The Begbie Buzz – What is an Ad?

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Our class continued with our newspaper inquiry during our first week back after Winter Break.

The children looked at different types of print ads from newspapers.

The students were quick to realize that the pictures they were looking at were not just ordinary photos accompanying an article.  Rather, they figured out that these images – which often included photos, bold colours, big fonts – had one purpose, and one purpose only.

These images were meant to try to sell readers something, whether it was a piece of fancy jewelry, a big pick-up truck, or even the Evening News program on CBC!

The kids had an especially big “A-ha!” moment when it dawned on them that even on newspapers, there were ads that specifically promoted readers to get the news from a particular source!  Wow…how “meta!”

The children learned this:

Ads, or advertisements, are created by marketing companies for people or businesses to promote their services or products.

Now that the kids understood what advertisements can look like and what their purposes are, they were grouped into small marketing teams.  Each group was responsible for creating an ad for something we had been studying in Math class…

…3D shapes!  

Things each team had to consider for their ad:

  • a catchy slogan
  • clear communication of what shape they were trying to promote
  • interesting features of their assigned shape:  what makes their shape more special than the others?
  • design and visual elements that catch the readers’ attention

The students worked in teams of 2-3, and did I ever see cooperation and collaboration during the entire process!  They were absolutely engaged during the entire time!

Check out the ads the marketing teams made for THE BEGBIE BUZZ.