4.2 Explicitly Teaching R-Controlled Vowels

Now it's time to teach!

If you choose to use The Alphabet Queen story, you can begin by reviewing closed syllables. Then tell the part of the story about r-controlled vowel sounds to introduce the lesson.

Or you can introduce r-controlled vowels using this step-by-step lesson.

Say,

As you know, vowels have short sounds and long sounds. Vowels say their short sounds when they are closed in by (or followed by) a consonant. You have learned that if a vowel has a consonant after it, we call that a closed syllable.

But guess what? When the consonant that comes after the vowel is the letter 'r', the sound changes. The vowel is no longer short. It makes a new kind of sound. That's what we're going to learn about today!

On the board, write the word card. Ask,

What is the vowel that you see?

[Students should say 'a'.] 

What kind of letter do you see after the 'a'? 

[Some may say a consonant or 'r'.] 

Yes! I see a consonant and the consonant is an 'r'.

Tell students,

Today, we will look at words that follow this pattern: a vowel, then an 'r'. It is a very special pattern that we call r-controlled or bossy 'r'.

The 'r' is SO bossy that when it stands next to a vowel, it does not let the vowel make its short sound. The 'r' makes the vowels say different sounds. The 'r' controls the vowel. In this word [point to card on the board], the 'ar' together says /ar/. So this word is /c/, /ar/, /d/, card.

Next show students the r-controlled flash cards that you will use to help them practice these sounds.

The grade you teach will determine how many r-controlled vowels you teach at a time. We recommend in the younger grades beginning with 'ar', then 'or', then mixing 'ar' and 'or'. Then teach 'er', 'ir', 'ur', separately. In older grades, you can teach multiple patterns at once.

Only introduce the flash card(s) that you will be explicitly teaching in your lesson.

Show students the new flash card(s).

R-Controlled Vowel Flash Cards with Pictures

Print these 5x7 letter flash cards with pictures to help students practice r-controlled vowels like 'ar'.

R-Controlled Vowel Flash Cards without Pictures

Print these 5x7 letter flash cards without pictures to help students practice r-controlled vowels like 'ar'.

Teaching R-Controlled Syllable Type

This part of the lesson can be introduced on a different day, if needed.

Say,

In addition to learning the new sounds vowels make when they're followed by an 'r', we also need to learn how to recognize r-controlled syllables.

Remind students that a syllable is a word or word part that has one vowel sound. Model for students a few sample syllables that have one vowel followed by an 'r', like star, park, and farm. Write them on the board and point out that there is one vowel immediately followed by an 'r'. 

Then show students the step-by-step procedures for identifying a syllable and determining what the vowel says. Pick a word or syllable that has 'ar' and have students do the following:

Steps for Identifying a Syllable Type

1. Look through the syllable from left to right and find the vowel. 
2. Touch the vowel and look "next door" (right after the vowel). 
3. Is there an 'r' next door? 
4. If there is an 'r', underline the vowel and the 'r' together. This means it is an r-controlled syllable. 
5. If the syllable is r-controlled, then the 'r' tells the vowel what to say.
6. Mark the syllable as r-controlled with a capital 'R' and a circle around it. 
7. Review what the vowel followed by an 'r' says in the syllable.
8. Read the syllable.

Here's some language you might use when introducing this process.

I am going to spell a syllable for you. Please do not blurt out the syllable! We are going to move through the syllable together. Here we go.

Write 'h', 'a', 'r' on the whiteboard.

Say,

Look all the way through the syllable and touch the vowel. Now look next door, immediately after the vowel. Is the vowel followed by an 'r'?

Students should say "yes."

Say,

If the vowel is followed by an 'r' then the syllable is r-controlled or bossy 'r'.

We can underline the vowel and the 'r' together. We can put an 'R' with a circle around it above the syllable.

Say,

Now let's tap and read the syllable together.

/h/, /ar/, har.

Now that you can read har, let's read the next syllable together.

Walk students through reading the closed syllable vest. 

Then have students put the two syllables together to make the word harvest.

Identifying the vowel and writing 'R' for r-controlled will be especially useful when students start dividing multisyllabic words. As soon as students become confident with this process, you should fade it out. Marking a syllable type is a scaffold and not the skill itself, so stop when students can decode without it.

However, each time students are learning a new syllable type, they'll go back to using all the steps for identifying a syllable until that new skill is mastered.