- Definition
Literacy means being able to understand and share your thoughts and ideas using a language, like reading and writing words.
Reading a history textbook to learn about an event and then writing a paragraph summarizing it shows literacy.
How to teach this in 30 seconds
Try this analogy: Literacy is like being able to both understand a secret message and write a new one back to your friend.
Ask your child: How would you explain your favorite video game to someone who has never played it?
Common mix-up: Kids might think literacy is just about being able to read words on a page. True literacy also includes expressing your own ideas clearly through speaking and writing.
Examples
- Explaining the rules of a new game to your friends so they can play.
- Reading a comic book and understanding the story from both the words and the pictures.
- Figuring out if a website is trustworthy before using its information for a project.
literacy is a term used in Ontario’s Kindergarten to Grade 8 curriculum.
Where this shows up
- Grade 5 Science and Technology
- Grade 9 Science and Technology
- Grade 8 Social Studies / History / Geography
+2 more mentions across the curriculum
The descriptions on this page are SmartStudy’s own original, plain-language writing — not the Ministry’s wording. They are aligned to the Ontario Curriculum, © King’s Printer for Ontario. For the Ministry’s official wording, see the source link below. SmartStudy is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Government of Ontario or the Ministry of Education. Ontario Curriculum and Resources ↗
