Here's link to the Kool Aid commercial where the soda bottle and the Kool Aid pitcher are challenging each other to a log rolling contest to determine which beverage is better cost-wise.

Pizza, Ice Cream, and Box Tops: Advertising and Brand Loyalty in Elementary School

When I first considered advertising in my schools, my first memory was of the vending machines in my junior and senior high schools. But as I thought more about my time in elementary school I realized that the most prevalent forms of advertising related to food. Every Friday Jacksonwald Elementary served Domino’s pizza for lunch. And every early dismissal before a holiday, when our teachers used class time for movies, the school brought in dixie cups of Dairy Queen vanilla ice cream as movie treats. These two examples stand out in my mind because both were associating food—pizza and ice cream—with fun—celebrating the weekend or a break from school. Because these were traditions, students looked forward to them during the week or school year. Although the school served pizza on other days of the week it reserved Domino’s for Fridays. Similarly, although students could buy ice cream in the cafeteria, it reserved Dairy Queen for special pre-holiday celebrations.

In her article for Tes Magazine, Clark writes about schools collecting box tops or labels for Box Tops for Education. Jacksonwald had collection boxes set up in the school office for people to drop off the labels and tops for points. After reading this article, I checked the Box Tops for Education website and Jacksonwald, in addition to many other schools from my district, still participate in this collection. The site even gives a product list so that people know which products will provide them with labels for collection. You can find the site with the link to the product list here. It makes me wonder if some people are loyal to the brands on this list because they see that those companies support schools through this program.

California's English and Language Arts SOLs

Grades 1-3

For these first grades, students explored narrative through basic character, plot, and purpose analyses.  These exercises seemed much like the exercises listed in Approaches to Media Literacy, specifically the narrative analysis and moving up to the narrative forecasting in the third grade.  In second and third grades, students begin to look at cultural narratives to compare and contrast these stories.  And beginning in third grade, students have to start comparing ideas presented in broadcast and print media to differentiate between opinions and facts.

Grades 4-6

Throughout these grades, students continue to compare and contrast stories with different cultural backgrounds, moving beyond just narrative comparisons to explore myths and symbols presented through the stories.  Additionally, students begin to study authors’ techniques to influence readers’ perspectives as well as the media’s different purposes and interpretation of current events and cultures.

Students also begin to consider how the media can serve a negative persuasive function through presenting propaganda.  These are also the first grades where students are required to use computer technology to create documents.

Grades 7-8

Here, students move beyond print media to consider how visual media and the ways in which photojournalism influence readers.  Other than photojournalism and examining speaker credibility, students continue to use computers to generate documents and explore the different purposes that media serve.

Grades 9-10

For the first time, students are asked to move beyond culturally significant texts to those with “universal themes” to compare and contrast these texts.  Students also begin to study oral communication, in terms of speaker credibility, language, delivery and rhetorical techniques.

Grades 11-12

Surprisingly, this is the first time that students need to use computer technology during presentations in class.  Until now, students have just given oral presentations without any type of technological help.  As in other grades, students continue to use computers to generate and publish documents and study speakers’ rhetorical devices and oral communication’s purposes.