Introducing soft 'c'

This is a one-off lesson that is taught in three parts.
You can introduce it whenever you like.

In English words, the letter C can have two sounds: the hard sound that we have in cat and the soft sound in ice. So far, children have learnt that the letter C has a /k/ sound. They are now going to learn that it sometimes has a /s/ sound as well. The idea that a letter can have two different sounds is new for children, so we need to introduce this with great care - presenting it as something interesting and rather special. The new pattern is introduced gradually over three Units that are taught one after the other.

Unit 1

What to do

You will need

1. First, build the word ice with letter-blocks in the middle of the sheet of coloured card. The card is to help focus attention on the letter pattern and isolate it from other things on the table.

2. Tell your child that this is the word ice. Nothing else. Don't mention long vowels or magic 'e' or anything else as this will only complicate things. Keep it simple.

3. Now get him to write ice lots of times on the spare piece of paper, saying "I C E (letter names) ice" as he does so. If possible, join all the letters. If not, join just the C and E which are easy to join.

4. Next, point out that the letter C has a /s/ sound in the word ice. Make a big point of this. Treat it as something interesting and rather special. Don't explain - just leave it at that. Notice that you're drawing attention to the sound only after your child has had a chance to become aware of it in Step 3 - and not before.

5. Next, build as many words as you can on the ice pattern - nice, price, spice, mice and so on. Use the letter-blocks for this and keep the words on the sheet of coloured card as before. From time to time, you can pick up a word, jumble the letters, and give them back to your child to make up. This is to make sure that he understands and remembers the complete word and is not just changing the initial letters.

6. You now stop and explain that the letter C has two sounds. Using the CAT reading card, show that the letter C usually makes the /k/ sound as in cat can and cap - which he already knows. Explain that the ice words are special: here the C has the /s/ sound, just like an S. A short explanation is all that's needed here, no more. At this stage, it's not necessary for children to remember the rule or to fully understand it .

7. Finally, the words need to go in your child's exercise book. The heading should be ice fairly large but not in capitals. Make a list of the words and perhaps add a few in sentences underneath. When you plan this, please don't use any of the Houses, Ladders or Creatures on pages 89 to 91 of the SoundWorks Copymasters - we're saving these for later.

What next
Next lesson, teach the 'ace' words in the same way as above, following the steps explained below.

Unit 2

What to do

You will need

1. This lesson provides more opportunities for children to get used to the soft 'c' pattern. Begin by teaching the word ace in exactly the same way as you did for ice, following Steps 1, 2 and 3 in Unit 1 above.

2. Next, point out that the C in ace also has the soft sound that we found in ice. Explain again that the letter C has two different sounds: the /k/ sound in cat (showing the CAT reading card) and the /s/ sound in ace.

3. Follow this with Step 5 in Unit 1. Make as many 'ace' words as you can - face, race, place, and so on. Bear in mind that case, base and chase don't fit this pattern. Keep quiet about these, but if children happen to suggest them, say that they're special words and you're not going to do them just now. Take care not to suggest the children are wrong in any way - because of course they're right about noticing the sound.

4. The words now go in your child's exercise book, following Step 7 in Unit 1 above.

5. Finally, fiinish up with the following question. It's a refrain that you'll practise later on and use as a prompt when children are reading.

What next
The next thing to do is establish soft 'c' as part of a reading strategy by following the steps explained below.

Unit 3

What to do

1. Before the lesson, cut out two of the Houses on Copymaster 91 in the SoundWorks Copymaster book. Stick them in your child's exercise book, side by side as though they are in a street - roughly in the middle of the page.

2. In the lesson, your child fills one house with the 'ice' words and the other with the 'ace' words. He writes ice and ace above each house as a heading - fairly large but not in capitals.

3. Explain that these words are special because here the C has the soft sound /s/. Tell him that this is a useful thing to know for reading. Most of the time, the letter C has a /k/ sound (as he already knows) but sometimes it says /s/ as we see here. When he reads, the thing to do is use /k/ all the time - but if it doesn't work, then try the /s/ instead. Say: "Let's practise what we have to remember:- "

4. To finish up, get your child to write ce in joined writing lots of times on the page with the houses. You could use different coloured pens, make a border or do little rows under the houses - whatever you like.
Each time he writes the letters, he says: "C - E (letter names) ... /s/ (letter sound)". Every now and again while he's working, ask him the prompt you are trying to establish: "The letter C usually says /k/ but it also has a soft sound, what is it?" ... "/s/".

What next

This completes the work on soft 'c' for the time being. You now have a strategy in place that you can develop when you help children read. There will be other opportunities to practise soft 'c' at various points in this course, most notably in the work on Syllables.

Before moving on, you might like to glance at the material on soft 'g', which also has two sounds and is very similar to the pattern we have in soft 'c'. It can be found in the One-Off Lessons. You can teach soft 'g' straightaway if you like, or later on, whenever you wish.