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3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 13 of 13

Media Messages

Inform, persuade or entertain?

What your child practices

Children sort media by purpose (to inform, persuade or entertain), notice how ads use music, famous people and strong words, tell facts from opinions, and choose good sources for research questions.

Alaska content standards learning standard: RI.3.6; W.3.8 · facts and opinions, what a message is for and choosing sources

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Media can inform (teach), persuade (convince) or entertain (amuse).
  2. Ads use music, famous people and strong words to make you want things.
  3. A good research question asks something you can find out, like how or why.

Example: A poster says “Vote for Kenji for class helper!” What is its purpose? It asks people to do something. Trying to change what people do is persuading. Answer: to persuade

Media Messages in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 13 of 13 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Wonder & Find Out.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    You find a fact online that surprises you. What should you do?

    • share it with everyone
    • believe it right away
    • check it in another trusted source
    • forget it

  2. Question 2

    A website has a moving box that says “Click to win a prize!” What is it most likely?

    • a school lesson
    • an ad trying to get you to click
    • a true fact
    • a weather report

  3. Question 3

    Lena and Noah watch the same scary movie. Lena loves it; Noah is upset. Why?

    • one of them is wrong
    • the movie changed
    • people react to media in different ways
    • they watched different movies

  4. Question 4

    What are the three main purposes of media messages?

    • to inform, to persuade and to entertain
    • to spell, to add and to draw
    • to buy, to sell and to trade
    • to sleep, to eat and to run

  5. Question 5

    A poster says “Vote for Kenji for class helper!” What is its purpose?

    • to entertain with a story
    • to persuade
    • to inform about weather
    • to teach math

  6. Question 6

    Which source is most likely to be reliable for a report on frogs?

    • a science website from a museum
    • a post from someone selling frog toys
    • a cartoon about frogs
    • a joke about frogs

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