Curriculum Overview

The renewed English language arts curriculum emphasizes the role of language in communication and learning. Students need to become confident and competent users of all six language arts strands through many opportunities to listen and speak, read and write, and view and represent. Specific learning objectives are listed in the renewed guide to help teachers address each language strand and to build a balanced ELA program in their classrooms. A balanced program:

• focuses on language and emphasizes the communication and construction of meaning
• recognizes the interrelated and interdependent nature of the language strands (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, representing) - ability in one area strengthens and supports growth in the other areas
• integrates and balances experiences with all the language strands
• creates meaningful contexts, purposeful activities, and a supportive environment for students to learn the language skills and strategies
• employs a range of effective teaching-learning approaches and strategies including direct instruction, guided instruction, and independent activities, and models the before/during/after skills and strategies that effective communicators use
• uses appropriate assessment, evaluation, and reporting procedures
• attends to all the language cueing systems (i.e., pragmatic, textual, syntactical, semantic, and graphophonic) as well as the conventions and rules of language usage in a whole, to part, to whole context
• helps students understand and access a range of resources (including prose fiction and non-fiction, poetry, plays, non-print, and human resources)
• builds on what students know and can do with language and helps them develop a sense of confidence and capability.

The purpose of the English language arts program is to help students develop competence and confidence as language users. In English language arts at the Elementary Level, students should:

• Listen to, read, and view a range of grade-level appropriate oral, print, and other media texts in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes; and speak, write, and represent to express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences.
• Learn about and practise the skills and strategies of effective listeners, speakers, readers, writers, viewers, and representers.
• Assess their own personal language growth and set goals for future growth.

The learning objectives listed in the renewed ELA Elementary Level curriculum guide describe the specific language knowledge, skills, and strategies that students should develop. The objectives in each language strand form a developmental continuum and guide the teacher in planning units, daily instruction, and classroom activities. The objectives also give direction to guide student assessment and evaluation.

The renewed Elementary Level curriculum advocates a unit approach to instruction. In addition to planning daily routines, teachers are asked to develop different types of units that address the personal, social, imaginative, communicative, and environmental contexts. Sample unit themes and topics are listed within these contexts in Appendix A.

In addition to considering the five contexts, teachers are encouraged to organize the school year by planning approximately four to six units of three different types:

• Multi-genre thematic units built around a theme or topic that include a range of prose, poetry, and plays.
• Multi-genre inquiry units built around a theme or topic that is related to an important question that students have about the topic. These units are usually interdisciplinary.
• Genre study or author study units focusing on a specific genre (e.g., the folktale) or a particular author or illustrator.

Sample grade level and multi-grade level units are included in the curriculum guide. Suggested minimum guidelines for number of units and unit types are also included.

It is important that units are developed to address both the needs, interests, and strengths of students and the curriculum objectives. Sample planning forms are provided in the curriculum guide to help teachers with their unit and yearly planning.

Descriptions of a range of instructional approaches to teach the language arts are provided. Key strategies used in the before, during, and after phases of listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing are included in the curriculum guide as well as specific strategies and expectations for language conventions such as phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, vocabulary development, spelling, and handwriting. In addition, teachers are asked to consider five broad instructional guidelines:

• Plan language arts units and lessons that incorporate all the language art strands.
• Plan lessons that focus on meaning.
• Provide supports for each stage of students' language learning.
• Model and discuss key strategies for using the language arts.
• Use a range of instructional approaches to help move students from teacher-supported and guided lessons to independent learning activities that require a minimum of teacher support and guidance.

Various strategies and techniques for assessing and evaluating students' language development and competence are provided in the renewed curriculum guide. In addition to sample assessment tools and forms designed for teacher and student use, teachers are encouraged to build student language profiles and to recognize what students know and can do as listeners, speakers, readers, writers, viewers, and representers as they progress through each phase of language learning. Student progress reporting is discussed and sample student progress reports are included in the renewed curriculum.