Teacher Guide This lesson is designed to teach kids to ask a critical thinking question that you can’t just put into a search box to solve. To do that, we encourage them with smaller questions that search can help them answer. Make sure that you read the notes for each slide: they not only give you teaching tips but also provide answers and hints so you can help the kids if they are having trouble. Remember, you can always send feedback to the Bing in the Classroom team at You can learn more about the program at bing.com/classroom and follow the daily lessons on our Partners In Learning site. In Learning site Want to extend today’s lesson? Consider using Skype in the Classroom to arrange for your class to chat with another class in today’s location. And if you are using Windows 8, you can also use the Bing apps to learn more about this location and topic; the Travel and News apps in particular make great teaching tools.Skype in the Classroom Nell Bang-Jensen is a teacher and theater artist living in Philadelphia, PA. Her passion for arts education has led her to a variety of roles including developing curriculum for Philadelphia Young Playwrights and teaching at numerous theaters and schools around the city. She works with playwrights from ages four to ninety on developing new work and is especially interested in alternative literacies and theater for social change. A graduate of Swarthmore College, she currently works in the Artistic Department of the Wilma Theater and, in addition to teaching, is a freelance actor and dramaturg. In 2011, Nell was named a Thomas J. Watson Fellow and spent her fellowship year traveling to seven countries studying how people get their names. This lesson is designed to teach the Common Core State Standard: Measurement & Data CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.A.1CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.A.1 Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table. For example, know that 1 ft is 12 times as long as 1 in. Express the length of a 4 ft snake as 48 in. Generate a conversion table for feet and inches listing the number pairs (1, 12), (2, 24), (3, 36),... CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.A.2CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.A.2 Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.

How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today? © Haraldur Stefansson/Alamy

Not even hurricane Hugo in 1989 could fell Angel Oak, a massive old southern live oak tree in South Carolina. Though Angel Oak is on Johns Island, it’s so close to Charleston that visitors to the city will often make their way over to see for themselves the tree’s sprawling limbs. The 66.5-foot-tall tree was perhaps 200 years old already when South Carolina became a state 226 years ago today. Some tests have suggested Angel Oak could have started growing as many as 1,500 years ago. Recently, planned development in the nearby forest has prompted many protests from locals, who formed the group Save the Angel Oak, in order to challenge the construction of an apartment complex just 160 yards from the tree. How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today?

1 Thinking Based on the image’s description, at least how old is Angel Oak today? At most how old is Angel Oak today? 2 Web SearchHow do the rings on a tree tell you how old it is? 3 Image Search Find an image of a tree trunk and count the rings on it. How old is this tree? 4 Web Search What is an alternative way of finding a tree’s age without cutting it down? 5 Thinking Do you think finding the exact age of Angel Oak would help the locals who are fighting to save the tree and prevent the building of a nearby apartment complex? Why or why not? How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today?

5 Minutes How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today?

1 Thinking Based on the image’s description, at least how old is Angel Oak today? At most how old is Angel Oak today? 2 Web SearchHow do the rings on a tree tell you how old it is? 3 Image Search Find an image of a tree trunk and count the rings on it. How old is this tree? 4 Web Search What is an alternative way of finding a tree’s age without cutting it down? How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today?

1 Thinking Based on the image’s description, at least how old is Angel Oak today? At most how old is Angel Oak today? How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today?

2 Web SearchHow do the rings on a tree tell you how old it is? How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today?

3 Image Search Find an image of a tree trunk and count the rings on it. How old is this tree? How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today?

4 Web Search What is an alternative way of finding a tree’s age without cutting it down? How could you figure out how old Angel Oak is today?