Many R-Controlled Vowels in One Comprehensive List  

R-Controlled vowels –  sometimes referred to as r-influenced vowels, occur when a vowel is followed by the letter “r” . In this instance, the sound of r impacts the vowel sound. (That’s where the “bossy r” title comes from – the r influences the vowel’s sound.)

We’ve pulled together a comprehensive list of r-controlled words to help your students recognize, read, and spell words with r controlled vowels. The r-controlled vowel digraphs in the list include the following:

• ar (as in car)
• er (as in her)
• ir (as in bird)
• or (as in corn)
• ur (as in fur)

Multiple Applications for a List of Bossy R Words

This literacy resource can be used in numerous ways to support the diverse needs of your learners. Here are some of our suggestions:

On-the-Go R-Controlled Vowel Anchor Chart

Send the lists home so your students can revise decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) the words on the list. Be sure to include only words containing letter-sound correspondences you have already addressed in class.

Bossy R Word Games for the Classroom

 Try a round or two of Bossy R Stomp! Choose an r-controlled vowel pattern (ar,ir,or,etc.) for your students to listen for. Begin reading random words from your Bossy R list.  Your students will  stomp as loud as possible when they hear a word using the specific r-controlled vowel sound. Bring your earplugs, though, it might get loud!

Assessment for Mastery of Controlled-R Words

Use the list of controlled r words as a progress monitoring tool to keep track of your student’s phonemic awareness and to identify the r-controlled vowel digraphs that require further review. 

Easily Download This Resource for Your Students

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