'-dge' Spelling Rule Skill Explainer

Flash Card Demo: The '-dge' Rule

Name: Flash Card Demo: The '-dge' Rule
Uploaded: 2026-04-14T18:18:32-04:00
Duration: 34 s
Description: Flash Card Demo: The '-dge' Rule

Where a sound falls in a word can help students figure out how to spell it. When the /j/ sound is heard after a short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word, it is spelled with '-dge'. Watch as literacy coach Elizabeth Hogan, M.Ed., models how to incorporate this card — and the chant for the '-dge' rule — into your flash card routine to help this spelling pattern stick.

Here’s what you can say when warming up with this flash card that has the keyword picture:

'dge' - 'd', 'g', 'e', badge , /j/.

Learn more with our free skill explainer on teaching the 'dge' spelling rule.

Video thumbnail for Flash Card Demo: The '-dge' Rule — Produced by Reading Universe, a partnership of WETA, Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book

Hide Video Transcript Show Video Transcript

[music]

This is how we warm up the short vowel rule '-dge' flashcard.

'dge', badge, /j/.

The chant is — "Immediately after a short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word, we spell /j/ 'd-g-e'. Wee!"

[music]