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 the Microsoft Educator Network.
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, take a Skype lesson on today’s topic, or invite a guest speaker to expand on today’s subject. And if you are using Windows 8, the panoramas in the MSN Travel App are great teaching tools. We have thousands of other education apps available on Windows here.
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: Reading Informational Text
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.3 Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.7 Explain how specific images (e.g., a diagram showing how a machine works) contribute to and clarify a text.

2. How does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?
© Shinji Kusano/Minden Pictures
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 does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?
Look around the broad-leafed forests, meadows, and swamps of Japan, Korea, China, and even parts of Mongolia and Russia to catch a glimpse of the Japanese tree frog. Better yet, listen for the reedy call of the males.
In habitats where their population is high, the chorus of Japanese tree frogs can sound like a cacophony. But they’ve developed the ability to croak for the attention of female tree frogs without overlapping each other. This ability means each male frog can be heard and distinguished from his competitors.
The skill is so refined, researchers at Spain’s Polytechnic University of Catalonia studied the frogs’ differentiation pattern and created an algorithm based on it that vastly improves the efficiency of wireless computer networks.
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 does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?1
Web Search
Where does the word “amphibian” come from? What does it mean? 2
Image Search
Find a diagram of the life cycle of a tree frog. What are the different stages it passes through? 3
Video Search
Watch a video online about the life stages that a tree frog goes through. Where is the tree frog at these various stages? 4
How does the tree frog begin its life? Where does it live during this time? 5
Where is the tree frog at the end of its life?
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 does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?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 does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?1
Web Search
Where does the word “amphibian” come from? What does it mean? 2
Image Search
Find a diagram of the life cycle of a tree frog. What are the different stages it passes through? 3
Video Search
Watch a video online about the life stages that a tree frog goes through. Where is the tree frog at these various stages? 4
How does the tree frog begin its life? Where does it live during this time? 5
Where is the tree frog at the end of its life?

7. How does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?1
Web Search
Where does the word “amphibian” come from? What does it mean?
(Possible queries: “meaning of the word amphibian”, “what does the word amphibian mean?”).
From
The word "Amphibian" is derived from the Ancient Greek term ἀμφίβιος (amphíbios), which means "both kinds of life", ἀμφί meaning "of both kinds" and βιος meaning "life". The term was initially used as a general adjective for animals that could live on land or in water, including seals and otters.

8. How does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?2
Image Search
Find a diagram of the life cycle of a tree frog. What are the different stages it passes through?
(Possible queries: “Bing/Images: life cycle of a tree frog”, “Bing/Images: tree frog life cycle”).
Students should look at an image (such as the one found here: that diagrams the various phases of the tree frog life cycle. After studying the diagram, students should be able to articulate that the tree frog passes through these various stages: egg, tadpole, froglet and adult frog. (Exact answers will vary depending on what image students find).

9. How does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?3
Video Search
Watch a video online about the life stages that a tree frog goes through. Where is the tree frog at these various stages?
(Possible queries: “Bing/Videos: life cycle of a tree frog”, “Bing/Videos: tree frog life cycle”).
Students should watch a video (such as the one found here: and watch how the tree frog passes through different life phases. They should notice that the tree frog’s life varies in terms of location: sometimes it can be found in the water and other times on land. (For example, the eggs that tree frogs hatch are often laid on tree leaves, but by the time these eggs become tadpoles, 7-10 days later, they move around in water and feed on algae).

10. How does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?4
Web Search
How does the tree frog begin its life? Where does it live during this time?
(Possible queries: “for kids, life cycle of a tree frog”, “for kids, phases of a tree frog’s life cycle”).
From
Frogs lay their eggs in water or wet places.  A floating clump of eggs is called frog spawn. The egg begins as a single cell. Several thousand  are sometimes laid at once. It becomes surrounded by a jellylike covering, which protects the egg. The single cell in the egg eventually splits into two. These two split making four cells, and so on. Eventually, there are many cells in the egg. The mass of cells in the egg come to form an embryo. Organs and gills begin to form, and in the meantime, the embryo lives off of its internal yolk. This supplies it with nutrients for 21 days. Then after its 21 day development period, the embryo leaves its jelly shell, and attaches itself to a weed in the water. This quickly becomes a tadpole, a baby frog. 
Students should understand from this description that tree frogs begin their lives in water (or at least a wet place).

11. How does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?5
Web Search
Where is the tree frog at the end of its life?
(Possible queries: “for kids, life cycle of a tree frog”, “for kids, phases of a tree frog’s life cycle”).
From
The full grown frog will find a frog to love and to make more baby frogs with and begin the frog life cycle all over again.
Students should understand that the full grown, adult frog is in the final step of its life cycle, and that these frogs are mostly found on land (just like the Japanese tree frog in the Bing Image of the day).

12. How does the meaning of the word “amphibian” give us a clue about this tree frog’s life cycle?
Students should pull together the information they have gathered to understand that the word “amphibian” is Greek and roughly translates to “both lives”. They should then connect what they’ve learned about the tree frog’s life cycle to explain why this name makes sense. They should understand that the tree frog cycles through a variety of life stages, and some of these happen on land and some in the water. In other words, the tree frog is able to inhabit these two different lives, making “amphibian” an appropriate term to describe it. Even without knowing about the tree frog’s life cycle, the word “amphibian” could clue us into the fact that tree frogs spend time both on land and in water.