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.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

2. What is the typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store).
© David Noton 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. What is the typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store).
In Luang Prabang, a city in northern Laos, most silk is still woven by hand, using methods refined over the centuries. These silkworm cocoons, always from the species Bombyx mori, will go from natural wonders to handcrafted textiles.
The silkworm has become so specialized over years of careful breeding that the insect no longer lives in the wild. All silkworms must now be reared by humans.
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 typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store). 1
Web Search
Where do silkworms come from? How do they hatch? 2
How do silkworms create silk? 3
How do silk fibers get turned into clothing? 4
Map Search
The silk pictured here is from Luang Prabang, a city in northern Laos, where most silk is created by hand. In what direction would the silk need to travel to get to the United States? 5
Where do most of the clothes sold in the U.S. come from? Is it likely that a silk fiber made in Laos would end up in a clothing store here?
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 typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store). 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 typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store). 1
Web Search
Where do silkworms come from? How do they hatch? 2
How do silkworms create silk? 3
How do silk fibers get turned into clothing? 4
Map Search
The silk pictured here is from Luang Prabang, a city in northern Laos, where most silk is created by hand. In what direction would the silk need to travel to get to the United States? 5
Where do most of the clothes sold in the U.S. come from? Is it likely that a silk fiber made in Laos would end up in a clothing store here?
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 typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store). 1
Web Search
Where do silkworms come from? How do they hatch?
(Possible queries: “how do silkworms hatch?”, “where do silkworms come from?”, “life cycle of a silk worm”).
From
Eggs incubate for about 10 days before hatching into small worms about 1/4 inch long. The worm eats continuously for about six weeks and gains 10,000 times its hatching weight. It begins to spin a cocoon after six weeks, which takes about eight days to complete. After the cocoon is made, the worms transform into moths and emerge from the cocoon after three weeks. After hatching, the moths mate and lay eggs. The moths do not eat, and die soon after mating. The silk from the silkworms is comprised of the fibers the worms use to create their cocoon before transforming into a moth.

8. What is the typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store). 2
Web Search
How do silkworms create silk?
(Possible queries: “how do silkworms create silk?”, “how do silkworms make silk?”).
From
Silk production is nothing but one out of the several stages through which the silkworm goes through during its life cycle, finally unraveling the most desired and loved silk thread out of a cocoon. A cocoon is a protective case or shell that the silkworm spins around itself. A silkworm stops eating when it is ready to enter the pupal stage and spin the cocoon. The pupal stage is when the larval structures of the silkworm are broken down forming adult structures and the caterpillar gets transformed into a moth. The cocoon helps the worm to stay protected from the harsh and unfriendly weather conditions. Hence, usually the insects spin a cocoon around themselves at the start of winter, and spend the entire season inside the cocoon without the need for food and water. This stage is often referred to as the sleeping stage of the silkworm. The cocoon is made of silk, which is spun from a pair of specially modified salivary glands known as sericteries. These sericteries are used for the production of fibroin, a creamy, soft, clear fluid that is released from the insect's mouth. The cocoon is formed or spun from a single thread of silky fluid, which solidifies after coming into contact with air. The silk thread formed out of one entire cocoon is around 300 m long, and a silkworm takes 3 to 4 days to spin the cocoon completely. The worm rotates itself in the direction that forms the number 8.

9. What is the typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store). 3
Web Search
How do silk fibers get turned into clothing?
(Possible queries: “how does clothing get made from silk fibers?”, “how is silk turned into clothing?”).
From
Farmers deliver the cocoons to special factories called filatures. This is where cocoons are turned into silk threads through a four-step process. The cocoons are first sorted by color, size, shape and texture. Then the sericin or silk gum holding the cocoon's filaments together is softened by alternating hot and cold immersions. Next, the silk filaments are unwound and, because individual filaments are too fine for commercial production, several strands are reeled together in lengths of 300 to 600 meters, or approximately 984 to 1,968 feet. Finally, the reeled filament is wound into skeins, which are bundled into bales and shipped to silk mills. The silk thread is woven into fabric using hand or power looms at the mills.

10. What is the typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store). 4
Map Search
The silk pictured here is from Luang Prabang, a city in northern Laos, where most silk is created by hand. In what direction would the silk need to travel to get to the United States?
(Possible queries: “Bing/Maps: Luang Prabang”, “Bing/Maps: Laos”).
From
Students should find the location of Luang Prabang on a map and then zoom out until they can see it in relationship to where they currently are. Students should practice map reading skills and use the compass rose to determine that the silk from this part of the world would need to travel northwest in order to reach the United States.

11. What is the typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store). 5
Web Search
Where do most of the clothes sold in the U.S. come from? Is it likely that a silk fiber made in Laos would end up in a clothing store here?
(Possible queries: “where do the clothes sold in the U.S. come from?”, “where are the clothes in U.S. stores made?”).
From
Ann Taylor Loft: China, Hong Kong, Indonesia (2), Siapan (usa), Vietnam Anthropologie: Taiwan, USA, India GAP: Hong Kong (3), Phillipines H&M: Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, India, Turkey J Crew: USA, China, Hong Kong (2), Hungary, Malaysia, Turkey Kohl’s: USA, India Marshall Fields (now Macy’s):England, Honduras Nordstrom: India, China, USA, Hong Kong, Mexico (all these items were $ dollars) Old Navy: Cambodia (2), China (3), Colombia, El Salvador (3), Indonesia, Mexico, Moldova, Peru, Philippines (2), Turkey, Vietnam (everything from Old Navy was under $30, hello $8 T-Shirts) Target Cherokee: Bahrain Target Merona: China (2), Guatemala, UK Target Mossimo: Guatemala (3), Vietnam Victoria’s Secret: Mexico 
Students should find a website like the one above to look at statistics about where the clothes sold in the U.S. are from. They should notice that Laos is not listed as a country where any of these major clothing stores get their clothes from but that doesn’t mean no clothes are manufactured here. (In fact, many countries that are neighbors to Laos are listed here, so there’s a chance some stores do get their clothes from Laos, even if they are lesser known stores). Students should also think about the possibility that silk worms might be sent from Laos to some of these countries, who then make clothes from the silk threads that are produced.

12. What is the typical journey of a silk fiber
What is the typical journey of a silk fiber? (From its creation to being part of a scarf in a U.S. clothing store).
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 give an overview of how silk is created and transformed. They should understand that silk worms, when they’re a few weeks old, spend over a week spinning a cocoon and that this cocoon is made out of silk threads. These cocoons are then delivered to factories and the threads are are woven into fabric with looms. This fabric would then be made into a scarf or garment and might travel to the United States to be sold in a store.