Hard or Soft C and G

The letters C and G can make hard or soft sounds.

C is often hard /k/ before A, O & U. With the others, a soft C /s/ will do.

The words in the word families of -ace and -ice have the soft C sound.  C before e will often soft be. These are Silent e words.

G is often hard before A, O & U. With the others, a soft G will often do.

(But this is not always true, which you know if you get a gift given to you!)

G before e will often soft be. Words that end in -ge or -dge have the soft G sound of /j/. Defender d can stop the vowel from being long in some Silent e words.

Sight words with:

• Hard c /k/: can, came, car, cut
• Soft c /s/: face, place, space, sentence
• Hard g: go, got, big, give
• Soft g /j/: large, page, change

Keyword sentence: I got a large change when I came to this place.

There are some words with short vowels that have a hard or soft c and g, but many more have advanced vowel patterns. Because of this, hard or soft c and g (IV.b)  are introduced after learning about Defender d at the end of the Silent e section in the Phonics Pow Toolkit. (III.a) Download worksheets or the free anchor charts with word lists for hard or soft c and g at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers. The Consonant Variations soccer sort game includes hard or soft c and g, plus the ending sound of /k/.

WATCH videos and PLAY games about hard or soft C and G at the Wakelet tutorial on hard or soft C and G.

Learn how to get the free word sort games that include hard or soft c and g. Game boards for hard or soft c and g are part of the Phonics Pow Toolkit.

Author: dailyplanit

I seek to create order from the chaos of complex information. Join me at the Daily PlanIt to gain insights, inspiration, and information to increase skills for a better life. I unlock the power of teaching reading with phonics in the pursuit of literacy at www.phonicspow.com. In my spare time I explore books and movies, often choosing titles available on both screen and page. View all posts by dailyplanit