” out today is to tell me three
‘ar’ words we learned.

Day 2: ‘ar’ Continued
• What sound does ‘ar’ make?
• Right – it says the name of ‘r.’
• Last time, we learned the word families –ar, -ard, -arge, and –ark.
• Today we will be learning four new word families with ‘ar.’

Get Ready to Read! ‘ar’
• We are going to read more words with the vowel sound ‘ar.’ I will read the words first; then, we will read them together, and last, you will read them by yourselves.
• All of the word families will have ‘ar’ in the middle.
• Don’t forget the sound of ‘ar’ – what sound?
• That’s right. ‘ar’ says the name of r. Please listen as I read the word list to you so that you will be ready to read it with me after.

‘ar’ Word List – I Read
• arm
• farm
• harm
• charm
• barn
• yarn
• harp
• tarp
• sharp art cart dart mart part tart chart smart start

‘ar’ Word List – We Read
• arm
• farm
• harm
• charm
• barn
• yarn
• harp
• tarp
• sharp art cart dart mart part tart chart smart start

‘ar’ Word List – You Read
• arm
• farm
• harm
• charm
• barn
• yarn
• harp
• tarp
• sharp art cart dart mart part tart chart smart start

Review – ‘ar’ Continued
• What sound does the vowel sound ‘ar’ make?
• That’s right, ‘ar’ says the sound of the name of ‘r.’
• Next time, we’ll be practicing word families with ‘er’!
• Your “ticket” out today is to tell me three
‘ar’ words we learned.

• ar
• er
• ir
• or
• ur
Checklist

Day 3: ‘er’
• The sound of ‘er’ is the same sound as the letter ‘r.’ What is the sound of letter ‘r’?
• That’s right. When you see ‘er,’ just think of the sound of letter ‘r.’
• Please listen as I read the words with ‘er’ so that you can read them with me after.

Get Ready to Read! ‘er’
• We are going to read words with the vowel sound
‘er.’ I will read the words first; then, we will read them together, and last, you will read them by yourselves.
• Some of the word families will have ‘er’ at the end. Others will have ‘er’ in the middle.
• ‘er’ has six different word families.
• Today, we will learn these word families. Next time, we will learn the word families for another
R-controlled vowel.

‘er’ Word List – I Read
• her
• per
• merge
• verge
• jerk
• clerk
• germ term fern stern nerve serve verve swerve

‘er’ Word List – We Read
• her
• per
• merge
• verge
• jerk
• clerk
• germ term fern stern nerve serve verve swerve

‘er’ Word List – You Read
• her
• per
• merge
• verge
• jerk
• clerk
• germ term fern stern nerve serve verve swerve

Review – ‘er’
• What sound does the vowel sound ‘er’ make?
• That’s right, ‘er’ says the sound of ‘r.’
• Next time, we’ll be practicing word families with ‘ir’!
• Your “ticket” out today is to tell me three ‘er’ words we learned.

• ar
• er
• ir
• or
• ur
Checklist

Day 4: ‘ir’
• The sound of ‘ir’ is the same sound as the letter ‘r.’ What is the sound of letter ‘r’?
• That’s right. When you see ‘ir,’ just think of the sound of letter ‘r.’
• You might have realized that ‘ir’ makes the same sound as ‘ir.’ If you are trying to spell a word you may need to try both of these!
• Please listen as I read the words with ‘ir’ so that you can read them with me after.

Get Ready to Read! ‘ir’
• We are going to read words with the vowel sound
‘ir.’ I will read the words first; then, we will read them together, and last, you will read them by yourselves.
• Some of the word families will have ‘ir’ at the end.
Others will have ‘ir’ in the middle.
• ‘ir’ has five different word families.
• Today, we will learn these word families. Next time, we will learn the word families for another
R-controlled vowel.

‘ir’ Word List – I Read
• fir
• sir
• stir
• whir
• bird
• third
• quirk dirt shirt skirt squirt birth girth mirth

‘ir’ Word List – We Read
• fir
• sir
• stir
• whir
• bird
• third
• quirk dirt shirt skirt squirt birth girth mirth

‘ir’ Word List – You Read
• fir
• sir
• stir
• whir
• bird
• third
• quirk dirt shirt skirt squirt birth girth mirth

Review – ‘ir’
• What sound does the vowel sound ‘ir’ make?
• That’s right, ‘er’ says the sound of ‘r.’
• Next time, we’ll be practicing word families with ‘or’!
• Your “ticket” out today is to tell me three ‘ir’ words we learned.

• ar
• er
• ir
• or
• ur
Checklist

Day 5: ‘or’
• The sound of ‘or’ is the same sound as the word or. How do you say the word or?
• That’s right. When you see ‘or,’ just read it like the word or.
• Please listen as I read the words with ‘ir’ so that you can read them with me after.

Day 5: ‘or’
• The sound of ‘or’ is the same sound as the word or. How do you say the word or?
• That’s right. When you see ‘or,’ just read it like the word or.
• Please listen as I read the words with ‘ir’ so that you can read them with me after.

