/s/ spelled as ‘c’ ice

c sounds like /s/ before e, i or y
cycle, city, dance, nice

practice soft c

/j/ spelled as ‘g’ magic

g sounds like /j/ before e, i or y
magic, cage, giant, gym

Is the bird really in the cage or is it magic?

This fun optical trick is called a thaumatrope and is easy to make at home. Usually g makes a hard sound like in “go”, but when there’s an e, i and y directly following the g, it magically becomes soft, like j. It’s magic.

Practice soft g

/j/ spelled as dge

use the longer spelling after a short vowel

age (long vowel, ge ending)

judge, edge, hodge podge (short vowel, dge ending)

practice dge