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.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.7.3Analyze 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. How are the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?
© Jan Vermeer/Minden Pictures
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 the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?
Five to six months after they hatch, emperor penguin chicks will have molted to lose their fluffy chick down and begin to take on the more traditional “tuxedo” coat seen on adult penguins. Once fully grown, they’re the largest penguin species -- the tallest males can reach nearly 4 feet and weighing 80 pounds or more.
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 the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?1
Web Search
Define metamorphosis 2
Distinguish between the terms “literal” and “figurative” 3
Find an animal that represents the literal scientific meaning of “metamorphosis”. What does this process look like for the animal? 4
Thinking
Think about an example of the figurative meaning of metamorphosis that, perhaps, a human undergoes. 5
Summarize the overall goals of the process of metamorphosis, whether literal or figurative.
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 the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?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 the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?1
Web Search
Define metamorphosis 2
Distinguish between the terms “literal” and “figurative” 3
Find an animal that represents the literal scientific meaning of “metamorphosis”. What does this process look like for the animal? 4
Thinking
Think about an example of the figurative meaning of metamorphosis that, perhaps, a human undergoes. 5
Summarize the overall goals of the process of metamorphosis, whether literal or figurative.
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 the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?1
Web Search
Define metamorphosis
Possible queries: “what is metamorphosis” “define metamorphosis”
From Animal Facts (
Metamorphosis is the process in which an animal undergoes a noticeable changes in its physical appearance as it moves from one stage of its life to another.
Animals that commonly undergo metamorphosis include insects and amphibians.
Some species of fish also undergo metamorphosis.

8. How are the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?2
Web Search
Distinguish between the terms “literal” and “figurative”
Possible queries: “define literal” “define figurative” “literal vs. figurative”
From Difference Between (
Literal language expresses something in a clear and particular way making it very easy to comprehend. Examples are the definitions of words in dictionaries which mean exactly as how they are defined. It does not involve any sequential processes to get the actual meaning of words in literal language.
“Figurative language,” on the other hand, refers to words or group of words that alter the usual meaning and concept of the words. It departs from the literal meanings of words to get a special meaning or effect.

9. How are the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?3
Web Search
Find an animal that represents the literal scientific meaning of “metamorphosis”. What does this process look like for the animal?
Possible queries: “animal metamorphosis”
From Wise Geek (
One of the most popular conceptions of metamorphosis is the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. This has long been seen culturally as a metaphor for transformation and rebirth, the emergence of a beautiful butterfly from an ugly caterpillar.

10. How are the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?4
Thinking
Think about an example of the figurative meaning of metamorphosis that, perhaps, a human undergoes.
Students should consider the scientific definition of “metamorphosis” and consider how this process could relate to a human figuratively

11. How are the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?5
Thinking
Summarize the overall goals of the process of metamorphosis, whether literal or figurative.
Students should summarize metamorphosis

12. How are the literal and figurative meanings of metamorphosis represented in daily life?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.