Canada · Ontario Curriculum Expectations
Grade 5 Language Arts
This course focuses on developing critical literacy skills through diverse texts and collaborative communication. Students analyze author intent, refine their writing craft across genres, and build sophisticated vocabulary to express complex ideas.
01The Art of the Story: Narrative Craft
Students explore how authors use character development and sensory details to build immersive worlds. This unit emphasizes the connection between reading analysis and creative writing.
Analyzing how internal desires and external conflicts drive a character's actions and choices.
Investigating how characters evolve throughout a story in response to events and relationships.
Using descriptive techniques to create a vivid mental picture for the reader and establish mood.
Investigating how the perspective of the storyteller shapes the information shared and the reader's bias.
Exploring the beginning elements of plot including exposition and how rising action builds suspense.
Identifying the turning point of a story (climax) and how conflicts are resolved in the falling action and resolution.
Examining how authors use descriptions of time and place to establish a particular mood or atmosphere.
Identifying the central message or lesson an author conveys through a story.
Understanding how dialogue advances the plot, reveals character, and affects the story's pace.
Students begin drafting their own narrative stories, focusing on developing a clear plot and engaging characters.
Students revise their narrative drafts, focusing on improving plot, character development, and descriptive language.
Students edit their narratives for grammar, spelling, and punctuation, then prepare them for sharing.
02Inquiry and Information: Non-Fiction Literacy
Students learn to navigate complex informational texts, identifying main ideas and evaluating the credibility of various sources.
Identifying how authors organize information using cause and effect, comparison, and chronological order.
Identifying the central idea of an informational text and the key details that support it.
Analyzing why an author writes a particular informational text (to inform, persuade, or entertain).
Understanding how headings, captions, graphs, and other text features aid comprehension.
Distinguishing between fact and opinion while identifying potential bias in informational media.
Combining details from various texts to form a comprehensive understanding of a complex subject.
Formulating effective research questions to guide inquiry and information gathering.
Practicing effective strategies for taking notes from informational texts and summarizing key points.
Drafting explanatory texts that present information clearly and logically, using evidence.
Learning basic principles of citing sources and understanding the importance of giving credit to original authors.
03The Power of Persuasion: Opinion and Argument
Focusing on the mechanics of persuasive writing and speaking, students learn to build logical arguments supported by evidence.
Developing clear thesis statements that take a definitive stand on a debatable issue.
Learning to select and integrate relevant facts, details, and examples to support a persuasive claim.
Introduction to basic logical and emotional appeals used to influence an audience.
Understanding how to acknowledge and respond to opposing viewpoints to strengthen one's own argument.
Structuring persuasive essays with clear introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions.
Practicing the verbal and non-verbal skills required to present an argument convincingly to a live audience.
Learning the rules and respectful practices for engaging in formal debates.
Students draft their own persuasive essays, focusing on developing a clear claim and supporting it with evidence.
Students revise their persuasive drafts, focusing on strengthening arguments, evidence, and counterarguments.
Students edit their persuasive essays for grammar and conventions, then prepare for presentation or publication.
04Word Wealth: Vocabulary and Language
Students dive into the history and structure of the English language to expand their expressive capabilities.
Using Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes to decode the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Using surrounding words and sentences to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.
Exploring metaphors and similes to add depth and vividness to communication.
Understanding personification and idioms to enhance expressive capabilities.
Exploring word relationships to enhance vocabulary and precision in language.
Identifying and using vocabulary specific to academic subjects and particular fields of study.
Reviewing nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
Applying conventions of standard English to improve the clarity and flow of student writing.
Mastering the use of commas, semicolons, colons, and quotation marks to enhance writing.
Practicing techniques to combine short sentences into more complex ones and expand simple sentences with descriptive details.
Developing strategies for spelling unfamiliar words and recognizing common spelling patterns and rules.