Spelling is a foundational skill that underpins both reading and writing across all stages of elementary school. But for too long, spelling instruction has focused on rote memorisation, endless spelling lists and Friday spelling tests that don’t stick. If we want our students to develop strong spelling skills and less frustration around writing, we need to shift the focus from memorising words to understanding how words work.
That’s what I discovered through extensive training and my own personal experience in the classroom - the moment I stopped relying on disconnected word lists and started teaching spelling through phonics, everything changed. Students were more confident. They wrote more. And they were excited to spot patterns in spelling words they used every day.
Spelling isn’t just about memorising a list of words. It’s about developing deep, transferable knowledge of how words work. If we want our students to become confident, capable writers, we need to shift away from surface-level spelling lists and focus instead on explicit instruction, structured phonics and cumulative review.
If you're teaching Kindergarten all the way through to fifth or sixth grade, here’s what a strong, sequential spelling program can look like, grounded in real evidence, not outdated routines.
What do Kindergarten students need?
In Kindergarten, our first focus should be on phonological and phonemic awareness — skills like recognising rhymes, identifying syllables, and segmenting and blending individual phonemes in words.
Kindergarten students begin by:
- Recognising and producing rhymes
- Identifying syllables and initial or final sounds
- Learning common grapheme to phoneme correspondences (e.g. /s/, /a/, /t/)
- Starting to blend and segment CVC words
- Learning common high-frequency words (previously referred to as 'sight words'). You can learn more about how to teach these words here.
- Simple decodable sentences
It’s important to clarify: there is no need to teach specific consonant blends in Kindergarten. If students have been explicitly taught the phonemes /b/ and /l/, they can already blend them to read bl. Likewise, /t/ and /r/ will naturally become tr through practice. Teaching these blends as separate units is unnecessary when students are taught to blend from the very beginning.
Toward the end of the year, students may also begin working with:
- More complex single-sound words e.g. CVCC and CCVC words
- Common consonant digraphs like sh, ch, th
- If they're ready for it, common long vowel spellings like ai, ee, oo
The emphasis is on decoding through phonics knowledge, not memorisation. The level of activity matters too – Kindergarten spelling lessons should be short, snappy and multi-sensory to keep young learners engaged and successful.
First Grade and beyond: Deepening Spelling Knowledge
By first grade, students begin to move beyond the basic alphabetic code. This is when they start to explore:
- Long vowel sounds and vowel teams (such as ai, ee, oa)
- Diphthongs (such as oi, ou)
- Word families and pattern words to recognise common spelling patterns
- Encoding and decoding both real and nonsense spelling words
- Exposure to common suffixes like -ing and -ed
- Building reading fluency through decodable texts
Rather than using static spelling lists, first graders benefit from word lists built from known phonics patterns that they've been explicitly taught. These can be used for dictation, sorting, writing tasks and decoding, linking phonics and spelling in a meaningful way.
Spelling Instruction Across Grade Levels
A quality spelling approach grows as students progress through primary school, with each grade level building on the one before.
Second Grade / 2nd Grade
Students explore more complex grapheme to phoneme correspondences, including soft c/g, r-controlled vowels, other consonant phonemes (e.g. all the ways to spell the /s/ phoneme) and early morphemes like common prefixes and suffixes. Second graders also begin tackling the schwa and continue to strengthen their high-frequency word knowledge.
Third Grade / 3rd Grade
Instruction shifts towards increasingly multisyllabic words, morphological patterns, and application through writing. Third graders start identifying roots, prefixes, and suffixes within words, developing deeper spelling understanding through context.
Fourth Grade / 4th Grade
Fourth graders engage with word origin and etymology. They investigate how spelling reflects meaning and pronunciation across languages. Advanced suffixes, tricky high-frequency words and multisyllabic rules are all explored here.
Fifth Grade / 5th Grade
By fifth grade, students refine everything they’ve learned. They explore Greek and Latin roots, learn derivational suffixes and apply advanced phonics knowledge across content areas. Their spelling becomes more automatic, allowing greater focus on fluency, vocabulary and expression.
Move over word walls: Why Sound Walls make more sense
Traditional word walls were once a classroom staple. But they’re not grounded in how our brains actually process language. They are arranged alphabetically, by first letter, which helps with rote lookup but not with real reading and spelling.
Sound walls, however, are designed around phonemes. They reflect speech and connect it to all possible spelling options. They build a much stronger understanding of phoneme to grapheme relationships, and they support both decoding and encoding more effectively than alphabetical word lists ever could.
If your goal is to build confident, strategic spellers, including students with dyslexia or other learning differences, sound walls are a research-backed tool worth switching to.
Spelling that’s engaging and effective - how can we help?
To make spelling fun and meaningful for all students, we've got thousands of evidence-based tools and resources to help support your spelling instruction in the classroom:
- Use our FREE online word tools, including our Word Builder, Four in a Roll and Syllable Mapper.
- Explore Wordabase – our interactive phonics word generator that makes it easy to find spelling words aligned to your exact scope and sequence
- Incorporate our free printable word lists, designed to match a wide range of phonics patterns and spelling skills
- Utilise our interactive Phonics PowerPoints for every phoneme - designed to include everything you need to explicitly teach each phoneme
- Download our free educational materials for small-group work, early finishers, cumulative review or home practice
- Connect spelling words to real writing with our decodable sentence resources
- Use spelling tests sparingly to assess pattern mastery, not memory. Why not try our open-ended assessment tools instead?
Spelling tests can still be useful when used as one piece of a wider assessment strategy. But they should measure understanding, not just memorisation.
Final Thoughts: Spelling that supports academic success
From Kindergarten all the way through to sixth grade, spelling should be taught explicitly, systematically and cumulatively. I unpack this in further detail in my free digital handbook: Phonics & Beeyond.
By focusing on spelling words grounded in phonics knowledge and integrating grade level progression, we give students the tools to read, write and communicate with confidence.
Done right, spelling isn’t just about ticking off a spelling list. It’s about giving our students lasting tools that support not just spelling, but reading, writing, and academic success.
Need words for your spelling list?
Wordabase is a free online platform and a must-have tool that makes it easy to create structured, engaging lessons based on the science of reading. With Wordabase, you can:
- Explore comprehensive word lists organised by phonemes, graphemes, syllable types, and more.
- Create custom resources using printable generators for flashcards, bingo boards, and other activities.
- Use interactive learning tools like the popular Word Builder to reinforce phonics skills.
No subscriptions, no logins, no hidden fees, just free educational materials to support your teaching and make literacy instruction easier!
Looking for more? Level up your phonics instruction with The Hive!
If you're ready to take the guesswork out of spelling and phonics, The Hive brings everything together in one easy-to-access digital teaching HQ.
Inside, you’ll find:
- Thousands of evidence-based phonics and spelling resources that follow a clear, structured progression from Kindergarten to upper primary
- Powerful digital tools like our Word Builder, Beedle, and Decodable Sentence Pyramids to streamline daily phonics review and reinforce key skills
Word Builder
Beedle
Decodable Sentence Pyramids
- Full integration with Wordabase – our smart phonics word generator that lets you instantly find decodable word lists aligned to your current focus, without spending hours searching
- Interactive games and digital activities that are perfect for warm-ups, small-group rotations, or targeted independent practice
- Plus, classroom systems, planning tools, and visual supports that are practical, flexible, and actually save you time
Whether you're teaching single sounds to beginners or exploring morphology with upper primary students, The Hive gives you the tools and confidence to teach spelling in a way that’s consistent, engaging, and backed by research.
