10. Resource Hub: Teaching the'-dge' Spelling Rule

Marlene Gannaway: The word is lodge. What's the word?

Students: Lodge.

Marlene Gannaway: Stop. Think. Tap. /l/, /ŏ/, /j/.

Carla Stanford: Write it.

Narrator: Exploring words with multiple meanings helps students build a deeper vocabulary and teaches them the flexibility to understand language in many contexts. At Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta, this exploration can happen at any time, even during a phonics lesson. Today, second grade teacher Marlene Gannaway and reading coach Carla Stanford, are focused on the '-dge' spelling pattern. So they'll take time during dictation to introduce words like judge and lodge.

Carla Stanford: Everyone say lodge.

Students: Lodge.

Carla Stanford: Say it again. Say lodge.

Students: Lodge.

Carla Stanford: Okay, I'm going to give you a sentence and you repeat. "The beaver built a lodge on the river." Repeat

Students: The beaver built a lodge on the river.

Carla Stanford: Thumbs up if you've ever heard of that meaning of lodge. Do you guys know about beavers?

Students: Yes.

Carla Stanford: Do you know they build little homes?

Students: Yes.

Carla Stanford: We call them a lodge. Say, "A beaver builds a lodge."

Students: A beaver builds lodge.

Carla Stanford: My goodness. Wait a minute. Have you ever been, like, to the mountains and there's a little cabin. And we don't stay there all the time. We might just visit on a vacation or something and we might call it a mountain ...

Students: Lodge.

Carla Stanford: Say it again. Mountain...

Students: ... lodge.

Carla Stanford: Oh my goodness. So we might think about the word lodge when we think about a mountain ...

Students: ... lodge.

Carla Stanford: Okay, I have another one. What if I was in a hurry and I jammed all of my things inside of my desk and I was like, oh my goodness. Ms. Gannaway asked me to get out my binder and I can't. It is lodged ...

Students: ... lodged in there.

Carla Stanford: Oh my goodness. What does that lodge mean?

Students: It means stuck.

Carla Stanford: What does it mean?

Students: Stuck!

Carla Stanford: Stuck. You guys, that is amazing. You were word detectives. You took this one word and now we know three meanings. Everyone say, "A beaver's lodge."

Students: A beaver's lodge.

Carla Stanford: Say, "my notebook is lodged."

Students: My notebook is lodged.

Carla Stanford: Say "a mountain lodge."

Students: A mountain lodge.

Carla Stanford: A beaver lodge. A place.

Students: Yeah.

Carla Stanford: Right? A mountain lodge.

Students: A place.

Carla Stanford: But if I lodge something ...

Student: Stuck.

Carla Stanford: It's something that I do. Oh my goodness.

Student: A verb.

Carla Stanford: It's a verb! Lodge can be like a noun — a person, place, thing, or idea. But lodge can also be a verb. "I lodged the notebook in." So now we are going to be word detectives. You already know how to read these words, but now we have to make sure we can think about what they mean and how we use them. I'm going to show you the word. We're going to read it. We're going to talk about is it a namer or is it an action, or could it be both? Are y'all ready? What's our word? Everyone read it?

Students: Judge.

Carla Stanford: Turn and talk with your seat partners. Talk about the meaning and talk about is it a namer or an action or both?

Student: Somebody is judging someone off what they do, I guess.

Carla Stanford: I'm hearing all these amazing things. I heard some amazing work all around. I'm going to have Amy share her thinking. What do you think about the word judge? Can it be a namer? Can it be an actioner? Can it be both? And explain your thinking.

Amy: It can be both because it can be a person that's a judge.

Carla Stanford: Wait a minute. Wait. Do you guys agree? Can it be a person that's a judge?

Students: Yes.

Carla Stanford: Oh my goodness. Okay. All right. We're all on the same page. Keep going.

Amy: Or it could be someone is judging another person.

Carla Stanford: Wait, if you're judging someone, is it something you're doing?

Students: Yes.

Carla Stanford: Do you guys agree it's something you're doing?

Students: Yes.

Carla Stanford: Say, "I'm judging the food on how good it is." Say that.

Students: I'm judging the food on good it is.

Carla Stanford: So if I was like the judge, the person, in a cooking contest, then I would actually do the action, right? Of judging. Can you guys give her a high five?

