TVO Learn is designed to meet each student where they are on their learning journey. Learning Activities are comprehensive and require guided instruction from an adult, while Resources for Learning, Apply the Learning prompts and Vocabulary lists work well to reinforce specific skills or to enable independent exploration of a subject. Use these helpful tips to get the most from TVO Learn.
NOTE: Updates to the Language learning activities are in progress to align with Ontario’s new 2023 Curriculum Documents.
How to Use These Resources
Curriculum Overview
Language development is central to students’ intellectual, social, and emotional growth, and should be seen as a key element of the curriculum. The language curriculum is based on the belief that literacy is critical to responsible and productive citizenship. The curriculum is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve this goal.
For students, language knowledge comes from their life experiences and prior knowledge. Students learn to identify and explore multiple perspectives, question the messages in texts, and look at issues related to fairness, equity, and social justice as language is a fundamental element of identity and culture. As students read and reflect on a rich variety of literary, informational, and media texts, they develop a deeper understanding of themselves and others and of the world around them. If they see themselves and others in the texts they read and the oral and media works they engage in, they are able to feel the works connect to the world they live in and come to appreciate the nature and value of a diverse, multicultural society.
The language curriculum is divided into four strands:
- Oral Communication
- Reading
- Writing
- Media Literacy
Interested in learning more? View Curriculum PDF
For French resources, please visit idello.org
On this page:
Learning Activities
Learning Activities provide opportunity for deeper exploration of a subject. Organized by grade and topic (or strand), students should be guided through each Learning Activity by an adult. Before clicking on a topic to prepare for or begin this guided instruction, be sure to read these helpful tips about how to get the most out of TVO Learn.
To access this learning activity, please visit this page in a desktop or tablet browser.
How Do You Pay Attention?
Now That's a Story!
Let's Connect!
How Can We Protect the Earth?
Presentation Strategies
Whose Perspective?
Alliteration
Every Syllable Counts
Changing the Perspective
Creating a Newscast
Recycling Matters!
Public Service Announcements
Help Me Understand!
Read That Poem
Logo Explorers
Decoding the Unknown
Words That Pop…Into Our Heads
Character Creates Change
From All Sides
Graphic Features Help Out
Summarize This!
Reading the Review
Interpreting the Interview
Blueprints
Introduction to Slam Poetry
Expressing Yourself With Poems
Persuasive Letter Writing
Literary Devices - Similes and Metaphors
Writing a News Story
Expressing Yourself Using Personification
Expressing Yourself Using Voice and Tone
Organizing Ideas into Paragraphs
Creating a Book Report
Editing and Proofreading
Writing Essays
Graphic Texts
Photo Series
Fashion in the Media
Cultural Celebrations
Advertising Strategies
Movie/Book Trailers
Impacts of Branding
Celebrations
Stereotypes in Advertising
Understanding Diversity
Slogans and Logos
Mindfulness Strategies
Product Packaging
Resources for Learning
Chosen by TVO educators, these resources support the curriculum outlined above. Review the below list of options along with the activities. Then, read, watch, listen or play to build understanding and knowledge.
Please be aware by accessing the resources below you will be leaving TVO Learn and entering other TVO domains that are subject to different privacy policies and terms of use.
Complete the suggested activities using these resources and other TVO resources.
All
Language Choice Board
Use this graphic organizer to choose different ways to learn about a language.
Read on TVOkids.comMedia Literacy
Power Hour of Learning | Celebrations and Traditions
Join teacher Jessica explore celebrations and traditions from all around the world. Learn that a celebration is when you do something special for an important event, occasion, or holiday. Learn that a tradition is handing down of information, beliefs, or customs from one generation to another. There are many different things and ways that people celebrate. Use a graphic organizer and create a media text about a holiday or celebration that you observe or a tradition that you have.
Watch on TVOkids.comMedia Literacy
Power Hour of Learning | Digital Mindfulness
Join teacher Jessica create a virtual mindfulness space that you can use to practice self-management strategies focusing on positivity, inclusivity and kindness. With a growth mindset, use a Mindfulness Mind Map to create an ‘ATTITUDE’ acrostic poem and draw from personal experiences and gather information from the world around you to develop ideas. Follow the directions to create a glitter bottle for your mindfulness room.
Watch on TVOkids.comMedia Literacy
Power Hour of Learning | Passion Projects
Join teacher Arianna as she asks viewers to consider their passions and how that translates into design. As a part of the process we can approach any design problem by working on the 5 W’s and how.
Watch on TVOkids.comOral Communication
Homework Zone | Learn How to Make a Presentation
Teacher Wynne gives viewers tips on how to give a great oral presentation.
Watch on TVOkids.comOral Communication
Homework Zone | Book Talks
Teacher Wynne show four different ways to present your book report to you class and teacher.
Watch on TVOkids.comOral Communication
My Stay-At-Home Diary
Children around the world showing us what they are up to from home during the covid pandemic.
Watch on TVOkids.comReading
Homework Zone | Highlighting
Teacher Robyn explains how to use a highlighter for research.
