In this lesson, students examine and create holiday/event cards, analyze holiday elements, and create their own. The activities help students focus on the reasons for composing messages as they do.
Students increase their media literacy skills by critically examining and revising junk mail.
"All types of educators are bound to find something of use on KQED Education. Browse the classroom resources for access to high-quality videos, lesson plans, media creation ideas, and other standards-aligned content. Or read stories written and shared by other educators, and get inspiration and ideas for your classroom. Activities focus on creative use and analysis of media. For example, one teacher-created post describes how she used memes to teach media literacy. Another wrote about having students share their culture through media creation. While the site contains a mix of structured plans and ideas, it's easy to find activities that inspire forward-thinking instruction and encourage the development of a 21st century learning environment.
Check out the free professional development (PD) offerings as well: Teachers can earn certification as a PBS Media Literacy Educator by completing eight of the available modules. The site's pages are densely populated with activities, links to more KQED resources, and partner sites, but if you're willing to spend some time looking around, you'll find lots of high-quality materials." (Common Sense Media Review)
Kids Scoop is News magazine that features standards-aligned activity packs for kids K-5.
Kid Scoop News magazine is available as a free PDF or print newspaper delivered to classrooms. This magazine can be shared with students to read at home or in the classroom. After students have read through the magazine, teachers might have them share out to the class something they learned or had a question about. This could kick off a discussion and might even lead to further research into some of the more interesting topics.
Beyond the magazine, teachers will find dozens of downloadable activities and lesson plans -- some free, some paid -- to slot into lessons. Many of these would work well as ways to kick off or cool down a class period. The resources for home-school connections offer helpful tips for communicating with parents about ways kids can use and benefit from Kid Scoop News at home.
The "Kids" section includes the following topics: Answers, How to Draw, Just Plain Weird, Puzzles, Scrub Squad, Write On
The "Teachers" section includes: Next on Kid Scoop, WWC Topics, Teacher Guide, Teacher Scoop, Standards, STEM News
The "Parents" section includes: Crafts, Recipes, Try This At Home
This is a great resource for students to research animals and play games related to animal studies.
"While National Geographic Kids isn't well-organized for teachers, it is a fantastic resource for students to explore their interests and follow their curiosity. The site would be a great way to introduce the diversity of life on Earth: Encourage students to learn about new animals, watch the science and geography series, and explore the interactive world map. The Homework Help section can provide additional information for light research papers or projects. Teachers can search, themselves, for resources that match topics they're working on in the classroom.
Teachers of younger students will find this easy-to-use educational tool a great way to increase engagement and add extension activities for science and social studies lessons. Note: Though the site content is free, there are abundant links to subscribe to the National Geographic Kids and National Geographic Little Kids magazines." (Common Sense Media Review)
In this minilesson, students practice identifying and purposefully using vocabulary in persuasive writing that is intended to have an emotional impact on the reader.
Paper and pixels get compared in this lesson in which students compare both printed and online versions of a magazine.
Pop culture and the classroom collide in this lesson when students go behind the scenes to analyze a television series for characterization to use in an original television show proposal.
Media isn’t just movies and newspapers and TV shows, it’s also a part of society that involves a lot of money. And all that money has implications for the media that gets created. Media is created by people -- a range of people, making a range of decisions, and earning a range of different paychecks to do it. Those decisions matter and understanding how money affects those decisions is an essential component of media literacy.
We’ve talked about how broad a concept “the media” really is – and given that, it can be hard to keep track of all the different forces that constitute “the media.” It can be tough, but it’s not impossible. Today we’re talking about how all those big players fit together and why all those mergers and acquisitions matter to being a media literate citizen.
Copyright and other media regulations have always been a bit tricky, but the internet made all of that infinitely more complicated. But what does all of that mean for you, the consumer?
Now that you have a solid understanding of the media landscape, it’s time to equip you with the essential skills for navigating it.
MediaSmarts has been developing digital and media literacy programs and resources for Canadian homes, schools and communities since 1996. Through our work we support adults with information and tools so they can help children and teens develop the critical thinking skills they need for interacting with the media they love.
Resources are available for the following areas:
Crime Portrayal
Sexting
Blogging
Media Literacy 101
Internet & Mobile
Alcohol Marketing
Environment
Visible Minorities
Cyberbullying
Aboriginal People
Resources
Educational Games
Lesson Plans
Licensed Resources
Media Literacy Week
Outcome Charts by Province & Territory
Tip Sheets
Tutorials & Workshops
YouTube Videos
Recently on MediaSmarts
Knowing My Password
Doing Good with Social Media
Reality Check: The Game
This Website allows you to directly locate and find lessons through the SK curriculum and has specific activities aligned with a number of different SK Subject Outcomes.
