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2nd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 12 of 12

Media Detectives

Purposes, parts and who made it

What your child practices

Children compare ads, signs, posters, books and videos, tell what each one is for, notice the choices their makers made, and pick good sources for a research question.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: Writing 1; Reading 9; Speaking and Listening 2 · gathering information to answer questions and naming what a text or message is for

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Every message has a purpose: to sell, to teach, to tell news or to entertain.
  2. Videos use pictures, words and music to show feelings.
  3. People can feel differently about the same message, and that's okay.

Example: How are a toy ad and a book about bears different? The ad wants you to buy the toy. The book teaches you about bears. Answer: the ad wants to sell; the book teaches

Media Detectives in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 12 of 12 in 2nd grade English Language Arts, after Asking Questions and Finding Facts.

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: Maine Department of Education

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

    Which part of a video can show feelings with sound?

    • the page number
    • the title
    • the date
    • the music

  2. Question 2

    Who chooses the music in a cartoon?

    • the people who make the cartoon
    • the TV
    • the viewers
    • the characters

  3. Question 3

    An ad says “Only today!” How does it want you to feel?

    • bored
    • sad
    • calm and sleepy
    • in a hurry to buy

  4. Question 4

    Who made the menu at a café?

    • the customers
    • the chairs
    • the food
    • the people who run the café

  5. Question 5

    A website for kids has a game and a box that says “Buy now!” What is the box?

    • a fact
    • an ad
    • a game rule
    • a story

  6. Question 6

    Two ads for the same toy look different. Why?

    • toys change by themselves
    • the toy chose
    • ads are always the same
    • different people made different choices

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