Rr

Written By: Greg Whitfield
Copyright © 1996 Greg Whitfield

My dog makes the R sound
When a cat comes around
I guess you could say
It's his favorite sound
I had trouble with R
When I was a kid
But my dog was my teacher and
Here's what he did

I used to say wabbit and wooster and wed
My R's came out sound like W's instead
But Rover would growl out the R sound for me
Through sheer repetition he taught it to me

/r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ Rover
/r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ Rover
/r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ Rover
My dog taught the R sound to me

If R gives you trouble
Then here's what you do
Go find a dog
Who can teach it to you
'Cause most of 'em know how
An R's supposed to sound
They say it whenever
A cat comes around
Just ask and they'll teach you
Just like Rover did
He taught me the R sound
When I was a kid

/r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ Rover
/r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ Rover
/r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ /r/ Rover
My dog taught the R sound to me

Suggested Activities

A common mistake on the part of beginning readers: many of them think R sounds like /er/ (as in "her"). This really causes problems when sounding out words.

In the AlphaSong for letter R, the narrator's dog, Rover, teaches the R sound to him. Rover, like most dogs, makes the perfect R sound. To reinforce this notion, try sounding out some "r" words with that troublesome /er/ sound, then try barking that /r/ sound instead. I think you'll see why the Jetson's dog, Astro, talks the way he does - his voice lends itself perfectly to the /r/ sound.

In my classroom it's not uncommon to find us on all fours sounding out R words. This might work even better at home, where the principal won't walk in and wonder why she hired you. :-)

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