1. 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.
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.
Alice Keeler is a mother of 5 and a teacher in Fresno, California. She has her B.A in Mathematics, M.S. in Educational Media Design and Technology and is currently working on a doctorate in Educational Technology with an emphasis in games and simulations. EdTech speaker, blogger, and presenter. Founder of coffeeEDU, a 1 hour conference event for educators. New Media Consortium Horizon report advisory panel member. High school math teacher for 14 years. Currently teaching pre-service teachers curriculum, instruction and technology at California State University Fresno. Teaches online for Fresno Pacific University in the Masters in Educational Technology. Passionate that kids are not failures, researches gamification in education to increase student motivation.
This lesson is designed to teach the Common Core State Standard: English Language Arts
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST B Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form that anticipates the audience's knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.

2. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?
© EschCollection/Getty Images
Having this up as kids come in is a great settle down activity. You can start class by asking them for thoughts about the picture or about ideas on how they could solve the question of the day.

3. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?
If you’re lucky enough to be in Manhattan during wintertime, and lucky enough to have a nice hotel room with an incredible view, you may get a glimpse of the city that never sleeps blanketed by a fresh coat of snow.
That’s the southern edge of Central Park providing the winter wonderland of trees. And if you were to leave the cozy confines of your suite and head about a mile south from here, you could see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, which will be lit up tonight.
Depending on time, you can either have students read this silently to themselves, have one of them read out loud, or read it out loud yourself.

4. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?1
Web Search
How often and how much snow does New York receive in a typical winter season? 2
How is tourism impacted by heavy snow? 3
How are large companies with a significant presence in New York impacted by heavy snow? 4
What is the economic impact when a snow day is called for the schools and school is cancelled? 5
Thinking
In a modern age of technology, does the ability to telecommute or access school work online mitigate the impact of snow days?
There are a couple of ways to use this slide, depending on how much technology you have in your classroom. You can have students find answers on their own, divide them into teams to have them do all the questions competitively, or have each team find the answer to a different question and then come back together. If you’re doing teams, it is often wise to assign them roles (one person typing, one person who is in charge of sharing back the answer, etc.)

5. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?5
Minutes
You can adjust this based on how much time you want to give kids. If a group isn’t able to answer in 5 minutes, you can give them the opportunity to update at the end of class or extend time.

6. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?1
Web Search
How often and how much snow does New York receive in a typical winter season? 2
How is tourism impacted by heavy snow? 3
How are large companies with a significant presence in New York impacted by heavy snow? 4
What is the economic impact when a snow day is called for the schools and school is cancelled? 5
Thinking
In a modern age of technology, does the ability to telecommute or access school work online mitigate the impact of snow days?
You can ask the students verbally or let one of them come up and insert the answer or show how they got it. This way, you also have a record that you can keep as a class and share with parents, others.

7. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?1
Web Search
How often and how much snow does New York receive in a typical winter season?
(Possible Search Queries: New York snow)
Sources
Current Results -
New York City gets an average of 25.1 inches of snow a year.

8. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?2
Web Search
How is tourism impacted by heavy snow?
(Possible Search Queries: New York tourism snow)
Sources
Wikipedia -
Tourism in New York actually increases during the winter. Peaks are during Thanksgiving and Christmas/ New Years.
It is negatively affected when it delays flights or it prevents people from getting into the city.

9. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?3
Web Search
How are large companies with a significant presence in New York impacted by heavy snow?
(Possible Search Queries: heavy snow economic impact)
Sources
Winter explained
Businesses especially retail lose a lot of business not only on the days of heavy snow, but the days that follow as well.

10. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?4
Web Search
What is the economic impact when a snow day is called for the schools and school is cancelled?
(Possible Search Queries: school snow days economic impact)
Sources
CNN -
Wild weather almost always means extra costs for schools, from storm cleanup to snow removal to staff overtime. it can lead to cuts if test scores sink, if students or teachers' miss a chance to shine or if schools can't fulfill a grant obligation based on instructional time.
Parents have to miss work.

11. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?5
Thinking
In a modern age of technology, does the ability to telecommute or access school work online mitigate the impact of snow days?
(Possible Search Queries: )
Sources
Students may include that not depending on in person communication, and being able to carry on even without commuting is a huge tool for lessening the negative impacts of snow days on schools.

12. What is the impact to the economy of New York when there is heavy snow?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.