- Arts Education
- Career Education
- Social Studies
- Science
- Math
- Health
- Practical and Applied Arts
- Cross-Curricular Competencies
- ELA
- Communication Media
Grade 6 Specific Health Related Activities:
o Avatars and Body Image USC6.1
o Gender Stereotypes and Body Image USC6.1 USC6.2
o Image Gap USC6.1
o Introduction to Cyberbullying: Avatars and Identity USC6.1 USC6.2 USC6.5
o Kids, Alcohol and Advertising – Lesson 1: Messages About Drinking USC6.7
o Kids, Alcohol and Advertising – Lesson 2: Young Drinkers USC6.7
o Kids, Alcohol and Advertising – Lesson 3: Understanding Brands USC6.7
o Kids, Alcohol and Advertising – Lesson 4: Interpreting Media Messages USC6.7
o Media Kids USC6.2 USC6.5 USC6.7
o Media Minute Lesson 2: Media are constructions USC6.2 USC6.7
o Mirror Image USC6.2 USC6.1
o Pay for Play USC6.7
o Prejudice and Body Image USC6.1 USC6.5
o Stereotyping and Bias USC6.1 USC6.2
o Tobacco Labels USC6.7
o Understanding the Internet: Communication and Social Media USC6.7
Educational Games:
o Data Defenders
o A Day in the Life of the Jos (same as above – paid for program) USC6.1 USC6.2
This site offers a way to maintain a balance with the use of technology while working with students at home and school. It includes information on:
Getting good information
Managing family tech
Explaining news and media coverage to kids
Online games
Media literacy lessons
You are constantly surrounded by media, so the question is: how does your brain handle all of that? The unfortunate answer is that our brains have a lot of processes that not super helpful for media literacy, but hopefully with a little self-awareness, we can work around that.
This lesson should take about 45 minutes.
"For most middle-schoolers, being on social media can mean connecting with friends, sharing pictures, and keeping up to date. But it can also mean big-time distractions, social pressures, and more. Help students navigate the different feelings they may already be experiencing on social media.
Students will be able to:
*Identify the role of social media in students' lives.
*Reflect on the positive and negative effects of using social media on their relationships.
*Recognize "red flag feelings" when using social media, and consider ways to handle them."
Lesson slides, video, handouts, quiz, family engagement activities & family tips.
You will need to sign up for a FREE account to access all of the resources.
"From misinformation to the 24-hour news cycle (on TV and now on social media), students must learn to navigate a noisy, biased, and challenging world. But with the right support, they can learn to be critical and not cynical -- to speak up, not sit back. This collection of news and media lessons, videos, printables, and more is a great place to start. Everything's been carefully vetted by Common Sense editors (and fellow teachers) to help you find that "just right" resource for your classroom.
Check out our current favorites below. Read on for full collections. "
You're being watched. That sounded more sinister than I intended, but online, it's true. Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Netflix... the list goes on and on. They're watching what you do, what you shop for, what you watch... all of it. And have you actually read the Terms of Service? In this episode of Crash Course Media Literacy, Jay talks about how Online Advertising works and why companies want to know everything you're looking at.
"PBS NewsHour Extra's lesson plans are outstanding and clever. For example, a lesson on unions asks students to watch a few short videos and then get into teams to resolve an imaginary labor dispute based on what they've learned about negotiation. Beyond the provided lesson plans, there are many videos with resources to help students process what they're watching -- like an essential question and key vocabulary -- as well as discussion questions to kick off post-viewing conversations. Plus, the majority of the lesson plans are tied to STEM-related issues, so they're ideal for cross-curricular collaboration.
Because the daily videos include transcripts, supporting links, questions, and an extension activity, they could be assigned as independent work, group work, or both. For instance, part of the class could work on their own with the video -- assuming individual internet access -- and then, as they finish, they could move into small groups to tackle the extension activity.
For journalism, media studies, or ELA classes, make sure to check out the Student Voices samples. They'd serve as great models for editorial writing. For classrooms that want do dive deeper into media creation and production, the Student Reporting Labs website has a great curriculum and supporting resources, including video tutorials for things like audio recording and lighting." (Review from Common Sense Media)