Once your child has mastered sounding out words with short vowel sounds and consonant blends, you can start teaching her r-controlled vowels. If you would like to do this in a playful way that is joyful for you and your child, I have the perfect r-controlled vowels activities for you!
An r-controlled vowel sound is the sound that is made when the letter R follows a vowel. We can playfully call these vowel patterns the “Bossy R” sound because the letter R changes the sound of the vowel. These sounds are neither short nor long vowel sounds – they are in a class of their own. While there is no right or wrong time to introduce r-controlled vowels, this is one of the phonics skills that I like to introduce early on simply because r-controlled vowel sounds show up in so many high-frequency words.
Each of the vowels has an r-controlled vowel sound, and you can go here for an overview of all of the different sounds made by “Bossy R.”
In this post, we will focus on the r-controlled vowel sound of the letters E, I, and U, which all make the same r-controlled sound. We will practice the sounds of ER, IR, UR with a fun game called Feeding the Bossy R Tiger, which is a great way to have fun with your child while practicing reading Bossy R words! This activity is easy to do with a single child or in small groups, so it works well in a preschool or elementary school classroom. Read on for instructions and free printables for Feeding the Bossy R Tiger and more fun r-controlled vowels activities!
Preparing for R-Controlled Vowels Activities
Before you begin any of these r-controlled vowels activities, briefly introduce Bossy R. You can use a moveable alphabet, magnetic letters, or just a whiteboard to do this. I like to use tangible letters because they engage the senses, and engaging the senses is an effective way to help children learn quickly and easily.
Hand your child the letter R (or write it on the whiteboard). Introduce your child to Bossy R by saying something like this: “This is Bossy R. Bossy R is super Bossy! It likes to tell other letters what sound to make.” Now give your child the letters E, I, and U (or write them on the whiteboard), and ask your child to tell you their short vowel sounds. Remind her of the sounds if she doesn’t remember.
Now, place Bossy R next to each of the vowels and explain to your child, “When Bossy R comes right after E, I, and U, it changes their sound to er.” Make the sound that you hear at the end of the word tiger and in the middle of the word bird, burn, and fern. Feel free to get silly and make a funny Bossy R voice while you are explaining this to your child. Keep your phonics instruction light and fun!
Practice sounding out a few r-controlled words by spelling them with the magnetic letters or writing them on the white board. You can use a few r-controlled vowel words from the word cards below or from the following list: her, fern, bird, sir, dirt, hurt, burn, turn. Ask your child to find the Bossy R in these words, and ask him what sound the vowel-r combination will make. Then ask your child to try sounding out the word. After your child tries sounding out a few words it is time for some extra practice with fun r-controlled vowel activities!
Notes:
*Remember to keep your phonics lessons and practice short and sweet. Keep it light, keep it fun, and watch your child carefully. If he is losing interest or feeling frustrated, stop your phonics instruction for the day. No need to push! Your child needs lots of practice with phonics skills, but do the practice in small bites! With consistent practice, your child will become competent and confident in all the phonics skills she needs in no time at all!
*The vowel-r combination ER shows up most often at the end of a word and at the end of a comparative adjective (such as bigger, faster, taller, louder). Feel free to explain this to your child now if you think he or she is ready, or you can save it for a later time when your child is a little farther in her journey to learning to read.
Fun R-Controlled Vowels Activities
The Er/Ir/Ur Tiger Song
One of my favorite ways to teach a new concept to children is through music, and I have the perfect musical activity for teaching the sound of Er/Ir/Ur! This simple activity is a really fun way to help your child remember the sound made by Er/Ir/Ur, and it’s super easy and quick! There is a song called “Er/Ir/Ur Tiger” on an album called Sounds Fun Phonics. This album can be found for free on Spotify (and possibly other streaming services – please let me know in the comments if you find it on a different one so I can share that information!)
Turn on the Er/Ir/Ur Tiger song and act like a tiger! Dance around, sing along, be silly, and have fun! Play the song a few times so it really sticks in your child’s mind. Your child will love it and it will help him remember the sound made by er, ir, and ur. The great thing about this fun activity is that it is very effective at helping children learn and remember the new sound, and it is simple, quick, and requires no prep! It’s a great activity to do as a review of the Er/Ir/Ur sound as well. If you want to keep things ultra simple, this activity is a great option as a stand-alone phonics lesson.
