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Step 6: Bossy R also called R Controlled (& Contractions Detour)

Bossy r syllable poster ar, er, ir, ur, or
r controlled syllable poster ar, er, ir, ur, or
Bossy r / r controlled
Bossy r syllable poster ar, er, ir, ur, or
r controlled syllable poster ar, er, ir, ur, or
bossy r might say “air”

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Definitions

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.

Teaching Videos and Written Stories

Bossy r Video
ar, er, ir, ur, or
Bossy r and w
war, wor

Written Stories

Google Slides and PowerPoints PowerPoints for teaching short vowel words CVC

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 with Bossy r Teach along the way with short vowels

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! Detour

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.”

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bundle: Contractions Lesson and 4 Games
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Contractions PowerPoint
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Contractions flashcards: Match the contraction to the words spelled out.

Tips Tips

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:

Map Sounds To Letters examples

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 and Directions for Materials Key


KEY:
Blue Heart: Beginning, grades K-1K-1 Beginning
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-21-2 Growing
Pink Plus: intervention, challengeIntervention/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

Sample Bundle


Practice Reading Practice Practice Reading


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Bossy r Syllable BUNDLE and PACKS! Bundle

Bossy r Syllable Bundle

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Bundle VR Bundle K-1 Words, Read and Draw Phrases, Pyramids, Games, Stories
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR Bundle VR Bundle 2-4 Words, Read and Draw Phrases, Pyramids, Games, Stories

Bossy r Syllable Packs

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Mixed Pack Word Lists Pack (also in bundle)
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Fluency Pack Pyramids Pack including index (also in bundle)
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Pack Games Pack (also in bundle)
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Pack Small Books including index (also in bundle)

Word and Phrase Lists Lists icon

See Highlighting Word Lists

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Mixed Pack Word Lists Pack (also in bundle)

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar words and phrases A Tart Lemon
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar phrases Barn On The Farm
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar phrases Stars (with timing option)
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar activity: Find the “ar” in Words and Make Your Own Wordlist

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR or words and phrases Order More Corn
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR or phrases Morning Oranges

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR er, ir, ur words and phrases A Turkey is a Bird

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

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR war wor words Award with red cross visual
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR war wor words and phrases The World

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Review: CVC, VCE, VV, VR Changing Vowel Drills

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

Fluency Pyramids Fluency Pyramid

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

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Beginning Reader Fluency Pack Pyramids Pack including index (also in bundle)

Games Games Icon

Game Directions

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Beginning Reader Pack Games Pack (also in bundle)

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR beg sounds game Danger!

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar word game The Shark in the Dark
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar word game Fish Farm
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar phrase game The Dark Jar
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar phrase game You Are A Star
Pink Plus: intervention, challengeBossy r VR ar ADVANCED word game Pencil(also in Step 10)
Pink Plus: intervention, challengeBossy r VR ar ADVANCED word game Pencil with definitions(also in Step 10)

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR or word game Sport Score
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR or word game Blow Your Horn, Time For Corn
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR or ADVANCED word game Horse (also in Step 10)
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR or ADVANCED word game Horse with definitions(also in Step 10)

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR er, ir ur word game Birthday Fun
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR er, ir, ur word game The Chirping Bird
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR er ir ur ADVANCED word game Insect(also in Step 10)
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR er ir ur ADVANCED word game Insect with definitions(also in Step 10)

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR mixed word game Shirt and Skirt
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR mixed phrase game Good Morning
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR mixed phrase game A Barking Dog

Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR wor, war word gameThe Best Worm in the World

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR mixed Bingo Bingo Cards, Bingo Words

Spelling Lists icon

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!

Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR Spelling Word Chain Arm to Shark
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR Spelling Word Chain Fort to Storm
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challenge*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.
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR Spelling Challenge Multiple Syllable Words includes tips

Small Books Small Books icon

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

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR Pack Small Books including index (also in bundle)

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar small book Poor Barb’s Bad Day horizontal and foldable formats
Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ar 4 page At The Park horizontal format

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR or small book Ed the Horse horizontal and foldable formats

Green Star: Growing, Grades 1-2Bossy r VR ir er ur small book Bert and Gert’s Bad Birthday horizontal and foldable formats

Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR mixed 4 page The Fort horizontal and foldable formats
Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR mixed small book challenge Abdi And Hamdi Make A Garden Review including vr: cvcc cvvc cvce vr foldable format

Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r Multiple syllable adding -ing to words Walking the Dog horizontal format

Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeBossy r VR wor war small book Worm War horizontal and foldable formats

Full Page Stories with Lists Full Page Stories with Lists

See Highlighting Word Lists

Green Star, Pink Plus: Grades 1,2 and/or intervention, challengeCompound words list and story bossy r focus No Burger!

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