Watch on TVOkids.comReading
Celebrating National Indigenous Peoples Day during COVID-19
TVO.org speaks with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people from across Ontario about what the day means to them — and how they’ll be marking it during the pandemic.
Read on TVO.orgReading
‘It has to be stopped’ | Meet the Thunder Bay Teen Who’s Taking on Bullying
TVO.org speaks with 14-year-old Taylor Gorrie about her personal experiences with schoolyard violence — and the program she developed to support students and bring bullies and victims together.
Read on TVO.orgReading
Homework Zone | Learn a New Word
Teacher Wynne challenges viewers to learn a new word and gives tips on how to understand those words.
Watch on TVOkids.comReading
Homework Zone | Reading and Reading Comprehension
Teacher Wynne gives viewers tips on reading and reading comprehension.
Watch on TVOkids.comReading
The Wacky Word Show | Undo Redo
Unfortunately Zoey can't undo what her dog Keona did to her homework, but she can redo it and sing about prefixes in this song!
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Power Hour of Learning | Personification
Join teacher Jenny as we explore the literary device of personification. Personification is a writing tool used to give human qualities to animals, objects and other non-human things. It connects your readers with the object that is being personified. Create a poem using language techniques such as nouns and verbs together in special ways to add interest to your work to make it clear, interesting, and memorable.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Power Hour of Learning | Introduction to Slam Poetry
Join teacher Jenny as we explore the writing form of Slam Poetry (Spoken Word). Slam Poetry combines writing, competition, and audience participation with performance. People write poems to express their thoughts and feelings about a topic and then perform the poems in front of an audience. Learn how to express yourself as a writer and learn how to communicate for a specific purpose and audience. We will use slam poetry to communicate a message about a specific topic of interest in an effective way. We will listen for inspiration and use discussion to make me a stronger writer.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Power Hour of Learning | Graphic Texts
Join teacher Arianna explore all about graphic texts and how they are different from pictures. Graphic texts include titles, captions, labels, column and row headings, symbols, legends, a scale, or even a unit of measurement, and provide additional information to the reader. They also can include a variety of fonts, colours, and labelling which can be used to attract the reader’s attention and can help the reader improve their understanding. Create your own graphic text to find your own way to express yourself!
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Homework Zone | Paragraph
Teacher Wynne shows children what makes a good paragraph using the hamburger diagram.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Homework Zone | Personification
Teacher Shahana gives a lesson on the writing technique of personification.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Homework Zone | Book Report
Teacher Wynne explains how to write a good book report.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
The Wacky Word Show | We Don't Need an S
Zoey wrote a little song about words that don't follow the plural rules!
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
The Wacky Word Show | The Singular Plural Blues
Zoey wonders why some words, like jeans and scissors, have an, S, at the end while only referring to one pair of something. Turns out, there's a song about that.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Homework Zone | Punctuation
Teacher Wynne demonstrates how a sentence can change using different punctuations.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Homework Zone | Adjectives and Adverbs
Homework Zone. Teacher Wynne gives viewers tips on better understanding the difference between adjectives and adverbs.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
The Wacky Word Show | Chefs
There's ooey gooey, scrumptious, yummy fun in this episode as Zoey and Lukas explore the power of sensory words.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
Letter Writing Day
Join TVOkids hosts Lucas, Laura and Greg every weekday as they talk to Ontario kids and have fun in their special blanket forts at home! Today, Lucas and Laura receive some letters.
Watch on TVOkids.comWriting
The Wacky Word Show | Fabulous, Fantastic, Phenomenal
Using synonyms helps Zoey write better stories and songs. Why just sing when you can chant, serenade, vocalize or harmonize?
Watch on TVOkids.com
Apply the Learning
Choose from the following to consolidate learning across all curriculum strands.
- Select a text of your choice. What do you think will happen based on what the author has told you so far? What is the author suggesting ’between the lines’?
-
Review a resource or text of your choice and then consider the following questions:
- Whose point of view is being explored in this text/resource?
- Whose voice do we not hear?
- Is this fair?
- Prepare a book talk media presentation on a book of your choice. How does your experience of a similar situation help you understand this character’s choices? How does what you are reading now compare to what you have already read on this topic?
- Make a slideshow explaining something you are passionate about. Use the 5 W’s and how to explain your thinking.
- Review a paragraph that you have written. In your writing, are your sentences too long and complicated/too short and simple/too much the same to appeal to your intended audience?
- In what ways would a menu for a fast-food restaurant differ from a menu for a fine-dining restaurant?
- Create your own definitions for 20 of the words in the vocabulary list.
Vocabulary
Review this list of vocabulary associated with the curriculum. Practice spelling, research definitions, and find these vocabulary words when engaging with the TVO resources or completing learning activities.
Students should understand and be able to apply these words in context.
although
among
arrive
attention
beautiful
countries
course
cousin
decide
different
evening
favourite
finally
future
happiness
important
interest
piece
planet
present
probably
problem
receive
sentence
several
special
suddenly
suppose
surely
surprise
they’re
through
usually