*If you want to give this activity a special touch, you can let your child use the printable Tiger Mask below while dancing to the song. This is totally optional, so if you want to keep things very simple, skip the mask!
Feed the Bossy R Tiger
There are numerous ways that you can use this fun r-controlled vowel activity! It’s great for independent practice in literacy centers in a kindergarten or 1st grade classroom, or as a compliment to the phonics program that you use at home. You can also use this activity in small groups. It is super simple to prepare – all you need is the Bossy R Tiger and the Er/Ir/Ur word cards. You can find the free printable pdf files below!
Instructions:
- Print the Bossy R Tiger and the Er/Ir/Ur word cards – I recommend printing them on card stock for durability (you can find the free printable Bossy R Tiger at the end of this section)
- Laminate the Bossy R Tiger and the Er/Ir/Ur word cards – this is optional, but I recommend it for durability, especially if you are going to use this activity for multiple children or for a literacy center
- Cut out the word cards and the Bossy R Tiger
- Cut the slit out of the Bossy R Tiger’s mouth – an Exacto knife works well for this
- Make a stand for the Bossy R Tiger by taping the Bossy R Tiger to a wooden block, a book, or cardboard box, or by making a flap of card stock and attaching it to the back of the Bossy R Tiger
Now it’s time to play!
Remind your child of the sounds of the r-controlled vowel combinations er/ir/ur (they all make the same sound – the sound in the middle of the words bird and burn and the end of the word tiger). Then let her feed the tiger!
Tell your child that the Bossy R Tiger LOVES to eat words with the er sound in them – er/ir/ur words.
Hand him one of the Er/Ir/Ur word cards.
Ask him to look for the er, ir, or ur in the word, and then ask him to read the word and feed it to the Bossy R Tiger.
As he feeds the tiger the word, you can make all kinds of errrr growling noises for the Bossy R Tiger, and “Yum yum! I LOVE errrr words.”
Be silly and make it fun! You can have your child read and feed just a few words at first, or more if she is enjoying it and wants to do more. Come back to the activity tomorrow or another day if your child loses interest or is getting tired of the activity.
Don’t push your child – keep it light and fun. This is meant to be enjoyable! If your child is getting frustrated with the concept of Bossy R, you can come back to it in a week or a month and try again. Don’t worry! Your child will get it when she’s ready!
More Fun R-Controlled Vowels Activities!
Be an Er/Ir/Ur Tiger!
This fun multi sensory activity is great for the active kiddo and the child who likes to pretend! It is simple to prepare and easy to do.
Instructions:
- Print out the Er/Ir/Ur Word Segments file (you can find the free printable below)
- I recommend printing the Er/Ir/Ur Word Segments onto card stock and laminating them for durability
- Print out the Tiger Mask (free printable below) and cut it out.
- Tie a string to the back of the Tiger Mask so it fits your child’s head.
- Lay out some of the Er/Ir/Ur Word Segments in a row so that they form a few of the words in the following word list:
- fern, her, herd, jerk, otter, verb, after, bird, dirt, fir, stir, girl, sir, skirt, burn, turn, fur, blur, hurt, curl, burp, curb
- Tell your child that he gets to be a tiger for this activity!
- He’s going to jump from one word segment to the next and say the sound.
- When he jumps on the er/ir/or ur, he will growl like a tiger and make the sound “er.”
- After he jumps on the word segments, ask him if he knows what word he sounded out.
This activity helps solidify the connection between the er/ir/ur digraphs and the “er” sound.
Below is the color file for the ER IR UR word segments. The r-controlled vowels are in red to help your child spot them.
This is the black and white file for the ER/IR/UR word segments. I recommend printing them on colored card stock to make them more attractive to your child.
Simple Version
You can do this r-controlled vowel activity in an even simpler way that doesn’t take any preparation. Just get some sidewalk chalk and take it outside! Draw a path of letters to form some of the words in the list above. Draw a box around or underline the er, ir, or ur digraphs in each of the words. Have your child jump on each letter, like hopscotch, making the sounds of the letters and the r-controlled vowel sound as she goes. At the end of each word, ask her what the word was. Help her as much as she needs.
I hope you enjoyed these fun r-controlled vowels activities! Happy teaching!
Feel free to check out more fun activities for teaching your child letter sounds, phonics skills, and phonemic awareness by following the links below!
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