Shortly after students learn the letters and sounds of the alphabet we teach them that the vowels and several consonants actually have two sounds. The consonants “c” and “g” are two of the letters that make different sounds depending on the letters that follow them in the word. The most common sound for the “g” is the “hard” sound as in the word “goat”.  However, if the “g” is followed by an i, e or y it makes the “soft” /j/ sound as in the word “giraffe”.  Word sorting activities are very helpful when introducing a new phonics concept. Using sorting activities, students are able to tell when a certain rule either does and does not apply. Just as the