Meet Bossy 'R' (er, ir, ur)

Dee and Kala are late for their first day of soccer. When they arrive, the /ER/ team has already started drills! Coach R is on the megaphone telling E, I and U what to do. Dee and Kala wonder why the coach is being so controlling. Let's see what they learn as they “Meet Bossy R: ER, IR, UR”. Remember, syllables are words or word parts that have one vowel sound and take one puff of air to say. There are different types of syllables, like this one called R controlled or Bossy R. It has one vowel followed by the letter R. Bossy means to take control or tell someone what to do. The same thing happens with bossy R syllables! The letter R takes control of the vowel and tells it what to say. Even though the vowel speaks, the R takes charge of the sound. When the bossy R comes after E, I, or U, they all say /er/. Let's look at E R first. E R is a very common way to spell /er/. Often times, E R can be found saying /er/ at the END of two syllable words, as in letter, water, and cover. Let's say it together: E R, letter, /er/. Next, there is I R, IR is a less common way to spell /er/ inside of a word. Often times, we use the I R spelling when one of these sounds comes after it, /an/, /d/, /m/, /t/, or /th/ like in the words bird, birth, or shirt. Finally, there is U R, the last one on the /er/ team. It's the least common way to spell the /er/ sound in a word. But, it can still be found saying /er/ in the beginning, middle, and end of words like in urchin, surf, or blur. Let's say it together: U R, surf, /er/ Now let's practice by picking which bossy R pair is making the sound in each of the following words. Shirt. Which bossy R says /er/ in shirt? ER, IR, or UR? I R because the /er/ sound is inside 'shirt' and it's followed by the /t/ sound. What about the word: burn? Which bossy R says /er/? ER, IR, or UR? U R, the /er/ sound is inside of the word burn. How about the word: tiger? Which pair do we use? ER, IR, or UR? E R because the /er/ sound is at the end of the two syllable word tiger. Before soccer practice ends, let's remember! Today we met bossy R. This is a special type of syllable where the letter R takes control of the vowel before it! Even though the vowel talks, the R takes control of the sound. When E, I, and U are followed by R, they each say /er/. "Well that was fun, Kala!" "I agree, Dee, except we should probably ask them to fix our names on the back of these jerseys."