Bossy r Definition:
VR stands for Vowel r, which is the Bossy r (also called r-controlled) syllable. The r changes the sound of the vowel that comes right before it.

Written Stories

• Written Story: Bossy r and the Vowels Story as told in Teaching Video
• Alternate Story/method – teach ar as a pirate sound, then use the red cross to teach and remember the rest.
• Written Story: How W Tricked Bossy r Story as told in Teaching Video

• Bossy R poster
• Bossy r Character Poster colored (as seen on right)
• Bossy r Character Poster B&W
• Bossy R Cover Sheet 1
• Bossy R Cover Sheet 2 including war, wor, “air” words

For the formatting of PowerPoints to be correct, click FILE, then DOWNLOAD, and download in Microsoft PowerPoint.

• PowerPoint: Bossy r from Teaching Video
• PowerPoint practice with pirate says “arrrr”: Target Skill: Bossy r – read just the Bossy r sound that is highlighted as you click, then read the whole word.  Train your brain to notice and read these chunks!
• PowerPoint: How W tricked Bossy r from Teaching Video
• PowerPoint: All Syllable Types with Practice (Directions in notes section on each slide) Use only slides that are relevant to where you are in the steps.

TEACH ALONG THE WAY ●●●

Teach and add the relevant sounds, (ar, er, ir, ur, or, and war, wor when ready) from the Big Sounds Pack to daily practice.

Why is there an e at the end of these words?!
When going through Bossy r words, many students notice a seemingly random letter e at the end of words like nerve, serve, nurse and horse.  This is a great opportunity to teach  the following two reasons that a silent e might be at the end of a word. 

English never ends words in v (or i, j, u).  If a word ends in the /v/ sound, it will have an e after the v as in the case of nerve and serve. 

The word is singular and ends in the /s/ sound. Usually when we have an s at the end of a word it means there are more than one of that word.  For example one chair, two chairs.  The word nurse does not mean there is something called a nur, and there are two of them, two nurs.  In order to be clear that the s is part of the word  nurse (meaning one nurse) and not an ending meaning more than one, the e is added to the end. Same goes for horse, and verse.

For more reasons e comes at the end of words, go to Why is There An e at the End of This Word?

Contractions Detour!
Sometimes we shove 2 words together and use an an apostrophe to show where we took out the letter(s). “Is not” can also be “isn’t.”

Bundle: Contractions Lesson and 4 Games
– Contractions PowerPoint
– Contractions flashcards: Match the contraction to the words spelled out.

Note on Bossy r: When introducing bossy r, introduce the basic ar, er, ir, ur, and or. Once this is learned introduce wor, war, and the idea that anytime bossy are is not saying what it should, take a deep breath of air and pronounce it /air/.

Map Sounds to Letters

Map the sounds in the word to the letter(s) representing the sounds, even if it is not a letter combination that has been taught yet. Only an unusual sound/letter combination needs to be remembered “by heart.” Mapping the sounds to the letters is how we remember what words look like. See example below:

Be sure to reinforce what you know and are learning about words, for example:
Schwa Sound: Any vowel might say /ŭ/. Point out that this happens in many common words like: the, of, was, some, from…

KEY:
K-1 Beginning
1-2 Growing
Intervention/Challenge

Bundle: Multiple types of materials (games, activities, stories…) bundled together.
Pack: Multiple pieces of the same type of material, for example a pack of books.

Directions for everything else:

More on the Directions Page

• Highlighting Lists
• Working with Flashcards
• Flashing Words with flashcards
• Games with Picture Cards
• Games with Words/Phrases on Game Board
• Game I Have, Who Has
• Game Bang!
• Game Bingo
• Spelling help found on the Spelling Page in the Teach Along The Way section
• Small Book Assembly 
• Small Book 4 pager Assembly
• Syllable Sort Directions
  • Syllable Sort Headings
  • Strategy for Splitting Syllables

Sample Bundle

Bossy r Syllable Bundle

Bossy r VR Bundle VR Bundle K-1 Words, Read and Draw Phrases, Pyramids, Games, Stories
Bossy r VR Bundle VR Bundle 2-4 Words, Read and Draw Phrases, Pyramids, Games, Stories

Bossy r Syllable Packs

Bossy r VR Mixed Pack Word Lists Pack (also in bundle)
Bossy r VR Fluency Pack Pyramids Pack including index (also in bundle)
Bossy r VR Pack Games Pack (also in bundle)
Bossy r VR Pack Small Books including index (also in bundle)

See Highlighting Word Lists

Bossy r VR Mixed Pack Word Lists Pack (also in bundle)

