Phonics and spelling by school year

Every primary school in Singapore follows the same national English syllabus, so the sounds, patterns and word endings a class works on are the same from school to school. Pick your child's year to see what that year covers and which games match it.

• K1 ages 4–5
  Teaches letter names and the first letter sounds, through songs, rhymes and picture books.
• K2 ages 5–6
  Teaches most letter sounds, blending them into short words like "cat" and "grab".
• Primary 1 ages 6–7
  Teaches 19 consonant sounds, 5 short vowels, 14 word families and the first letter pairs.
• Primary 2 ages 7–8
  Teaches compound words, contractions, "-er"/"-est", and the first prefixes and suffixes.
• Primary 3 ages 8–9
  Teaches 8 silent letters, and spelling longer words from their root, prefix and suffix.
• Primary 4 ages 9–10
  Continues Primary 3's word-building, adding same-sounding words like "flower" and "flour".
• Primary 5 ages 10–11
  Teaches British spellings like "colour", and long words built from roots, prefixes and suffixes.
• Primary 6 ages 11–12
  Covers the hardest word-building ahead of the leaving exam, which marks spelling in a passage.

The two kindergarten years are not compulsory and preschools work to a framework rather than a syllabus, so K1 and K2 describe a typical year rather than a fixed one.

Looking for UK school years? See phonics and spelling by school year.

Where the words themselves come from, and what keeps an unsuitable one out: how the words are chosen.