Explore our collection of Phase 5 phonics resources for Year 1, including worksheets, games, PowerPoints, word cards, spelling activities and reading tasks. These teacher-made resources help pupils learn new graphemes, alternative spellings, alternative pronunciations and split digraphs as they become increasingly fluent readers and confident spellers.
During Phase 5 phonics, pupils build on the knowledge developed in earlier phases and learn that the same sound can be represented by different graphemes. They also explore how some graphemes can represent more than one sound, helping them tackle a much wider range of words in reading and writing.
Designed to support the updated 2021 Letters and Sounds progression used in many schools, our Phase 5 phonics worksheets, activities and games are ideal for whole-class teaching, intervention groups, independent practice and preparation for the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.
Explore our ready-to-teach Phase 5 phonics PowerPoints for teaching new graphemes, alternative spellings, alternative pronunciations, split digraphs, tricky words and reading fluency through clear whole-class lessons.
Phase 5 phonics is usually taught during Year 1 and builds on the grapheme-phoneme correspondences introduced in earlier phases. Pupils learn new graphemes, alternative spellings, alternative pronunciations and split digraphs, helping them read and spell an increasingly wide range of words.
A key part of Phase 5 is understanding that one sound can be represented in several different ways. Pupils also learn that the same grapheme can sometimes represent different sounds, depending on the word. This develops greater flexibility, accuracy and fluency in both reading and spelling.
Our teacher-made Phase 5 phonics resources provide structured practice for daily phonics lessons, intervention groups, independent work and home learning.
For additional decoding and comprehension practice, try our Phase 5 Read and Colour activity. You can also explore our Phase 5 phonics PowerPoints for ready-to-teach whole-class input.
During Phase 5, pupils learn that a phoneme can be represented by several different graphemes. For example, the /ai/ sound may be written as ai in rain, ay in play or a-e in cake. Learning these alternative spellings helps pupils recognise patterns and make increasingly informed spelling choices.
Explore our alternative spelling resources for worksheets, games and activities covering the different ways familiar sounds can be represented.
Pupils also learn that some graphemes can represent more than one sound. For example, the grapheme ow is pronounced differently in snow and cow. Practising alternative pronunciations helps pupils try different possibilities when decoding unfamiliar words.
Browse our alternative pronunciation activities to support flexible decoding, word reading and spelling.
Split digraphs are an important part of Phase 5 phonics. Pupils learn spelling patterns such as a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e and u-e, where two letters work together to represent one sound but are separated by another letter.
Our split digraph resources include games, worksheets and reading activities for practising words such as cake, these, time, home and cube.
Phase 5 phonics teaching plays an important role in preparing pupils for the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. Pupils need to apply their knowledge of new graphemes, split digraphs, alternative spellings and alternative pronunciations when decoding both real words and unfamiliar pseudo-words.
Support regular screening practice with our Phonics Screening Check resources, Phase 2–5 Tricky Word Mats and Phonics Screening Check PowerPoint.
Whether you’re teaching whole-class phonics, supporting pupils through intervention or providing independent practice, our Phase 5 phonics resources help Year 1 pupils develop fluent decoding and increasingly accurate spelling. The collection includes practical games, worksheets, PowerPoints and reading activities that can be used throughout the school year.
Phase 5 phonics is usually taught during Year 1, although the exact timing may vary between schools and phonics programmes.
Pupils learn new graphemes, alternative spellings, alternative pronunciations and split digraphs. They also continue practising blending, segmenting, tricky words and fluent sentence reading.
Alternative spellings are different graphemes that represent the same sound. For example, the /ai/ sound can be represented by ai, ay or a-e.
Alternative pronunciations occur when the same grapheme represents different sounds in different words. For example, ow is pronounced differently in snow and cow.
Split digraphs are spelling patterns where two letters represent one sound but are separated by another letter, such as a-e in cake, i-e in time and o-e in home.
Yes. Our Phase 5 phonics worksheets, games, PowerPoints and reading activities provide regular practice with blending, decoding and reading unfamiliar words, helping pupils build confidence ahead of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.
