Year 1
Phase 5 is taught throughout Year 1. However, at this point, schools should choose whether to follow the order of Phase 5 or the KS1 Spelling Curriculum because the KS1 Spelling Curriculum begins at this stage.
As with the Letters and Sounds programme, children who are ready may start the KS1 Spelling Curriculum in Reception. It is important to note that a number of Phase 3 graphemes are now included in the KS1 Spelling Curriculum.
Phase 5 teaches a set of new graphemes, alternative pronunciations for graphemes already known and alternative spellings for phonemes. Monster Phonics colour-coding is particularly useful at this stage, to facilitate the teaching of the alternative spellings and pronunciations.
When children start phase 5, they will already be able to read and spell words containing phase 2 and 3 grapheme, adjacent consonants and some polysyllabic words.
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What is taught?
1. To broaden existing knowledge and become quicker at recognising and recalling graphemes for use in reading and spelling.
2. To learn new graphemes and alternative pronunciations for these and graphemes they already know, where relevant.
Digraphs
Split Digraphs
3. To learn alternative pronunciations for known graphemes.
4. To learn alternative spelling for phonemes.
5. Choose the appropriate graphemes to represent phonemes and begin to build word-specific knowledge of the spellings of words.
Tricky Words List: people, could, oh, their, Mr, Mrs, called, asked, looked
Monster Phonics makes learning high-frequency ‘tricky’ words at the stage easier. Download the Monster Phonics Phase 5 Tricky Words Tabletop Chart and Flashcards.
Phase 5 planning and resources are found in the Reception section of the Monster Phonics Resources area.
Monster Phonics
Monster Phonics follows the KS1 Spelling Curriculum at this point. Schools choosing to teach Phase 5 Letters and Sounds can continue to do so using Monster Phonics, which includes complete lessons available in the Year 1 and 2 Sections of the Resources Area. We recommend following the KS1 Spelling Curriculum, as this has updated more relevant word lists and specifically links spelling and sound. It also includes the phase 6 grammatical element, important for accurate reading and spelling.
Phase 5 planning and resources are found in the Year 1 and Year 2 sections of the Monster Phonics Resources area.
Browse the phased phonics teaching structure for schools.
- Phase 1 Phonics
- Phase 2 Phonics
- Phase 3 Phonics
- Phase 4 Phonics
- Phase 5 Phonics
- Phase 6 Phonics