Year 5 Spelling

Spellings 1.2

Here are your new 40 words for this half-term. Let’s get learning them! How you decide to do this is up to you. You might decide to focus on the trickiest words first. Or, you might decide to learn 8 words a week and really focus on these whilst still practising the others, too. For some of you, you might already feel confident with some of the words so might choose to not practise these at all. If you need some ideas for practical things to do, check out the Super Spelling Strategies Guide on the school website.

Half-term 2

This half-term, our spellings are linked to the rules and strategies we’ll be learning in class:

• plurals (more than one noun)
• ough words
• suffixes (for example, changing the root word ‘’success to ‘successful’ or ‘successfully’
• ible and able words
• apostrophes for possession (eg Brian’s bag, the school’s logo)
• more homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently
• adding the prefixes ‘co’ and ‘re’ using a hyphen

Each Friday, you’ll be tested on 8 of the words from the list below.

08 September 2023

Instead of learning eight different words each week, we’d like you to learn these 40 words over the whole half-term. Lots of research suggests that learning more spellings over a longer time leads to better remembering how to spell them in the long term.

How you decide to do this is up to you. You might decide to focus on the trickiest words first. Or, you might decide to learn 8 words a week and really focus on these whilst still practising the others, too. For some of you, you might already feel confident with some of the words so might choose to not practise these at all.

However you decide to do it, is up to you. The important thing is that you’re learning them and learning how you like to learn them best.

Each week, we’ll choose eight random words to test you on– this will take place every Friday. These tests aren’t pressured. They might just help you figure out which words you need to practise more.

Learning spellings in this way might feel quite different – or even scary – but it shouldn’t. In fact, you’ve actually got less words to learn this half-term than you normally would.

We’ll keep thinking about this in school and we’ll regularly talk about how we can best practise these words at home.

If you need some ideas for practical things to do, check out the Super Spelling Strategies Guide on the school website.

Half-term 1

This half-term, our spellings are linked to the rules and strategies we’ll be learning in class: 

• homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently)
• ‘double up for a short vowel sound’
• ‘drop the y for an i’
• using apostrophes for contraction (eg can’t, won’t)
• adding the suffixes ed, ing, er, est
• adding the prefixes un, dis, im, in, ir, il

Each Friday, you’ll be tested on 8 of the words from the list below. 

Spellings 1.1

This year, spellings are going to be organised differently.

Instead of a weekly list, your child will have a list of 40 spellings which will span across a half term.

This method of practice (more words over a longer period of time) is said to improve memory according to a few cognitive science studies. Other classes, who have tried and tested this method, felt it had a positive impact.

Help at home by understanding the words your child is confident with and then focusing on the ones they’re not. You could choose a small number to practise each week, or one or two per day. It’s a good idea to regularly come back to the words they’re more unsure of. Most importantly, it’s about your child learning how they learn best.

Here are some ideas for how to make learning spellings more fun.

Every Friday, there will be a spelling test on eight words from the list at the bottom, chosen at random.

This half term, our spellings are linked to the rules and strategies we’ll be learning in class:

• homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently)
• ‘double up for a short vowel sound’
• ‘drop the y for an i’
• using apostrophes for contraction (eg can’t, won’t)
• adding the suffixes ed, ing, er, est
• adding the prefixes un, dis, im, in, ir, il

Spellings 1.1

there – their – they’re – inactive – accommodate
occur/ing/ed – can’t – won’t – category – busy
opportunity – advice – advise – practice – practise
naughty – dictionary – witch – which – according
irregular – embarrass – determine/ing/ed – century – ordinary
curiosity – library – identity – achieve/ed/ing – aggressive
disappear – appreciate – device – devise – cemetery
queue/ing/ed – unavoidable – immediately – impossible – variety

14 July 2023

This week, we’ve been learning about words that contain the ant/ance, ent/ence word endings. Please learn the following words for a test on Friday 21^st July:

hindrance

apparent

convenience

excellent

existence

frequent

nuisance

sufficient

07 July 2023

This week, we’ve been learning about words that contain the –cial and –tial word endings. Please learn the following words for a test on Friday 14^th July.

glacial

social

racial

influential

preferential

confidential

substantial

residential

30 June 2023

This week, we have been looking at words that contain specific spelling patterns. Please learn the words for a test on Friday 7^th July.

vicious

delicious

ambitious

infectious

precious

malicious

cautious

nutritious

23 June 2023

This week, we’ve been learning about using apostrophes for contractions – when letters are omitted from words. Learn these words for a test on Friday 30^th June.

should’ve

couldn’t

could’ve

doesn’t

I’ll

don’t

can’t

we’re

16 June 2023

This week we have been looking at different root words and how by adding prefixes and suffixes, this changes the meaning. Learn the following words for a test on Friday 23^rd June.

redesign

chronology

structure

dictionary

signalling

designation

assignment

geographically

09 June 2023

This week, we’ve been learning about the prefixes un-, re- and in-. Can your child create some words that contain these prefixes? For example, unable.

We also looked at other prefix roots. Use the table below to create your own words.

19 May 2023

This week, we’ve been learning words that allow us to apply a range of spelling rules. Learn these words for a test on Friday 26^th May.

neighbour

physical

recognise

recommend

restaurant

signature

sincere

symbol

system