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.
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.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

2. What makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?
© Staffan Widstrand/plainpicture
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 makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?
After the spring thaw and through the summer, arctic foxes shed the pure-white coat they grow for camouflage during the winter. Their warm-weather fur can vary from a dingy brown and gray to a more charcoal shade.
An arctic fox family can include older siblings who were born the year before the new litter of kits. And often, while mom is out hunting for food for her newborns, the big sisters and brothers keep an eye on the rowdy new kits.
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 makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?1
Web Search
Where do arctic foxes live? What is the temperature like in most of these places? 2
What is an animal adaptation? Do humans have adaptations too? What is an example of one? 3
How is the outermost layer on the body of an arctic fox different from the outermost layer on the human body? 4
How is the circulation in the body of an arctic fox different from the circulation inside the human body? 5
How is the shape of the body of an arctic fox different from our own bodies? How does this help them keep warm?
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 makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?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 makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?1
Web Search
Where do arctic foxes live? What is the temperature like in most of these places? 2
What is an animal adaptation? Do humans have adaptations too? What is an example of one? 3
How is the outermost layer on the body of an arctic fox different from the outermost layer on the human body? 4
How is the circulation in the body of an arctic fox different from the circulation inside the human body? 5
How is the shape of the body of an arctic fox different from our own bodies? How does this help them keep warm?
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 makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?1
Web Search
Where do arctic foxes live? What is the temperature like in most of these places?
(Possible queries: “where do arctic foxes live?”, “what temperatures do arctic foxes live in?” , “how cold is it in the arctic?”).
From
The arctic fox has a circumpolar range, meaning that it is found throughout the entire Arctic, including the outer edges of Greenland, Russia, Canada, Alaska, and Svalbard, as well as in Subarctic and alpine areas, such as Iceland and mainland alpine Scandinavia.
And
The High Arctic is a polar desert-the coldest and driest landscape in the Arctic area, and it is one of the harshest environments in the world! The temperature averages below freezing year-round, with an average annual temperature of only -14°C / 7°F.

8. What makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?2
Web Search
What is an animal adaptation? Do humans have adaptations too? What is an example of one?
(Possible queries: “for kids, what is an animal adaptation?”, “define: adaptation”, “how do adaptations help animals?”, “example of human adaptation to environment”).
From and
Adaptations are body features and habits that enable a living thing to live comfortably in its natural surroundings. Because humans are also living things, they have developed adaptations over the years that helps them to live comfortably in their surroundings. An example of a human adaptation (in this case, a genetic solution to an environmental stress) is our ability to produce sweat as an aid in cooling our bodies in hot environments.  It is not surprising that we have this capability because our immediate prehuman ancestors were tropical animals.

9. What makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?3
Web Search
How is the outermost layer on the body of an arctic fox different from the outermost layer on the human body?
(Possible queries: “arctic fox, adaptations to survive in cold temperatures”, “arctic fox fur”, “arctic fox adaptations”).
From
The entire body of the Arctic fox is covered with thick fur. In fact, the fur of this species is said to the warmest of any mammal on the planet, - including the polar bear with whom it shares its habitat.
Students should contrast this with human beings, whose bodies are covered in skin (and some hair), but not fur.

10. What makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?4
Web Search
How is the circulation in the body of an arctic fox different from the circulation inside the human body?
(Possible queries: “arctic fox, adaptations to survive in cold temperatures”, “arctic fox circulation”).
From
The arctic fox has a system in its body wherein there is countercurrent exchange of heat which is attributed to circulation of blood and adequate amount of adipose tissues.
Students should compare this to what they know about the human body and understand that arctic foxes have a different circulation system with a countercurrent exchange of heat and more adipose tissue.

11. What makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?5
Web Search
How is the shape of the body of an arctic fox different from our own bodies? How does this help them keep warm?
(Possible queries: “arctic fox, adaptations to survive in cold temperatures”, “arctic fox body shape, warmth”).
From
The size and body shape of Arctic fox have a crucial role to play in maintaining its body temperature. It has a small and round body - with a short muzzle and thick ears, which reduces its exposure to cold and minimizes heat loss. Its furry tail doesn't just help it when it comes to balance and camouflage, but also acts as a warm blanket when it sleeps. The arctic fox has even adapted its feet to survive in the harsh winter climate of the Arctic with the fur on the bottom of its feet providing it protection from the ice while walking or digging the ground.

12. What makes an arctic fox better able to survive cold temperatures than you?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question. Students should pull together the information they have gathered to understand that like humans, arctic foxes have developed adaptations over time to live comfortably in their natural environments. Arctic foxes live in environments where the temperature averages below freezing. To adjust to this, their bodies are small and round which reduces surface area and minimizes heat loss. They also have an unusual circulation system with a countercurrent exchange of heat. Unlike humans, their bodies are also covered in thick fur.