Bossy r VR ar words and phrases A Tart Lemon
Bossy r VR ar phrases Barn On The Farm
Bossy r VR ar phrases Stars (with timing option)
Bossy r VR ar activity: Find the “ar” in Words and Make Your Own Wordlist

Bossy r VR or words and phrases Order More Corn
Bossy r VR or phrases Morning Oranges

Bossy r VR er, ir, ur words and phrases A Turkey is a Bird

Bossy r VR mixed words Bossy r with red cross visual
Bossy r VR mixed words list Jars 1 Two pages, double spaced better for beginning readers
Bossy r VR mixed words Jars 2 One page single spaced, 3 columns
Bossy r VR mixed phrase list Sharks Can Harm

Bossy r VR war wor words Award with red cross visual
Bossy r VR war wor words and phrases The World

Review: CVC, VCE, VV, VR Changing Vowel Drills

Multiple Syllable:
cvc cv vce vr multiple syllable words Perform
cvc cv vce vr compound and multiple syllable words Backstroke
Bossy r VR challenge Ninjas 1, 2, 3 (3 lists full of vr)
cvc vce vr schwa Multi-syllable words and phrases I’ll Try These review including vr
cvc cv vce vr schwa phrases Mustang Phrases review including vr
*For more challenging multiple syllable words with VR, go to Step 10: Huge Words!

Bossy r VR Flashcards words
Bossy r VR Flashcards phrases
Bossy r VR Flip Chute Cards (See directions for Flip Chute cards on this page.)

Pyramids are great for automaticity with words, feeling successful and fluency.

Bossy r VR Beginning Reader Fluency Pack Pyramids Pack including index (also in bundle)

Game Directions

Bossy r VR Beginning Reader Pack Games Pack (also in bundle)

Bossy r VR beg sounds game Danger!

Bossy r VR ar word game The Shark in the Dark
Bossy r VR ar word game Fish Farm
Bossy r VR ar phrase game The Dark Jar
Bossy r VR ar phrase game You Are A Star
Bossy r VR ar ADVANCED word game Pencil(also in Step 10)
Bossy r VR ar ADVANCED word game Pencil with definitions(also in Step 10)

Bossy r VR or word game Sport Score
Bossy r VR or word game Blow Your Horn, Time For Corn
Bossy r VR or ADVANCED word game Horse (also in Step 10)
Bossy r VR or ADVANCED word game Horse with definitions(also in Step 10)

Bossy r VR er, ir ur word game Birthday Fun
Bossy r VR er, ir, ur word game The Chirping Bird
Bossy r VR er ir ur ADVANCED word game Insect(also in Step 10)
Bossy r VR er ir ur ADVANCED word game Insect with definitions(also in Step 10)

Bossy r VR mixed word game Shirt and Skirt
Bossy r VR mixed phrase game Good Morning
Bossy r VR mixed phrase game A Barking Dog

Bossy r VR wor, war word gameThe Best Worm in the World

Bossy r VR mixed Bingo Bingo Cards, Bingo Words

Practice with words from the lists, games etc., or use the lists below.
* Having learners spell with word chains where the coach says “change one sound in (chop) to spell (chip), now change one sound in (chip) to spell (sip)” is a powerful way to draw student’s attention to individual sounds in the words!

Bossy r VR Spelling Word Chain Arm to Shark
Bossy r VR Spelling Word Chain Fort to Storm
*Bossy r VR Spelling Review 1 cvc, cv, vce, vvreg, vr Tell learner(s) what skill they are working on for each mini list of words.
Bossy r VR Spelling Challenge Multiple Syllable Words includes tips

Syllable Sort Directions
Syllable Sort Headings
Breaking up words strategy page

*Syllable Sort Worksheet *This is not a true syllable sort

Syllable Sort Challenge 1
Syllable Sort Challenge 2
Syllable Sort cut-aparts cv cvc vce vvreg vr tion

Small Book: 8 page assembly directions, 4 page folding directions, OR use horizontal format for reading on screen in distance learning.

Bossy r VR Pack Small Books including index (also in bundle)

Bossy r VR ar small book Poor Barb’s Bad Day horizontal and foldable formats
Bossy r VR ar 4 page At The Park horizontal format

Bossy r VR or small book Ed the Horse horizontal and foldable formats

Bossy r VR ir er ur small book Bert and Gert’s Bad Birthday horizontal and foldable formats

Bossy r VR mixed 4 page The Fort horizontal and foldable formats
Bossy r VR mixed small book challenge Abdi And Hamdi Make A Garden Review including vr: cvcc cvvc cvce vr foldable format

Bossy r Multiple syllable adding -ing to words Walking the Dog horizontal format

Bossy r VR wor war small book Worm War horizontal and foldable formats

See Highlighting Word Lists

Compound words list and story bossy r focus No Burger!