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 BingInTheClassroom@Microsoft.com. You can learn more about the program at bing.com/classroom and follow the daily lessons on the Microsoft Educator Network. BingInTheClassroom@Microsoft.combing.com/classroomMicrosoft 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. Skype in the Classroom another class take a Skype lesson invite a guest speaker MSN Travel App 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.7.1Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.2Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.3Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.

2. © Matthew Kuhns/Tandem Stills + Motion How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water? © Andrei Duman/Tandem Stills + Motion

3. More than 200 miles north of Los Angeles sits the mostly dry remnants of Owens Lake. Once covering more than 100 square miles, the lake became L.A.’s primary water source beginning in the early 20 th century. Diverting water to the distant city was a point of controversy from the very start, launching the “water wars” later dramatized in the 1974 film ‘Chinatown.’ The issues have become even more contested as Owens Lake has gradually dried into a salt flat, with only enough water to support migratory birds and the salt-loving microorganisms that can cause the water to look pink and sometimes red. Despite the desolation, Owens Lake has generated new activity. Dust from the lakebed has plagued surrounding communities for decades, becoming so bad that in the late 1990s the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) agreed to help fund and operate the “dust mitigation” project that continues to this day. That strip of gray in this photo is a road across the lakebed, offering access to dust mitigation sites (one of which is seen at the right of this image). Across 27 square miles, LADWP equipment floods the lakebed to keep the wind from picking up minute particles and blowing them around in such volumes that Owens Lake has become the single largest source of dust pollution in the United States. Other efforts to stave off the dust include planting native salt grasses to hold the topsoil in place. How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?

4. 1 Web Search What is a drought in relation to water? Are there other meanings of drought that don’t necessarily have to do with water? 2 News Search Find information on water droughts that are happening in the United States today. 3 Web Search What are primary causes of drought? How are current droughts connected to climate change? 4 Web Search What are the dangers of prolonged drought in any part of the world? 5 Thinking Can you imagine not having access to water consistently? Do you use water as if it will never run out? How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?

5. 5 Minutes How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?

6. 1 Web Search What is a drought in relation to water? Are there other meanings of drought that don’t necessarily have to do with water? 2 News Search Find information on water droughts that are happening in the United States today. 3 Web Search What are primary causes of drought? How are current droughts connected to climate change? 4 Web Search What are the dangers of prolonged drought in any part of the world? 5 Thinking Can you imagine not having access to water consistently? Do you use water as if it will never run out? How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?

7. 1 Web Search What is a drought in relation to water? Are there other meanings of drought that don’t necessarily have to do with water? How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?

8. 2 News Search Find information on water droughts that are happening in the United States today. How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?

9. 3 Web Search What are primary causes of drought? How are current droughts connected to climate change? How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?

10. 4 Web Search What are the dangers of prolonged drought in any part of the world? How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?

11. 5 Thinking Can you imagine not having access to water consistently? Do you use water as if it will never run out? How would your life be different if you did not have regular access to water?