Carla Stanford: And pat yourselves on the back. So what is this?

Students: A bridge.

Carla Stanford: What is it?

Students: A bridge!

Carla Stanford: Yeah. So this thing right here?

Students: Barge!

Carla Stanford: A barge! And how would you describe the barge? Is it large or small?

Students: Large.

Carla Stanford: Okay. So it is a large ...

Students: ... barge.

Carla Stanford: Say that again.

Students: Large barge.

Carla Stanford: So the large barge. Oh my goodness. So it is — to me — it looks like the large barge is trying to get under the ...

Students: ... bridge.

Carla Stanford: Oh my goodness. But it looks to me like ...

Student: It is stuck.

Carla Stanford: It got stuck. Oh, what is that word?

Student: Lodge.

Carla Stanford: It got what? It got ...

Student: ... lodged! But why did it get lodged? I think that maybe the captain of the barge misjudged. Everyone say ...

Everyone: Misjudged.

Carla Stanford: So do you guys know mis? What does mis mean?

Students: Not.

Carla Stanford: Bad or wrong, right?

Student: Mispelled.

Carla Stanford: Like mispelled means I spelled it ...

Students: ... wrong!

Carla Stanford: So if I misjudged it, I judged it ...

Students: ... wrong!

Carla Stanford: So the large barge, right? He's trying to go under the bridge, but the captain must have misjudged. And so now the barge is ...

Students: ... lodged!

Narrator: Notice how many times the students have repeated the words and used them in context. This helps them store these words in their long-term memory and prepares them for the next step in their lesson — sentence dictation.

Carla Stanford: I'm going to give you a sentence for dictation. You are ready for it.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUteaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Marlene Gannaway: All right, friends. So now we're going to move into dictation. You're going to pull out your binders. We're going to be risk takers today with dictation too. I'm going to try a new style.

Narrator: These second graders at Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta, Georgia are in the middle of a phonics lesson on how to spell the /j/ sound at the end of a word. Should it be '-dge', like in "budge" or '-ge' like in "stage"?

Marlene Gannaway: We're going straight to words today because you guys are so smart. We've already reviewed our sounds. You're going to draw a line straight down the middle.

Narrator: During the dictation section of the lesson. Teacher Marlene Gannaway and reading Coach Carla Stanford will guide students through this spelling decision. Some of them already have a pretty good handle on the rule.

Marlene Gannaway: Amelia, how will we know '-dge' or '-ge'?

Amelia: If it has a consonant before it, then you spell it '-ge'. And if it is right after a vowel, you spell it '-dge'.

Marlene Gannaway: What kind of vowel?

Amelia: Short.

Marlene Gannaway: Immediately after a short vowel in a one syllable word. When you hear the /j/ sound, you spell it '-dge'. Good job. If it's a long vowel sound, if it's a bossy R or if there's a blocker, then we're going to spell it 'ge'.

Narrator: For this exercise, Ms. Gannaway will give the students a word that ends in the /j/ sound. They'll need to decide if it's spelled '-dge' or '-ge', and then write it in the correct column on their paper. Ms. Stanford explains how they will think through their decision.

Carla Stanford: So when Ms. Gannaway gives you the word, you have to make a decision. This is a spelling decision you're making, so she's going to say the word, you're going to repeat it. You're going to tap it. When you get to that vowel you're going to think, "what decision do I need to make?" and then you're going to point to the one that you would choose and give us a thumbs up so we can check before you write.

Narrator: If a word has a short vowel sound immediately before the /j/ sound, like in badge or fudge, we use '-dge'. If the word has a long vowel sound, like in stage or a bossy R like in large, or a consonant blocker, like in bulge, then we use '-ge'.

Marlene Gannaway: The word is huge. Repeat.

Students: Huge.

Marlene Gannaway: Stop. Think. Point. Where are you going to spell it?

Carla Stanford: Do you guys need to tap this one together? Can we do it? Yeah. Yeah, let's do it.

Marlene Gannaway: For sure. For sure. All right, friends, elbows up, eyes up. Here we go. The word is huge. Repeat.

Students: Huge.

Together: /h/, /ū/, /j/.

Carla Stanford: Huge. What do you hear? What do you guys hear?

Students: Long vowel.

