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4th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 11 of 14

Media and Sources

Target audiences, techniques and good sources

What your child practices

Children practice naming the target audience and purpose of a message, spotting techniques like close-ups and “hurry” words, telling facts from opinions, searching with keywords and judging whether a source is reliable.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.9(F); 4.13(C) · searching, judging sources and reading the purpose of media messages

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Ask who a message is for (the audience) and why it was made (the purpose).
  2. Ads use tricks like close-ups and “hurry” words to make you act fast.
  3. Check that a source is reliable and up to date, and compare it with another source.

Example: An ad says “Hurry! Only three left!” What technique is this? “Hurry” and “only three” push you to act now. It makes you feel you must act fast. Answer: making you feel you must act fast

Media and Sources in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 11 of 14 in 4th grade English Language Arts, after Grammar Gears and before Spelling Rules.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    Compare a recipe in a cookbook and a food ad. What is different?

    • the ad gives exact steps
    • both sell food
    • both teach cooking
    • the recipe teaches; the ad sells

  2. Question 2

    Why should you write the title and author of the sources you use?

    • because it looks nice
    • to give credit and let others check
    • to show off
    • to make the report longer

  3. Question 3

    Why should you check when a web page was last updated?

    • information can go out of date
    • newer pages are prettier
    • old pages are always wrong
    • dates tell you the author

  4. Question 4

    A video game ad shows only the best graphics. What could it be leaving out?

    • the pictures
    • the name of the game
    • how long the game takes to load
    • that it is a game

  5. Question 5

    Which sentence from a review is an opinion?

    • The book came out last year.
    • The main character is named Zoe.
    • The book has 120 pages.
    • This book is the funniest one ever.

  6. Question 6

    Which choice tells you the most about who made a website?

    • the number of pictures
    • the background color
    • the font size
    • an “About us” page

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