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.W Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W E Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

2. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?
© Douglas Peebles Photography/Alamy
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. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?
In Honolulu, Hawaii, locals observe Memorial Day with a floating-lantern ceremony. A relatively new tradition, the “Lantern Floating Hawaii” observance began in 1999, when organizers of a Buddhist lantern-floating festival recognized that their ritual to remember relatives who’ve died was similar to Memorial Day services.
Now, every Memorial Day, anyone, regardless of faith, can come to Ala Moana Beach Park on the island of Oahu and pick up a free floating lantern handed out by volunteers. As the sun sets, thousands of participants write personal messages on their lanterns and then launch the floats into the Pacific. With candles in each lantern, Mamala Bay nearly glows after dark.
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. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?1
Web Search
What is a cultural tradition? 2
Video Search
Locate a video of the “Lantern Floating Hawaii.” 3
What is the purpose of the holiday Memorial Day? 4
Use Bing search to identify different Memorial Day traditions. 5
Thinking
Design a Memorial Day tradition that you could start in your community that would reflect cultural traditions in your community.
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. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?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. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?1
Web Search
What is a cultural tradition? 2
Video Search
Locate a video of the “Lantern Floating Hawaii.” 3
What is the purpose of the holiday Memorial Day? 4
Use Bing search to identify different Memorial Day traditions. 5
Thinking
Design a Memorial Day tradition that you could start in your community that would reflect cultural traditions in your community.
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. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?1
Web Search
What is a cultural tradition?
(Possible Search Queries: cultural tradition)
Sources
Wikipedia:
PBS:
Listverse:
“A tradition is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.”

8. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?2
Web Search
Locate a video of the “Lantern Floating Hawaii.”
(Possible Search Queries: Lantern Floating Hawaii)
Sources

9. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?3
Web Search
What is the purpose of the holiday Memorial Day?
(Possible Search Queries: memorial day purpose, )
Sources
Time for Kids:
Memorial Day was enacted by President Nixon it is an occasion to honor the men and women who died in all wars.

10. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?4
Web Search
Use Bing search to identify different Memorial Day traditions.
(Possible Search Queries: memorial day traditions)
Sources
PBS:
Wikipedia:
Communities Digital News:
“Annual Decoration Days for particular cemeteries are held on a Sunday in late spring or early summer in some rural areas of the American South.” Many towns have wreath laying ceremonies and parades. Wearing a red poppy in some areas. Displaying the flag at half staff.

11. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?5
Thinking
Design a Memorial Day tradition that you could start in your community that would reflect cultural traditions in your community.
Answers will vary. Memorial day honors those who have died in a war. Different communities have different attitudes and traditions towards death. Incorporating how the students honor the dead into an event should be considered.

12. How are Memorial Day traditions culturally significant?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.