1st Grade Bossy R (r-controlled vowels) Worksheets
125 printable 1st Grade phonics worksheets on Bossy R (r-controlled vowels). Every sheet has an answer key — 125 in all. 12 activity types: Build, Code Breaker, Cut And Glue Sort, Find And Color. The first three worksheets are free to download; All Access opens the rest and every answer key.
On these sheets: ar; a and ar; scarf, star, seal and goat; hard to park; and more in the full list below. Each sheet is marked with the week it was written for: weeks 20 to 35 of Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency, Grade 1.
What is in this set: Code Breaker (19), Word Hunt (15), Cut And Glue Sort (14), Sort And Write (14), Flashcards (12), Word Chain (12), Find And Color (9), Fluency (8), Build (7), Read And Draw (7), Lesson (4) and Roll And Read (4).
Practice pages support a program; they are not the lesson. These sheets reinforce Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency — Grade 1, the complete K–5 reading curriculum from Faith Readers. Preview a reading week to see how its lessons run. See every program →
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Includes 12 activity types: Build, Code Breaker, Cut And Glue Sort, Find And Color, Flashcards, Fluency, Lesson, Read And Draw, Roll And Read, Sort And Write, Word Chain, Word Hunt.
All 125 worksheets in this set
- Lesson 1: ar Free PDF
- Cut And Glue Sort 1: a and ar Free PDF
- Sort And Write 1: a and ar Free PDF
- Cut And Glue Sort 2: a and ar
- Cut And Glue Sort 3: a and ar
- Sort And Write 2: a and ar
- Sort And Write 3: a and ar
- Build 1: scarf, star, seal and goat
- Word Chain 1: hard to park
- Word Chain 2: mark to yard
- Word Chain 3: yard to part
- Fluency 1: car, far, star and dark
- Fluency 2: harm, cart, farm and card
- Read And Draw 1: barn, car, cart and shark
- Word Hunt 1: a and ar
- Word Hunt 2: a and ar
- Word Hunt 3: a and ar
- Code Breaker 1: arm, car, art and bar
- Code Breaker 2: bar, art, jar and cart
- Code Breaker 3: bar, arm, art and farm
- Roll And Read 1: start, hard, car and far
- Find And Color 1: a and ar
- Find And Color 2: ar, ai and ay
- Find And Color 3: st, tr and gr
- Flashcards 1: part, car, start and star
- Flashcards 2: car, star, start and far
- Flashcards 3: star, dark, part and park
- Lesson 2: or
- Cut And Glue Sort 4: or and ar
- Cut And Glue Sort 5: or and ar
- Cut And Glue Sort 6: or and ar
- Sort And Write 4: or and ar
- Sort And Write 5: or and ar
- Sort And Write 6: or and ar
- Build 2: corn, fork, boat and star
- Word Chain 4: fork to born
- Word Chain 5: sort to north
- Word Chain 6: card to torn
- Fluency 3: or, more, short and born
- Read And Draw 2: fort, horn, porch and store
- Word Hunt 4: or and ar
- Word Hunt 5: or and ar
- Word Hunt 6: or and ar
- Code Breaker 4: tore, torn, born and short
- Code Breaker 5: chore, north, born and corn
- Code Breaker 6: on, torn, sort and worn
- Roll And Read 2: more, short, store and born
- Find And Color 4: or and ar
- Find And Color 5: st, tr and gr
- Find And Color 6: or, oa and ow
- Flashcards 4: more, store, short and storm
- Flashcards 5: more, short, store and born
- Flashcards 6: short, store, born and worn
- Lesson 3: ir
- Cut And Glue Sort 7: ir, ar and or
- Cut And Glue Sort 8: ar and or
- Cut And Glue Sort 9: ir, ar and or
- Sort And Write 7: ir, ar and or
- Sort And Write 8: ir, ar and or
- Sort And Write 9: ir, ar and or
- Build 3: shirt, bird, skirt and glue
- Word Chain 7: third to did
- Word Chain 8: birth to hug
- Word Chain 9: yes to third
- Fluency 4: girl, shirt, bird and third
- Read And Draw 3: bird, dirt, girl and shirt
- Word Hunt 7: ir, ar and or
- Word Hunt 8: ir, ar and or
- Word Hunt 9: ir, ar and or
- Code Breaker 7: sir, dirt, third and shirt
- Code Breaker 8: sir, bird, third and stir
- Code Breaker 9: sir, an, bird and birth
- Roll And Read 3: third, bird, girl and shirt
- Find And Color 7: ir, ar and or
- Find And Color 8: ir, ie and igh
- Flashcards 7: clerk, girl, third and shirt
- Flashcards 8: clerk, third, girl and bird
- Flashcards 9: third, girl, shirt and dirt
- Lesson 4: ur
- Cut And Glue Sort 10: ur and ir
- Cut And Glue Sort 11: ur, ar and or
- Cut And Glue Sort 12: ar and or
- Sort And Write 10: ur and ir
- Sort And Write 11: ur and ir
- Sort And Write 12: ur, ar and or
- Build 4: church, bird, skirt and scarf
- Word Chain 10: coat to curb
- Word Chain 11: wet to curl
- Word Chain 12: hope to curl
- Fluency 5: turn, hurt, church and burn
- Read And Draw 4: church, curl, fur and turn
- Word Hunt 10: ur and ir
- Word Hunt 11: ur and ir
- Word Hunt 12: ur and ir
- Code Breaker 10: fur, hurt, burn and church
- Code Breaker 11: fur, in, an and on
- Code Breaker 12: fur, hurt, church and turn
- Roll And Read 4: church, turn, hurt and fur
- Find And Color 9: ur and ir
- Flashcards 10: turn, hurt, church and burn
- Flashcards 11: hurt, church, burn and fur
- Flashcards 12: burn, hurt, church and burnt
- Word Hunt 13: ir and ur
- Code Breaker 13: bar, own, arm and rain
- Code Breaker 14: eat, art, aim and arm
- Build 5: goat, net, lock and flag
- Code Breaker 15: eat, high, tore and tie
- Code Breaker 16: far, bar, arm and art
- Build 6: shirt, bird, pot and map
- Fluency 6: or, by, day and more
- Read And Draw 5: arm, bird, buses and feed
- Cut And Glue Sort 13: ir and ur
- Sort And Write 13: ir and ur
- Build 7: fan, fork, skirt and milk
- Word Hunt 14: ir and ur
- Code Breaker 17: car, art, own and high
- Code Breaker 18: own, day, car and night
- Code Breaker 19: art, high, bar and day
- Read And Draw 6: barn, car, clay and fry
- Fluency 7: or, by, day and say
- Cut And Glue Sort 14: ir and ur
- Sort And Write 14: ir and ur
- Fluency 8: or, good, need and day
- Read And Draw 7: cart, crow, dishes and kids
- Word Hunt 15: ir and ur
Teaching Bossy R (r-controlled vowels)
What it is
Bossy R, or r-controlled vowels, means an r after a vowel changes the vowel's sound: car, her, bird, fork, hurt. The vowel is neither short nor long; the r takes charge. In Grade 1 the teams are met one at a time, ar first, then or, ir and ur, with sorts, code breakers, word hunts, word chains and flashcards for each.
When a child is ready
Teach it after short vowels and magic e are secure, because r-controlled words break the rules the child has just learned.
If they struggle
If the child reads car as ca-r with a short a, teach the vowel and r as one team that is read together (ar, or, er, ir, ur). Sort words by team, then read them. er, ir, and ur usually share one sound, so group those three.
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