What Students Learn

Guide Contents

The Ontario Curriculum

In Ontario, all publicly funded schools follow The Ontario Curriculum. It describes what students are expected to know and be able to do in each subject area by the end of kindergarten and each grade.

Download an Adobe Acrobat PDF version of this section.

There are curriculum documents for each subject area: English, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, French, health and physical education and the arts. There is also a curriculum for kindergarten. Teachers use the curriculum documents to plan learning activities.

Extract from the Language Curriculum, Grades 1 to 8 - the Language curriculum says:

“that by the time that students finish grade 3, they will have learned how to organize their information in short paragraphs with correct use of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.”

School office staff can tell you how to obtain a copy of the curriculum documents. They are posted at:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/
document/curricul/curricul.html.

Students Who are Learning English

Where necessary, your child’s teacher will develop learning activities that suit your child. Depending on your child’s English language skills, the teacher may change what your child is expected to learn or develop a learning activity that helps your child learn what other students are learning.

French

To help students learn basic communication skills in French, one of Canada’s two official languages, all students study French language and culture. School boards must offer French starting in grade four, although some boards begin the program before grade four.

Special Education

Special Education programs provide extra support to help children with significant learning difficulties or special needs. Some children need short term help and others have complex learning and health needs.

Children may need help because of physical, intellectual, emotional, behavioural, speech, language, vision or hearing difficulties or because of serious problems interacting with other people. Special education programs are also provided for students who are determined to be intellectually gifted.

A lack of English language skills is not an indication of the need for Special Education. However, if your child is having difficulty with his or her school work or relating to other students, it may be a sign of a significant learning difficulty. Sometimes problems are a normal part of adjusting to a new language and school. Information about a student’s academic skills in his or her first language, like a previous report card, often helps teachers identify the source of the student’s difficulties.

If you are concerned that your child may have a significant learning difficulty, talk to your child's teacher. The teacher has a number of informal ways to assess your child. If necessary, you or the teacher can request a formal assessment of your child.

The school is required to follow special education procedures in order to assess and determine if your child qualifies for special education support. To determine your child’s needs, you will be asked to provide written permission and attend meetings including an Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) meeting.

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