Get Ready to Read! ‘or’
• We are going to read words with the vowel sound
‘or.’ I will read the words first; then, we will read them together, and last, you will read them by yourselves.
• Some of the word families will have ‘or’ at the end. Others will have ‘or’ in the middle.
• ‘or’ has six different word families.
• Today, we will learn these word families. Next time, we will learn the word families for another
R-controlled vowel.

‘or’ Word List – I Read
• for
• porch
• torch
• scorch
• cord
• sword
• fork
• pork
• stork
• form
• storm born corn horn torn worn sworn thorn fort short snort sport

‘or’ Word List – We Read
• for
• porch
• torch
• scorch
• cord
• sword
• fork
• pork
• stork
• form
• storm born corn horn torn worn sworn thorn fort short snort sport

‘or’ Word List – You Read
• for
• porch
• torch
• scorch
• cord
• sword
• fork
• pork
• stork
• form
• storm born corn horn torn worn sworn thorn fort short snort sport

Review – ‘or’
• What sound does the vowel sound ‘or’ make?
• That’s right, ‘or’ is said as or.
• Next time, we’ll be practicing word families with ‘ur’!
• Your “ticket” out today is to tell me three ‘or’ words we learned.

• ar
• er
• ir
• or
• ur
Checklist

Day 6: ‘ur’
• The sound of ‘ur’ is the same as the sound for the letter ‘r.’ What sound?
• That’s right. When you see ‘ur,’ think of the sound of the letter ‘r.’
• ‘ur’ makes the same sound as ‘er’ and ‘ir’!
• Please listen as I read the words with ‘ur’ so that you can read them with me after.

Get Ready to Read! ‘ur’
• We are going to read words with the vowel sound
‘ur.’ I will read the words first; then, we will read them together, and last, you will read them by yourselves.
• Some of the word families will have ‘ur’ at the end. Others will have ‘ur’ in the middle.
• ‘ur’ has six different word families.
• Today, we will learn these word families. Next time, we will practice with mixed lists from all five word families.

‘ur’ Word List – I Read
• fur
• blur
• spur
• curb
• suburb
• curl
• hurl
• burn turn churn curse nurse purse curt hurt blurt

‘ur’ Word List – We Read
• fur
• blur
• spur
• curb
• suburb
• curl
• hurl
• burn turn churn curse nurse purse curt hurt blurt

‘ur’ Word List – You Read
• fur
• blur
• spur
• curb
• suburb
• curl
• hurl
• burn turn churn curse nurse purse curt hurt blurt

Review – ‘ur’
• What sound does the vowel sound ‘ur’ make?
• That’s right, ‘ur’ makes the sound of the letter r.
• Next time, we’ll be practicing words from all the word families!
• Your “ticket” out today is to tell me three
‘ur’ words we learned.

• ar
• er
• ir
• or
• ur
Checklist

Day 7: Mixed Review
“Not bad! I think you’re cool enough to hang out with me. But just remember who’s in control!”

Get Ready to Read!
• Let’s review the vowel sounds.
• ar
• er
• ir
• or
• ur

Mixed Review – I Read
• harm
• turn
• fort
• perk
• shirt
• worn
• park
• hurt
• skirt
• her
• art
• fur
• for
• per
• smirk
• form
• harp
• curl
• bird
• nerve
• yard
• curb
• sword
• term
• third
• short
• charge
• blur
• birth
• clerk

Mixed Review – We Read
• harm
• turn
• fort
• perk
• shirt
• worn
• park
• hurt
• skirt
• her
• art
• fur
• for
• per
• smirk
• form
• harp
• curl
• bird
• nerve
• yard
• curb
• sword
• term
• third
• short
• charge
• blur
• birth
• clerk

Mixed Review – You Read
• harm
• turn
• fort
• perk
• shirt
• worn
• park
• hurt
• skirt
• her
• art
• fur
• for
• per
• smirk
• form
• harp
• curl
• bird
• nerve
• yard
• curb
• sword
• term
• third
• short
• charge
• blur
• birth
• clerk

Review – Mixed Review
• Tell me the sounds of the R-controlled vowels.
• ar
• er
• ir
• or
• ur
• Next time, we’ll be reading two-syllable words that have two sets of R-controlled vowels!
• Your ticket out today is to tell me five words with
R-controlled vowels.

Day 8: 2-Syllable Words
• To read words with two r-controlled vowels, look at each part separately.
• “Burger” has 2 r-controlled vowels!
bur ger
• To read these words, read each part. Then read the whole word together.

Get Ready to Read!
• We are going to read 2-syllable words with two r-controlled vowel sounds.
• Read the first part. Read the second part. Then, read both parts together.
• I Read, We Read, You Read.

2-Syllable Words: I Read
• barber
• murmur
• marker
• further
• former
• server
• corner
• garner
• ardor
• farther
• juror
• merger

2-Syllable Words: We Read
• barber
• murmur
• marker
• further
• former
• server
• corner
• garner
• ardor
• farther
• juror
• merger

2-Syllable Words: You Read
• barber
• murmur
• marker
• further
• former
• server
• corner
• garner
• ardor
• farther
• juror
• merger

Congratulations!
“Looks like you’re the one in CONTROL of R-controlled vowels! You should meet my cousin…
THE BOSSY E!

R-Controlled Vowels
Lesson from: http://teachingtoolkit.wordpress.com