Letters and Sounds: Phase 5

Page Spellzone resources

 

Summary

131

"Children entering Phase Five are able to read and spell words containing adjacent consonants and some polysyllabic words. (See Appendix 3: Assessment.)...
... It must always be remembered that phonics is the step up to word recognition. Automatic reading of all words – decodable and tricky – is the ultimate goal."

 

Suggested timetable for Phase Five – discrete teaching

132

Weeks 1-4

Set Phase Two and Phase Three word lists as homework tasks.

 

Weeks 5-7

 

Weeks 8-30

 

Reading

134

It must always be remembered that phonics is the step up to fluent word recognition. Automatic and effortless reading of all words – decodable and tricky – is the ultimate goal.

By repeated sounding and blending of words, children get to know them, and once this happens they should be encouraged to read them straight off in reading text, rather than continuing to sound and blend them aloud because they feel that this is what is required.

They should continue, however, to use overt or silent phonics for words that are unfamiliar.

The Spellzone course is based on phonics.

Set the Spelling Ability Test as a task. On completion of the test, your students will be provided with a baseline Spellzone score and a personal 'Course Pathway' which shows the Spellzone units to be completed. The test are repeated at key points and the score and pathway updated according to progress made.

 

Teaching further graphemes for reading

134

New graphemes for reading
day, out, tie, eat
boy, girl, blue, saw
when, photo, new, toe, Paul
make, these, like, home, rule
New graphemes for reading flashcards (pdf)

It is probably unnecessary to continue teaching mnemonics for new graphemes. As children build up their speed of blending and read more and more words automatically, many of them will assimilate new graphemes in the course of their reading. To ensure that all children know these graphemes, they should be quickly introduced through high-frequency words such as those suggested above.

135

Example session for split digraph i-e
Resources:

136

Teaching alternative pronunciations for graphemes
Known graphemes for reading: common alternative pronunciations
Word lists:
fin, find
hot, cold
cat, cent
got, giant
but, put
(south) 
cow, blow
tie, field
eat, bread
farmer, her
hat, what

yes, by, very
chin, school, chef
out, shoulder, could, you


Resources

 

Practising recognition of graphemes in reading words

137

Flashcards
Resources

138

Quick copy
Resources

Countdown
Resources

  • List of Phase Five words. See lists on pages 151 -157. Print out as Flash cards.

139

Sentence substitution
Resources
New graphemes for reading

 

Teaching and practising reading high-frequency (common) words

140

There are 100 common words that recur frequently in much of the written material young children read and that they need when they write. Most of these are decodable by sounding and blending, assuming the grapheme–phoneme correspondences are known.

By the end of Phase Two, 26 of the high-frequency words are decodable; a further 12 are decodable by the end of Phase Three and six more at Phase Four. During Phase Five children learn many more graphemes so that more of these words become decodable.

Some of them have already been taught as tricky words in earlier phases, leaving 16 to be decoded in Phase Five. These are:
don't, day, here, old, house, made, saw, I'm, about, came, very, by, your, make, put, time.

Reading a group of these words each day, by applying grapheme–phoneme knowledge as it is acquired, will help children recognise them quickly. However, in order to read simple sentences it is necessary also to know some words that have unusual or untaught GPCs ('tricky' words) and these need to be learned (see Notes of Guidance for Practitioners and Teachers, page 15, for an explanation).

Learning to read tricky words
oh, their, people, Mr, Mrs, looked, called, asked, would, should, could

 

Practising reading high-frequency words

141

Both the decodable and tricky high-frequency words need lots of practice so that children will be able to read them 'automatically' as soon as possible.
Resources

  • Between five and eight high-frequency words, including decodable and tricky words, written on individual cards (pdfs).

 

Practising reading two-syllable and three-syllable words

142

Resources

  • Short list of two-syllable and three-syllable words (for use by the teacher).

Create your own word lists or use those already on Spellzone. Use the Search Word Lists facility to find words.

 

Practising reading sentences

142

Yes/no questions
Resources:

143

Choosing three right answers
Resources:

143

Homographs
Resources:

 

Spelling

144

Teaching alternative spellings for phonemes
Alternative spellings for each phoneme poster (pdf)

147

Best bet
Resources:

  • Lists of words generated from 'Phoneme spotter' or a variation, under grapheme headers. Example poster (pdf)

 

Learning to spell and practising high-frequency words

148

Children should be able to read these words before being expected to learn to spell them.
no, have, some, were, when, go, like, come, there, what, so, one, little, do, out
Note: Although ending in the letter e, some, come and have are not split digraph words. It is easiest to suggest that the last phoneme is represented by a consonant and the letter e. It is not possible to show the phonemes represented by graphemes in the word one.

 

Practising spelling two-syllable and three-syllable words

148

Resources

  • List of words

Practising writing sentences
Resources

  • Sentence including words you wish to practise

Create your own word lists or use those already on Spellzone. Use the Search Word Lists  facility to find the words.

