Grade 3 Class

Urban vs. Rural: A Look at Travel Brochures

Activity:

Picture
First Period: Mini-Lesson:
 1. In table groups, provide students with samples of real travel guides and a non-fiction book about the same area (travel guide to Toronto vs. a book about Toronto). Have them brainstorm with small groups (on sticky notes) what they think the writing characteristics/features of a brochure are.  As a prompt you could use Questions to Engage Discussion/Thinking (see box above) 
2. Get students to post their ideas on chart paper at front of class (chart paper with 2 sides 1: to stick  similarities , 2: to stick difference)
3. As a group, take up students responses and create list of characteristics of brochures.

Things to include/supplement in discussion:

Picture
Taken from Balanced Literacy Diet
  • Layout: what topics does the brochure include/not include
  • Text format: sizing of letters/words vs. pictures and amount of words in a paragraph (this could include discussion on lists vs. paragraphs).

The Project:

In Class:
1. In partners, have students decide which city (from list) they wish to design a brochure for. 
2. Hand out Brochure Assessment Rubric and go over with students what you are looking for in their work (see Materials section to download).

The Research Project: Introduction
1. Introduce brochure template to students. Explain that each text section needs to have a topic.
2. Introduce and discuss briefly the topic options for research:
  • Geographic and environmental factors: (i.e., Sudbury/mining, Ottawa/government, Hamilton/industry, Bradford/farming)
  • Land use (e.g., housing/communities (Do residents live in neighbourhoods, or are houses spaced out?), recreation, stores (are there shopping malls/or local stores), industry and access to natural resources (e.g., water, trees, green spaces, parks, etc.)
  • Transportation: Is there public transit, highways, dirt roads etc.  How do people move around?
  • Population
  • Building and Structures: Apartment buildings vs. houses, office buildings vs. barns or industrial plants
(Topics all relate to curriculum expectations see section on right)
3.  Before going to computer lab, each student will choose a brochure template (see materials), 3-4 topics, and a bookmark card with URL addresses for information on the city they chose.

In Computer Lab:
1. Using their templates/bookmarks students will create rough drafts of their cities/locations. 

****Note that the images/photos in the brochure are meant to be covered in following lesson.  However, while doing research, students can pay attention to images/save images for ideas for next lesson's art focus. 

Assessment:

- Brochure assessment rubric to be used when brochure is completed.
- As self-assessments, rubric could be used for students to rate their own work.

Extensions/Modifications

  • One modification could be to introduce topics with title cards (See video under More Ideas for an example)
  • Some students may have challenges with writing aspects of assignment, one solution would be to pair them up with a partner who is stronger in writing or allow them to do assignment using a word processing program on a computer. 
  • If you have a smaller class/access to computers for writing portion, there is an online interactive brochure template that allows students to download/upload images/insert text and create a digital version of a brochure. 

Learning Objectives:

Students will brainstorm criteria for what makes a great travel brochure. They will use computers to research a location in which they will create brochures for. Begin to use templates for organizing ideas and information. 

Curriculum Expectations:

Social Studies Expectations:
  • Identify geographic and environmental factors that explain the location of various urban and rural communities, with examples from Ontario (e.g., Sudbury/mining, Ottawa/government, Hamilton/industry, Bradford/farming);
  • Compare land use (e.g., housing, recreation, stores, industry) and access to natural resources (e.g., water, trees) in urban and rural communities;
  • Compare transportation in urban and rural communities;
  • Compare population density and diversity in urban and rural communities;
  • Compare buildings and structures in urban and rural communities.

Language Expectations:
1.1: identify the topic, purpose, audience, and form for writing
1.2 generate ideas about a potential topic, using a variety of strategies and resources
1.6 determine whether the ideas and information they have gathered are relevant and adequate for the purpose, and gather new material if necessary
2.7 make revisions to improve the content, clarity, and interest of their written work, using several types of strategies
2.2 establish a personal voice in their writing, with a focus on using concrete words and images to convey their attitude or feeling towards the subject or audience

Materials:

  • Sticky notes (2 different colours)
  • Chart paper with Similarities/Differences t-chart on it
  • List of choices for cities/destinations
  • Brochure template
  • Bookmark cards with city choices/url address for students to use in computer lab
  • Assessment Rubric (see assessment section)

rubric.docx
File Size: 331 kb
File Type: docx
Download File
brochure-template.doc
File Size: 52 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

For More Ideas on Brochure Writing:

Here are some additional ideas to modify/extend teaching and learning:

1. Using title cards to introduce research topics:

For ELL/Children with learning disabilities, having a modified version of this lesson could potentially provide students with an opportunity to think more deeply about topics, help prepare them for research and practice their oral communication skills.
This video is taken from <www.litdiet.org>