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 coffeecue, 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.L B Use a colon to introduce a list or quotation.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

2. How are holidays created?
© KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features
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 holidays created?
Depending on who you talk with, today is Marine Day, Ocean Day, or Sea Day in Japan. No matter what you call it, it’s a day to reflect on how important the ocean is to the culture of Japan, an island nation. Though the roots of the holiday stretch back to 1876, it’s been a national holiday only since 1995.
For many, Marine Day offers a chance to visit the beach, such as Odaiba Marine Park on Tokyo Bay. The park offers a pastoral seaside respite from bustling Tokyo, and today, visitors may see paper lanterns lit on the shore as the sun goes down.
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 holidays created?1
Web Search
What are local holidays or festivals are in your area? What do they celebrate? How do people celebrate it? What is the significance of the date of the holiday? 2
Identify a holiday that is not celebrated in your area, but is in another city/state or country. What do they celebrate? How do people celebrate it? What is the significance of the date of the holiday? 3
How long does it take for a historical event to become a holiday? 4
Make a list of different reasons for holidays. 5
Thinking
What holiday do you think should exist but doesn’t. Why?
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 holidays created?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 holidays created?1
Web Search
What are local holidays or festivals are in your area? What do they celebrate? How do people celebrate it? What is the significance of the date of the holiday? 2
Identify a holiday that is not celebrated in your area, but is in another city/state or country. What do they celebrate? How do people celebrate it? What is the significance of the date of the holiday? 3
How long does it take for a historical event to become a holiday? 4
Make a list of different reasons for holidays. 5
Thinking
What holiday do you think should exist but doesn’t. Why?
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 holidays created?1
Web Search
What are local holidays or festivals are in your area? What do they celebrate? How do people celebrate it? What is the significance of the date of the holiday?
(Possible Search Queries: “___ holidays”, “local ____ holidays”, “____ festivals”)
Answers will vary. Students should find events that are celebrated locally, but not necessarily nationally.
Sources
Wikipedia:
Sample Answer: Cesar Chavez day is officially celebrated only in California and Texas. In California the holiday has officially existed prior to The date of March 31st commemorates the birthday of the farm workers leader Cesar Chavez. In California residents potentially remember the day with a day off of work and participate in remembrances of the civil rights leader.

8. How are holidays created?2
Web Search
Identify a holiday that is not celebrated in your area, but is in another city/state or country. What do they celebrate? How do people celebrate it? What is the significance of the date of the holiday?
Answers will vary. Students should look up towns or cities outside of their immediate town or in other states or counties.

9. How are holidays created?3
Web Search
How long does it take for a historical event to become a holiday?
(Possible Search Queries: “history holidays,” “Holiday Origins, ” “How are holidays created”)
Sources
History Channel:
Listverse:
Wikipedia:
Historical events do not necessarily need to be major events. Some holidays are a results of events that simply connected with pop culture. Groundhog day and Halloween are grounded in folklore, The 4th of July and Thanksgiving were based on historical events but not celebrated as such until years later. Federal holidays require an act of Congress to be recognized as such.

10. How are holidays created?4
Web Search
Make a list of different reasons for holidays.
(Possible Search Query: “list of holidays” )
Sources
Time and Date:
Reasons for different holidays: military victory, recognition of a significant historical figure, memorialization of an event, to recognize a group of people, religious events

11. How are holidays created?5
Thinking
What holiday do you think should exist but doesn’t. Why?
Answers will vary. Students should justify their choice as to a historical occurrence and why it is significant enough to be a holiday. Students should include references to substantiate their claims.

12. How are holidays created?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.