Fun Activities for R-Controlled Vowels – OR Words

If your child is confident in sounding out cvc words and is ready to learn a new sound, you can introduce Bossy R Words! Every vowel (the vowels are a, e, i, o, and u) has an r-controlled vowel sound. R-controlled vowels are formed when the letter r immediately follows a vowel in a word. The letter r makes the vowel make a different sound – that’s why we call it Bossy R! R-influenced vowels are neither short vowel sounds nor long vowel sounds. They are unique sounds that are in a class of their own. A lot of high-frequency words are r-controlled words, so r-controlled vowel combinations are an important part of phonics skills development. This post will focus on the r-controlled vowel sound made by OR. There are links at the bottom of this post for activities for r-controlled vowels for the other r-controlled vowels (the other r-controlled letter combinations are ar, er, ir, and ur). I will share some fun activities that are a great way to help your child learn and get lots of practice with the sound of OR. These OR r-controlled vowels activities work for a single child and for small groups, so they are a great addition to your homeschool lesson plans or for preschool, kindergarten, or 1st grade classrooms. Read on for some fun and enjoyable r-controlled vowel activities for the sound of OR! 

Introduce the Sound of OR

Before you begin the OR r-controlled vowel activities, you need to introduce your child to the sound of OR. I like to use magnetic letters, a moveable alphabet, or letter tiles for this, but you can also just write on a whiteboard or piece of paper. 

• Place the letter O in front of your child (or write it on the board or paper).

• Ask your child the sound of the vowel O. Remind him if he doesn’t remember right away. The common sound, or short sound of the letter O is the sound at the beginning of octopus. 

• Now add the letter R. Tell your child that the letter R is a bossy letter – we call it Bossy R. Bossy R likes to tell vowels what to do. (You can review the vowels at this time if your child doesn’t know what they are. The vowels are a, e, i, o, and u). 

• Explain to your child that when Bossy R comes right after the letter O, it makes a new sound. Make the OR sound for your child (the sound of OR is the sound found in the middle of the word born, the beginning of the word orbit, and at the end of the word for). 

• Let your child practice reading a few OR words with the word cards (below), or spell a few words with letter tiles, on a whiteboard, or with magnetic letters for him to read. You can help him by pointing out the OR before he begins and reminding him of the sound. 

If your child is having a hard time catching on or is getting frustrated, stop and come back to OR words another day. 

Once your child gets the hang of the r controlled vowel sound, you can solidify the concept with a fun game. If your child has had enough for one sitting, save the extra practice for the following day. 

Read on for some fun r-controlled vowel activities for OR! 

OR Words that Sound Like ER Words

It is important to note that there are a some OR words that sound like ER words. OR makes an ER sound in just a few tricky words, such as word, work, world, and worm. It also shows up in all the compound words that contain those single syllable words, such as homework and earthworm. You don’t have to introduce this alternate sound of OR to your child at this time if you think it will confuse him. If you think he is ready and you would like to add another sound to your child’s repertoire, feel free to mention this additional Bossy R sound. You can also point out the OR words that sound like ER words when they come up naturally as your child begins to read books. Alternatively, you can teach the OR words that sound like ER words as sight words. Here is a handy poster for helping your child learn the OR words that sound like ER words:

Fun Activities for R-Controlled Vowels – OR

The following activities for r-controlled vowels can be used to complement your phonics program, or as stand-alone activities to help your child learn the sound of OR. They can be used as independent work with a single child or for small groups of children in a classroom setting. They are great phonics games for energetic and wiggly kids because they encourage kids to move their bodies in different ways. Multisensory learning is one of my favorite ways to help young children have joy in learning and these r-controlled vowel activities definitely fit the bill! 

Put the Corn on the Fork

This fun activity is great for literacy centers! It’s a perfect activity for small groups, but also works well for an individual child in a homeschool or other setting. 

Preparation:

• Print out the OR Corn (you will find the free printable file below) – I recommend printing the page onto card stock. If multiple children will be doing this activity at once, I recommend printing one OR Corn page per child.
• Laminate the OR Corn – this is optional but I highly recommend this step, especially if you plan to use this activity for multiple children – it will help the materials hold up to lots of use.
• Cut out the individual corn pieces.
• Gather a fork (one for each child who is participating) and a bowl or bucket for the activity.
• Optional – have a sand timer or other visual timer handy for extra fun. If your child gets stressed out when timed, then skip this! 

Instructions:

• If you have not yet done so, teach your child the sound of OR (see above for instructions on how to do this). If you have already introduced the r-controlled sound OR to your child, then remind her of the sound that it makes. OR makes the sound in the middle of the words corn and fork. 
• Tell your child that she is going to play a fun game where she has to balance some corn on a fork. 
• Her objective is to get the corn into the bucket across the room. To do so, she must pick up a corn and read the word on it. Then she must balance the corn on the fork while walking. If the corn falls off, she has to go back to where she started.
• If you want to make the game a little extra fun, you can use a sand timer and ask your child to see how many OR corns he can get into the bucket before the sand runs out. If this will be stressful to your child, please skip this step. 
• If you are doing this activity with a group of children, the children can form teams and do the activity relay-race style. Just make sure to print out several of the OR Corn printable so that there are plenty of different words for each child to read. 
• To keep the game cooperative and non-competitive, you can do the activity relay-race style, but race against the timer rather than against another team. 
• Make sure to keep it light, keep it fun, and when your child (or children) lose interest or get tired, it’s time to be done! 

Activities for R-Controlled Vowels: OR Popcorn! 

This is a great activity for small groups of children – especially ones who like to move their bodies! It works great for individual instruction as well. 

Preparation:

• Print the OR Popcorn pages. If you have several children who will be doing the activity at once, you might want to print 2-3 sets. 
• Laminate the OR Popcorn pages for durability (optional, but recommended!)
• Tape the OR Popcorn pages onto the floor, forming a large circle. 
• Have some fun, upbeat music ready. 

Instructions:

• Teach or remind your child of the OR sound (see the instructions above for how to do this). 
• Tell your child that he or she is going to hop or dance from one of the OR Popcorn pages to the next while the music is playing. 
• When the music stops, she will stop on the word that she is standing on, crouch down on the word, read the word, and then POP! up in the air like popcorn while shouting the word that she has read. 
• Start and stop the music and let your child or children read the OR words while popping like popcorn! 

I hope you and your child enjoy these OR vowel controlled activities and find them helpful for learning the sound of OR. For more activities for practicing r-controlled vowel words, see the posts below!

More Fun Activities for R-Controlled Vowels:

AR Words:

Fun Activities for R-Controlled Vowels – Ar Like a Pirate (Free Printables!)

ER, IR, UR words:

Fun R-Controlled Vowels Activities: Er Ir Ur Tiger

More ER, IR, UR Words:

R-Controlled Vowels Activities for ER IR UR: The IRbURgER Shop

More Fun Ways to Learn:

CVC Words and Pictures for Free Printable CVC Games!

Thank you for visiting! Come back soon for more fun ways to bond with your child and create joy in learning. Happy teaching!