Carla Stanford: A long vowel sound. If we hear a long vowel sound, how are we going to spell the /j/ sound? Everyone.

Students: '-ge'.

Carla Stanford: Yes. Do you see what we had to do? We had to say the word. We had to tap and get to the vowel. We had to think about the vowel, and then we had to make our decision. That's a lot of work. You guys, that's amazing.

Marlene Gannaway: Next word. Ready, friends? The word is barge. Repeat.

Students: Barge.

Marlene Gannaway: Stop. Think. Tap carefully.

Together: /b/, /ar/, /j/.

Marlene Gannaway: Point. Where are you going to put it? Where are you going to put it? Piper, where do you think we're going to put it?

Piper: '-dge'.

Marlene Gannaway: '-dge'? The word is barge. Let's tap it together everybody. One more time.

Together: /b/, /ar/, j/.

Marlene Gannaway: /ar/ is the vowel sound. What are we going to do? Is that a short sound?

Piper: No.

Marlene Gannaway: What kind of sound is that? What vowel sound is that? /ar/. /ar/.

Piper: Bossy R.

Marlene Gannaway: It's a bossy R. So can we spell it '-dge'?

Piper: No.

Marlene Gannaway: Thank you for thinking through that with me. So where are we going to put it?

Piper: '-ge'.

Marlene Gannaway: '-ge', not '-dge'. Barge.

Narrator: By asking a quick, thoughtful question. Ms. Gannaway helped guide Piper to the rule they have been practicing, which is exactly what dictation is for.

Carla Stanford: It's one thing to know the '-dge' rule, but it's another thing to know when you can't use it. So part of a rule is knowing when to use it, but you guys are learning when you can't use it. That is really hard work. That was excellent thinking. Thank you for thinking out loud for us with that.

Marlene Gannaway: Ready for the next word? The word is … listen, carefully… cringe. Repeat.

Students: Cringe.

Marlene Gannaway: Tap it. Stop. Think. Tap. /k/, /r/, /ĭ/, /n/, j/.

Narrator: Cringe is a little tricky. It has a short vowel sound, but students will need to decide if that consonant /n/ sound changes things.

Carla Stanford: Can we talk through this one?

Marlene Gannaway: Yes.

Carla Stanford: This one is hard for us.

Marlene Gannaway: Yes. We can talk through this one.

Carla Stanford: Okay, everyone say cringe.

Students: Cringe.

Carla Stanford: Pretend like you're going to cringe. What does it look like when you cringe? So everyone repeat, say cringe.

Students: Cringe.

Carla Stanford: Tappers up. I want you to tap with me and I want to hear it.

Together: /k/, /r/, /ĭ/ ...

Carla Stanford: Wait, I heard a short vowel. Did you?

Students: Yes.

Together: /k/, /r/, /ĭ/ ... /n/ ...

[Ms. Stanford emphasizes /n/]

Carla Stanford: Everyone say famous blocker!

Students: Famous blocker!

Carla Stanford: Do you hear that /n/?

Students: Yes.

Carla Stanford: Immediately my brain is going "uh oh. Guess what I don't get to use."

Students: '-dge'

Carla Stanford: Uh uh. Because the blocker is there blocking. /r/, /ĭ/ ... /n/ [Ms. Stanford emphasizes /n/] ... /j/. How am I going to spell the /j/ at the end of cringe, everyone?

Students: '-ge'.

Carla Stanford: Thank you. Make sure you put it in the right space.

Marlene Gannaway: My word is pledge. Repeat.

Students: Pledge.

Marlene Gannaway: Stop. Think. Tap.

Together: /p/, /l/, /ĕ/, j/. /p/, /l/, /ĕ/, j/.

Marlene Gannaway: What kind of vowel sound did you hear? Point to where you're going to put it. You guys are getting more confident. You're writing it already. Good job. Reagan, why are we going to put it there?

Reagan: Because it has a short vowel.

Marlene Gannaway: Because it has a short vowel.

Carla Stanford: So it had to be the short vowel, and then immediately we have to hear the /j/. That's what you guys heard, right?

Narrator: Making the correct spelling choice is great, but knowing why you made that choice, that's when the learning sticks.

Marlene Gannaway: Excellent

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillen Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Burgess-Peterson Academy and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.