Language

In this unit you will grow as a listener, speaker and word expert. First you will analyze effective listening in formal and informal discussions: when to ask a relevant question and how to respond by building on, disagreeing respectfully or synthesizing ideas. You will choose listening strategies before, during and after listening, take two-column notes, listen for signal words, and seek clarification. You will speak for a purpose and audience in a formal or informal register, using signposts to stay coherent. You will analyze expression, gestures and body language, including how their meanings vary across cultures, and choose precise words, cohesive sentences and the active or passive voice to help your audience understand.

Then you will read long words automatically by peeling affixes, meet more chameleon prefixes (ex-, sub-, ob-, ad-, dis-), and learn Grade 6 prefixes (bene-, mal-, omni-, hyper-, hypo-, syn-), suffixes (-ist, -ian, -ize, -ory, -ical, -cy) and Greek and Latin roots (vert, spir, ced, aero, morph, nym). You will build subject vocabulary for Grade 6 science, math and social studies, solve analogies, choose formal and informal words, explore Canadian English, and read fluently with phrasing, accuracy and a suitable pace, and aloud with expression for scripts, speeches, poems and reports.

Remember from Grade 5: you asked follow-up questions, took key-word notes, paraphrased, used emphasis and gestures, learned word matrices and many prefixes, suffixes and roots, and practised fluency and expression. Grade 6 builds on all of it. Spelling, handwriting and keyboarding, grammar and punctuation are in the companion unit Foundations of Writing. Every lesson has a hands-on activity, lots of practice and a short quiz.

Curriculum expectations covered: A1.1, A1.2, A3.1, A3.2, B1.1, B1.2, B1.3, B1.4, B1.5, B2.1, B2.2, B2.3 (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Language, 2023, Grade 6). Strand A (A1.1 and A1.2 transferable skills; A3.1 and A3.2 applications, connections and contributions) is woven in.

In this unit you will build the skills that make your writing accurate, clear and powerful. You will keep your cursive fluent and grow your keyboarding speed and accuracy, with shortcuts and formatting that help readers.

You will spell complex words with new Latin roots (cred, fer, vert, pos, cept, ven, spir, flect) and Greek parts for science (aero, naut, dynam, cosm, syn, path, chlor, phyll), spell the schwa using related words (compete → competition), choose tricky endings (-cial/-tial, -cious/-tious, -ary/-ery/-ory) and sort out commonly confused words (principal/principle, stationary/stationery).

Then you will build complex sentences with adjective (relative) clauses, combine sentences to show how ideas are related, use gerunds (-ing words that act as nouns), convert between active and passive voice, and keep verbs consistent. Finally, you will use colons in formal letters, memos and script dialogue, commas after transitions, and edit digital texts for accuracy and style.

Remember from Grade 5: you made your cursive fluent, began keyboarding with automaticity, learned chameleon prefixes, -able/-ible, Latin and Greek roots, compound-complex sentences, direct objects, -self pronouns, appositives, colons before lists and a CUPS editing checklist. Grade 6 builds on all of it. This unit goes with Foundations of Reading. Every lesson has a hands-on activity, lots of practice and a short quiz.

Curriculum expectations covered: B2.1 (using morphemes to spell complex words), B3.1, B3.2, B3.3, with B2.2 (vocabulary) and Strand A (A1.2, A3.1) woven in (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Language, 2023, Grade 6). Fluent cursive and keyboarding (D2.2) and editing digital texts with spell- and grammar-checkers (D2.6) come from Strand D and are included here because they support writing.

In this unit you will become a deeper, more critical reader, listener and viewer. You will compare genres such as fantasy, science fiction, news reports and speeches, and cultural text forms such as the ghazal and spoken word poetry. You will analyze problem-solution reports and digital features like pull-down menus, and explain how cropping, camera angles, colour and graphs shape meaning.

You will practise reading strategies: using prior knowledge from other subjects, making and revising predictions, monitoring with fix-up strategies, making connections, summarizing, drawing well-supported conclusions, and setting goals to improve.

You will think like a critic: follow multiple plots and cause-and-effect chains, build interpretations from local and global inferences, analyze style, hyperbole and idioms, explain how a different narrator would change a story, find and avoid bias, investigate cultural elements like rituals, architecture, art and dance, and learn through Indigenous Storywork from texts by First Nations, Métis and Inuit creators. You will also become a smart researcher and responsible digital citizen.

Every lesson has short texts written for this site, a hands-on activity, practice questions and a quiz.

Curriculum expectations covered: A1.1, A1.2, A2.1, A2.2, A2.3, A2.4, A2.5, A2.6, A2.7, A3.1, A3.2, A3.3, C1.1, C1.2, C1.3, C1.4, C1.5, C1.6, C1.7, C2.1, C2.2, C2.3, C2.4, C2.5, C2.6, C2.7, C3.1, C3.2, C3.3, C3.4, C3.5, C3.6, C3.7, C3.8 (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Language, 2023, Grade 6).

In this unit you will grow as a creator of complex texts for real audiences. You will plan texts that have more than one purpose or audience and explain how your genre, form and medium carry your meaning. You will generate and develop ideas from many sources (including topics about diversity, equity and inclusion and topics from other subjects), research by summarizing information and verifying that sources are reliable, record where information comes from, and organize relevant content with tools like outlines, flow charts and storyboards.

You will draft complex narratives with motivation, theme, flashback and pacing; persuasive essays and letters to the editor using claim, evidence and reasoning; explanatory reports and feature articles; and digital and media texts such as infographics, short videos and web pages. You will develop your voice and choose a tone that fits each form, check your writing for point of view, perspectives and bias, revise by adding, deleting and re-sequencing sentences, edit with spell and grammar checkers, build keyboarding fluency and fluent cursive, and publish, present and reflect with specific next steps.

Every lesson has model texts, worked examples, a hands-on activity, plenty of practice with answers and a short quiz. Grade 6 builds on Grade 5: texts are more complex, research adds summarizing and verifying, revision adds re-sequencing, and editing includes digital checkers.

Curriculum expectations covered: D1.1, D1.2, D1.3, D1.4, D1.5, D2.1, D2.2, D2.3, D2.4, D2.5, D2.6, D3.1, D3.2, D3.3, with connections to Strand A (A1.1, A1.2, A2.1, A2.2, A2.3, A2.4, A2.5, A2.6, A3.1, A3.2) (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1–8: Language, 2023, Grade 6).