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.
Ja'Dell Davis is a Los Angeles native who currently divides her time between New York City and Madison, Wisconsin. She is currently a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, pursing a PhD in Sociology. Ja’Dell previously taught high school in Philadelphia public schools, and implemented college access and academic enrichment programming in Chester, Pennsylvania and New York City in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood. Ja’Dell received her B.A. from Swarthmore College with a special major in History and Educational Studies, and a minor in Black Studies. She completed her M.S.Ed in Secondary School Education at the University of Pennsylvania.  In addition to her studies and work in the education field, Ja’Dell is a dancer, musician, avid people watcher, and Scrabble enthusiast.
This lesson is designed to teach the Common Core State Standard: Reading: Informational Text
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.1Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.2Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.3Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

2. What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals?
© Norbert Rosing/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 characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals?
Belugas have several defining characteristics that set them apart from other whales. They have no dorsal fin, and among all whales, they have the highest percentage of blubber on their bodies. The beluga is also one of the most talkative cetaceans in the world’s oceans. With highly developed echolocation senses belugas give a near-constant stream of chirps and chatter as they swim, earning them the nickname “canary of the sea.”
The beluga whale’s pale white skin probably makes for good camouflage when it’s time to surface for air in the icy Arctic waters it calls home. But only the adults have the snowy flesh – beluga babies are born brownish-gray and gradually lighten as they age.
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 characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals? 1
Web Search
What is a Cetacean? What are differences between cetaceans? 2
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Pinnipeds? 3
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Sirenians? 4
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Mustelids? 5
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Polar Bears?
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 characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals? 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 characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals? 1
Web Search
What is a Cetacean? What are differences between cetaceans? 2
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Pinnipeds? 3
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Sirenians? 4
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Mustelids? 5
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Polar Bears?
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 characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals? 1
Web Search
What is a Cetacean? What are differences between cetaceans?
(Possible Search Queries: ”what is a cetacean” “types of cetaceans”)
From A Bing Search and About Education (
cetacean
[ siˈtāSHən ]
NOUN
a marine mammal of the order Cetacea; a whale, dolphin, or porpoise.
Difference Between Dolphins and Porpoises:
While dolphins and porpoises are very similar and people often use the term interchangeably, scientists generally agree that there are four major differences between dolphins and porpoises:
Dolphins have cone-shaped teeth while porpoises have flat or spade-shaped teeth.
Dolphins usually have a pronounced “beak,” while porpoises do not have a beak.
Dolphins generally have a very curved or hooked dorsal fin, while porpoises have a triangular dorsal fin.
Porpoises are generally smaller than dolphins.
To get even more specific, the term porpoise should also refer only to the seven species that are in the family Phocoenidae (harbor porpoise, vaquita, spectacled porpoise, Burmeister’s porpoise, Indo-Pacific finless porpoise, narrow-ridged finless porpoise and Dall’s porpoise.)

8. What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals? 2
Web Search
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Pinnipeds?
(Possible Search Queries: ”types of marine mammals”)
From About Education (
Pinnipeds
The word "pinniped" is Latin for wing- or fin-footed. Pinnipeds are found all over the world. The pinnipeds are in the order Carnivora and suborder Pinnipedia, which includes all the seals, sea lions and the walrus.
There are three families of pinnipeds: the Phocidae, the earless or ‘true’ seals; the Otariidae, the eared seals, and the Odobenidae, the walrus. These three families contain 33 species.

9. What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals? 3
Web Search
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Sirenians?
(Possible Search Queries: ”types of marine mammals”)
From About Education (
Sirenians
Sirenians are animals in the Order Sirenia, which includes manatees and dugongs, also known as "sea cows," probably because they graze on sea grasses and other aquatic plants. This order also contains the Steller's sea cow, which is now extinct.
The sirenians that remain are found along the coasts and inland waterways of the United States, Central and South America, West Africa, Asia and Australia.

10. What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals? 4
Web Search
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Mustelids?
(Possible Search Queries: ”types of marine mammals”)
From About Education (
Mustelids
The mustelids are the group of mammals that include weasels, martens, otters and badgers. Two species in this group are found in marine habitats - the sea otter (Enhydra lutris), which lives in Pacific coastal areas from Alaska to California, and in Russia, and the sea cat, or marine otter (Lontra felina), which lives along the Pacific coast of South America.

11. What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals? 5
Web Search
What are characteristics of the marine mammals classified as Polar Bears?
(Possible Search Queries: ”types of marine mammals”)
From About Education (
Polar Bears
Polar bears have webbed feet, are excellent swimmers, and prey primarily upon seals. They live in Arctic regions and are threatened by decreasing sea ice.

12. What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals
What characteristics distinguish cetaceans from other marine mammals? What are unique characteristics within this group of animals?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.