Phase 5 phonics

Welcome to our collection of teaching resources for phase 5 phonics! Whether you're looking for engaging activities, printable worksheets or interactive games, we've got everything you need to support your learners as they develop their reading and writing skills.

Phase 5 phonics and the National Curriculum

According to the National Curriculum, phase 5 phonics focuses on teaching children to recognise and use alternative graphemes for phonemes they already know. Teachers should ensure pupils can read words containing common suffixes, read most words quickly and accurately, and read aloud books closely matched to their improving phonic knowledge.

What are the phonic sounds in Phase 5?

In phase 5, children learn new graphemes for reading, including ay (day), ou (out), ie (tie), ea (east), oy (boy), ir (girl), ue (blue), aw (saw), wh (when), ph (photo), ew (new), oe (toe), au (Paul), and split digraphs a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e. They also learn alternative pronunciations for known graphemes, such as 'ow' in snow and cow.

What age is Phase 5 phonics?

Phase 5 phonics is typically taught in year 1 (ages 5-6), preparing children for the phonics screening check. Some confident readers in Reception (age 4-5) might be ready to start phase 5, while others may need more time to consolidate their learning from earlier phases.

What are the tricky words in Phase 5?

Phase 5 tricky words include: oh, their, people, Mr, Mrs, looked, called, asked, could, would, should, water, where, who, why, thought, through, work, mouse, many, laughed, because, different, any, eyes, friends, once, please.

Top phase 5 phonics resources

Here are some of our most popular resources for teaching phase 5. Browse the full collection below!

• Spelling word lists – phase 5
• Split vowel cut and stick activity
• Digraph picture word cards
• Making word cakes – blending split digraphs and graphemes
• Digraph snap for real and non-real words

Explore our Phase 5 daily phonics resources – a comprehensive 10-week program of daily activities for reception and KS1 students that revisits, reviews, teaches and helps children practice and apply their phonics knowledge.

Looking for resources for Phase 2, 3 or Phase 4? Find all our phonics resources >here.