Assessment

150

See 'Notes of Guidance for Practitioners and Teachers', page 16.)
By the end of Phase Five children should:

  • give the sound when shown any grapheme that has been taught;
  • for any given sound, write the common graphemes;
  • apply phonic knowledge and skill as the prime approach to reading and spelling unfamiliar words that are not completely decodable;
  • read and spell phonically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable words;
  • read automatically all the words in the list of 100 high frequency words;
  • accurately spell most of the words in the list of 100 high frequency words;
  • form each letter correctly.

 

Bank of words and other materials for use in Phase Five activities

151

Some new graphemes for reading
Words in italics are high-frequency words.
ay - day, play, may, say, stray, clay, spray, tray, crayon, delay
ou - out, about, cloud, scout, found, proud, sprout, sound, loudest, mountain
ie - pie, lie, tie, die, cried, tried, spied, fried, replied, denied
ea - sea, seat, bead, read, meat, treat, heap, least, steamy, repeat
oy - boy, toy, joy, oyster, Roy, destroy, Floyd, enjoy, royal, annoying
ir - girl, sir, bird, shirt, skirt, birth, third, first, thirteen, thirsty
ue - clue, blue, glue, true, Sue, Prue, rue, flue, issue, tissue
aw - saw, paw, raw, claw, jaw, lawn, yawn, law, shawl, drawer
wh - when, what, which, where, why, whistle, whenever, wheel, whisper, white, who, whose, whole, whom, whoever
ph - Philip, Philippa, phonics, sphinx, Christopher, dolphin, prophet, phantom, elephant, alphabet
ew - blew, chew, grew, drew, screw, crew, brew, flew, threw, Andrew, stew, few, new, dew, pew, knew, mildew, nephew, renew, Matthew
oe - toe, hoe, doe, foe, woe, Joe, goes, tomatoes, potatoes, heroes
au - Paul, haul, daub, launch, haunted, Saul, August, jaunty, author, automatic
ey - money, honey, donkey, cockney, jockey, turkey, chimney, valley, trolley, monkey

152

a-e - came, made, make, take, game, race, same, snake, amaze, escape
e-e - these, Pete, Eve, Steve, even, theme, gene, scene, complete, extreme
i-e - like, time, pine, ripe, shine, slide, prize, nice, invite, inside
o-e - bone, pole, home, alone, those, stone, woke, note, explode, envelope
u-e - June, flute, prune, rude, rule, huge, cube, tube, use, computer

Known graphemes for reading: alternative pronunciations

a as in hat: acorn, apron, angel, apricot, bagel, station, nation, Amy, lady, was, what, wash, wasp, squad, squash, want, watch, wallet, wander
(northern England accent): fast, path, pass, father, bath, last, grass, after, branch, afternoon
e as in bed: he, me, she, we, be, the, recent, frequent, region, decent
i as in tin: mind, find, wild, pint, blind, child, kind, grind, behind, remind
o as in hot: no, so, go, old, don't, gold, cold, told, both, hold
u as in but: unit, union, unicorn, music, tuba, future, human, stupid, duty, humour
(northern England accent): put, pull, push, full, bush, bull, cushion, awful, playful, pudding

153

ow as in down: low, grow, snow, glow, bowl, tow, show, slow, window, rowing-boat
ie as in pie: chief, brief, field, shield, priest, yield, shriek, thief, relief, belief
ea as in sea: head, dead, deaf, ready, bread, heaven, feather, pleasant, instead, breakfast
er as in farmer: her, fern, stern, Gerda, herbs, jerky, perky, Bernard, servant, permanent
ou as in out: you, soup, group, could, would, should, mould, shoulder, boulder
y as in yes: by, my, try, why, dry, fry, sky, spy, fry, reply, gym, crystal, mystery, crystal, pyramid, Egypt, bicycle, Lynne, cygnet, rhythm, very, happy, funny, carry, hairy, smelly, penny, crunchy, lolly, merrily
ch as in chin: school, Christmas, chemist, chord, chorus, Chris, chronic, chemical, headache, technical, chef, Charlene, Chandry, Charlotte, machine, brochure, chalet
c as in cat: cell, central, acid, cycle, icy, cent, Cynthia, success, December, accent
g as in got: gent, gym, gem, Gill, gentle, ginger, Egypt, magic, danger, energy
ey as in money: they, grey, obey, prey, survey

154

Alternative spellings for each phoneme
/ch/ - picture, adventure, creature, future, nature, capture, feature, puncture, signature, mixture, catch, fetch, pitch, notch, crutch, stitch, match, ditch, kitchen, scratchy
/j/ - fudge, hedge, bridge, ledge, nudge, badge, lodge, podgy, badger, dodging
/m/ - lamb, limb, comb, climb, crumb, dumb, thumb, numb, plumbing, bomber
/n/ - gnat, gnaw, gnash, gnome, sign, design, resign, knit, knob, knot, knee, knock, knife, know, knew, knight, knuckle
/r/ - wrap, wren, wrong, wrench, write, wrote, wreck, wry, written, wretched
/s/ - listen, whistle, bristle, glisten, Christmas, rustle, jostle, bustle, castle, wrestling, house, mouse, grease, cease, crease, horse, gorse, purse, grouse, loose
/z/ - please, tease, ease, rouse, browse, cheese, noise, pause, blouse, because
/u/ - some, come, done, none, son, nothing, month, mother, worry, brother
/i/ - happy, sunny, mummy, daddy, only, gym, crystal, mystery, sympathy, pyramid, donkey, valley, monkey, chimney, trolley, pulley, Lesley
/ear/ - part 1 - here, mere, severe, interfere, Windermere, adhere
/ear/ - part 2 - beer, deer, jeer, cheer, peer, sneer, sheer, veer, career, steering

