Grade 5 Spelling
Level 1 · Your child spells longer words by splitting them into syllables and listening for each vowel sound.
- Two-Consonant Middles
Spelling two-syllable words that split between two consonants, like napkin and rabbit.
VC/CV: nap-kin, rab-bit
- Long or Short First Vowel
Spelling words where the first syllable ends in a long vowel (pilot) or a short vowel (cabin).
V/CV and VC/V: pi-lot, cab-in
- Vowel Teams in Longer Words
Spelling long vowel teams inside two-syllable words, like explain, display and approach.
ai, ay, ee, ea, oa: explain, between
- Sounds of ou, ow, oi, oy
Choosing between ou and ow, and between oi and oy, in longer words.
ou/ow, oi/oy: mountain, flower, avoid, loyal
- Bossy R Words
Spelling r-controlled vowels in longer words, where er, ir and ur all sound alike.
ar, er, ir, or, ur: garden, thirsty, turtle
- Endings -le, -el, -al
Spelling the ending sound that can be written -le, -el or -al, like middle, travel and animal.
-le, -el, -al: middle, travel, animal
Level 2 · Your child learns the spelling changes that happen when endings are added: doubling, dropping the e, and changing y to i.
- Double, Then Add
Doubling the last consonant of a short-vowel word before adding -ing or -ed.
hop + ing = hopping
- Drop the E
Dropping the silent e before adding -ing or -ed, like hoping and skating.
hope + ing = hoping
- Change Y to I
Changing y to i before adding -es or -ed, like carried and families.
carry + ed = carried
- Keep the Y
Keeping the y when a vowel comes before it, like enjoyed and monkeys.
play + ed = played
- Double in Longer Words
Doubling the last consonant of a two-syllable word when the stress is on the last syllable.
begin + ing = beginning
- Tricky Plurals
Spelling plurals that change f to ves or add -es after o, like shelves and potatoes.
f to ves, o to oes: shelves, potatoes
Level 3 · Your child spells common word endings correctly, like -tion, -sion, -ous, -ful, -ment and -able.
- Words Ending in -tion
Spelling the "shun" ending with -tion, as in station and invention.
-tion: station, invention
- Words Ending in -sion
Spelling the "zhun" and "shun" endings with -sion, as in decision and permission.
-sion: decision, permission
- Words Ending in -ous
Spelling the -ous ending that means "full of", as in famous and curious.
-ous: famous, curious
- Words Ending in -ful and -less
Spelling -ful (one l) and -less, as in careful and fearless.
-ful/-less: careful, fearless
- Words Ending in -ment and -ness
Adding -ment and -ness to base words, as in excitement and kindness.
-ment/-ness: excitement, kindness
- Words Ending in -able and -ible
Choosing between -able and -ible, as in comfortable and possible.
-able/-ible: comfortable, possible
Level 4 · Your child adds prefixes without losing any letters and remembers the silent letters in words like knight and climb.
- Prefixes un-, dis-, mis-
Adding un-, dis- and mis- to a whole base word, even when that makes a double letter.
un-, dis-, mis-: unknown, disappear, misspell
- Prefixes pre-, re-, inter-, sub-
Spelling words that start with pre- (before), re- (again), inter- (between) and sub- (under).
pre-, re-, inter-, sub-: preview, recycle
- Not Words: in-, im-, ir-, il-
Spelling the "not" prefixes in-, im-, ir- and il-, which change to match the next letter.
in-/im-/ir-/il-: impossible, irregular, illegal
- Silent k, w and g
Remembering the silent k in kn, the silent w in wr, and the silent g in gn.
kn, wr, gn: knight, wrist, design
- Silent b, t and l
Remembering the silent b in mb, the silent t in -sten and -stle, and the silent l in words like calm.
mb, st, lm: climb, listen, calm
- Silent h and gh
Remembering the silent h in words like honest and rhythm, and the silent gh in words like height and daughter.
h, rh, gh: honest, rhythm, daughter
Level 5 · Your child uses Greek and Latin roots like port, struct, spect and graph to spell big school words.
- Roots port and tract
Spelling words built on the Latin roots port (carry) and tract (pull).
port (carry), tract (pull): transport, attract
- Roots rupt and struct
Spelling words built on the Latin roots rupt (break) and struct (build).
rupt (break), struct (build): erupt, construct
- Roots spect and vis
Spelling words built on the Latin roots spect and vis, which both mean "see" or "look".
spect, vis (see): inspect, vision
- Greek Parts graph, photo, tele, auto
Spelling words built from Greek parts like graph (write), photo (light), tele (far) and auto (self).
graph, photo, tele, auto, scope: telescope
- Roots scrib, script and dict
Spelling words built on the Latin roots scrib or script (write) and dict (say).
scrib/script (write), dict (say): describe, dictionary
- Greek Science Words
Spelling science words built from Greek parts like bio (life), geo (earth), therm (heat) and meter (measure).
bio, geo, therm, hydr, meter, logy: thermometer
Level 6 · Your child masters words that are easy to mix up or misspell, like their and there, accept and except, believe and necessary.
- Their, There, They're
Spelling words that sound the same but mean different things, using the sentence to pick the right one.
sound-alikes: their/there/they're, your/you're
- Mix-Up Words
Telling apart pairs of words that look or sound almost alike, like accept and except.
accept/except, affect/effect, quiet/quite
- I Before E
Spelling ie and ei words, including the "after c" rule and the words that break it.
ie/ei: believe, receive, weird
- Double Letter Demons
Remembering which letters are doubled in tricky words like necessary, tomorrow and embarrass.
cc, mm, rr, ss: necessary, tomorrow
- Hidden Letters
Spelling words whose middle letters are easy to skip or mix up when we say them quickly.
say every syllable: separate, library, different
- Words Ending in -ance and -ence
Choosing between the look-alike endings -ance and -ence, as in balance and patience.
-ance/-ence: balance, patience