3.1 Prepare for Soft 'c' and Soft 'g' Instruction

Before you teach soft 'c', you'll need to do a few things to get ready: 

• Review the Overview of Soft 'c' so you feel comfortable with talking about the different sounds that 'c' can represent and when we can expect to hear those sounds in words.
• Print the '-ace' and '-ice' flash cards (opens in new window) and add them to your flash card deck.
• Learn the soft 'c' rule:
  • "When 'c' is followed by 'e', 'i', or 'y', 'c' spells /s/."
    (It might be helpful to write this on the back of the flash cards to help you recite it with your students.)

Before you teach soft 'g', you'll need to do a few things to get ready: 

• Review the Overview of Soft 'g' so you feel comfortable with talking about the different sounds that 'g' can represent and when we can expect to hear those sounds in words.
• Print the '-ge' (opens in new window) flash cards and add them to your flash card deck.
• Review the soft 'g' rule:
  • "When 'g' is followed by 'e', 'i', or 'y', 'g' spells /j/." 
    (It might be helpful to write this on the back of the flash cards to help you recite it with your students.)

Review the Overview of Soft 'c' and Soft 'g' so you feel comfortable with talking about the different sounds that two letters can represent and when we can expect to hear those sounds in words.

Word selection is key! As you prepare for instruction, it is important to be intentional about the words you choose for your daily dictation lessons. Students will need plenty of practice reading and spelling words with the current skill. Our free Reading Universe word lists are a good place to start:

Here are some tips for selecting words for your soft 'c' and soft 'g' lessons:

• Using the phonics continuum (opens in new window) as a guide, choose words with patterns or skills taught prior to soft 'c' or 'g' to reinforce what students have already learned.
• To deepen students' understanding of language and build vocabulary, select words with soft 'c' or 'g' that may be unfamiliar to students, like pace or gist, or words that have multiple meanings, like face or gel.
• After students have had plenty of practice with the soft 'c' sound in magic 'e' words or soft 'g' sound in '-dge' or '-ge', select words where soft 'c' or 'g' occurs in other parts of a word, like circle, decide, magic, or gerbil.
• As students become more comfortable with spelling words with the soft 'c' or 'g' sound, use phrases and sentences that include soft 'c' and 'g' words in your dictation to add rigor and context to your lesson.

A flash card warm-up helps students connect all letters and sounds, builds fluency, and prepares them to read. During your warm-up, you can practice letter names and sounds, spelling patterns, and spelling rules you have previously taught with your class with this All Letters and Sounds deck. (You can also use the flash cards without pictures to build words during your lesson.)

You'll need the 'c' flash card, as well as the '-ace' and '-ice' flash cards for teaching soft 'c'. For soft 'g' you'll need the 'g' and '-ge' flash cards. You might want to write examples of words that follow the pattern on the back of your flash cards. It's helpful to have examples of words readily available for your students.

Daily dictation can help students with listening skills, auditory memory, reading and spelling skills, language, and handwriting.

Go to the Resource Hub for a complete collection of word lists, read sheets, and decodables for practicing reading and writing words that have soft 'c' and soft 'g'.

In the following pages, you'll find two step-by-step lessons for explicitly teaching soft 'c' and soft 'g'. Remember, these are two distinct phonics patterns that you will likely teach in two different lessons. Refer to the When to Teach section if you need a refresher. Continue to Explicitly Teach Soft 'c' with '-ace' and '-ice' or Explicitly Teach Soft 'g' with '-ge'.