155

/ar/ - part 1 - father, lather, rather, pass, path, bath, last, grass, afternoon, branching
/ar/ - part 2 - half, calf, almond, calm, qualm, lip balm, palm tree
/air/ - part 1 - there, where, nowhere, somewhere, everywhere
/air/ - part 2 - pear, bear, wear, tear, swear
/air/ - part 3 - bare, care, dare, fare, hare, mare, square, scare, stare, share
/or/ - part 1 - all, always, talk, walk, wall, fall, ball, hall, calling, beanstalk
/or/ - part 2 - four, pour, your, court, fourth, Seymour, tour, mourn, fourteen, tournament
/or/ - part 3 - caught, taught, naughty, haughty, daughter, Vaughan
/ur/ - part 1 - learn, earn, earth, pearl, early, search, heard, earnest, rehearsal
/ur/ - part 2 - word, work, world, worm, worth, worse, worship, worthy, worst
/oo/ - part 1 - could, would, should
/oo/ - part 2 - put, pull, push, full, bush, bull, cushion, pudding, playful

156

/ai/ - part 1 - day, play, may, say, stray, clay, spray, tray, crayon, delay
/ai/ - part 2 - came, made, make, take, game, race, same, snake, amaze, escape
/ee/ - part 1 - sea, seat, bead, read, meat, treat, heap, least, steamy, repeat
/ee/ - part 2 - these, Pete, Eve, Steve, even, theme, complete, Marlene, gene, extreme
/ee/ - part 3 - happy, sunny, mummy, daddy, only, funny, sadly, penny, heavy, quickly
/ee/ - part 4 - chief, brief, field, shield, priest, yield, shriek, thief, relief, belief
/ee/ - part 5 - key, donkey, valley, monkey, chimney, trolley, pulley, Lesley, money, honey
/igh/ - part 1 - pie, lie, tie, cried, tried, spied, fried, replied, applied, denied
/igh/ - part 2 - by, my, try, why, dry, fry, sky, spy, deny, reply
/igh/ - part 3 - like, time, pine, ripe, shine, slide, prize, nice, decide, polite
/oa/ - part 1 - low, grow, snow, glow, bowl, tow, show, slow, window, rowing boat
/oa/ - part 2 - toe, hoe, doe, foe, woe, Joe, goes, Glencoe, heroes, echoes
/oa/ - part 3 - bone, pole, home, woke, those, stone, woke, note, phone, alone
/(y) oo/ - part 1 - cue, due, hue, venue, value, pursue, queue, statue, rescue, argue
/(y) oo/ - part 2 - tune, cube, tube, use, cute, duke, huge, mule, amuse, computer
/(y) oo/ - part 3 - stew, few, new, dew, pew, knew, mildew, nephew, renew, Matthew
/oo/ - part 1 - clue, blue, glue, true, Sue, Prue, rue, flue, issue, tissue
/oo/ - part 2 - June, flute, prune, rude, fluke, brute, spruce, plume, rule, conclude
/oo/ - part 3 - blew, chew, grew, drew, screw, crew, brew, flew, threw, Andrew

157

/sh/ - part 1 - special, official, social, artificial, facial, station, patience, caption, mention, position
/sh/ - part 2 - sure, sugar, passion, session, mission, chef, Charlotte, Charlene, Michelle, Chandry

New phoneme
treasure, television, vision, pleasure, leisure, beige, visual, measure, usual, casual

 

Word reading activities

158

Sentences and substitute words for 'sentence substitution'
(See page 139 of Letters and Sounds)
New graphemes for reading

159

Questions for Yes/no questions
(See page 142 of Letters and Sounds)
Yes/no questions
A number of prepared questions on card or on an interactive whiteboard (pdf)
Cards with 'yes' on one side and 'no' on the other (pdf printed back to back)

159

Examples for 'Choosing three right answers'
(See page 143 of Letters and Sounds)
A number of prepared questions or statements (pdf)

 

Search word lists


Try Spellzone for free

"Thank goodness for Spellzone during this remote learning phase. The site is easy for students to navigate independently and they're really enjoying the activities and spelling games. You get an awful lot for your money with Spellzone. Really reassuring is the very prompt response with helpdesk queries. I've very rarely needed the helpdesk, but when I have, the issue has been addressed and sorted within a very short time."

Sarah Taggart, Oasis Academy Lord's Hill