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.
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.6.1Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.2Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

2. What is a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?
© Stephanie Coffman/TandemStock
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 a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?
Despite the name, the Dallas Divide is a good 15-hour drive from the city in Texas. There’s a Dallas, Colorado, and this mountain pass connects it with Telluride, the former mining town-turned-ski resort. But on a grander, scenic scale, the Dallas Divide allows easy passage from the northern Uncompahgre Plateau to the San Juan mountain range in the south. This autumn view is near Ridgway, a small town close to Dallas. It’s been used as a location for filming Westerns, including the original film version of “True Grit.”
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 a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?1
Map Search
Find the Dallas Divide. Where does it begin? What happens to the road as it leaves Colorado? 2
Web Search
What is a mountain pass? What is its purpose? 3
How are mountain passes connected to geological activity in the earth? 4
Name three other mountain passes in the United States. 5
Are there mountain passes in other countries? Name one. What are other names for a mountain pass?
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 a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?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 a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?1
Map Search
Find the Dallas Divide. Where does it begin? What happens to the road as it leaves Colorado? 2
Web Search
What is a mountain pass? What is its purpose? 3
How are mountain passes connected to geological activity in the earth? 4
Name three other mountain passes in the United States. 5
Are there mountain passes in other countries? Name one. What are other names for a mountain pass?
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 a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?1
Map Search
Find the Dallas Divide. Where does it begin? What happens to the road as it leaves Colorado?
Using the “maps” link on the Bing search page, and the search term “Dallas Divide”, find this mountain pass here:
Students should follow the road where it begins (slightly east) and follow it west until it get to the Colorado border. They should see that the road splits before it leaves Colorado.

8. What is a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?2
Web Search
What is a mountain pass? What is its purpose?
(Possible queries: “what is a mountain pass” “mountain pass”)
From Hub Pages (
A mountain pass is defined as a path between two mountain peaks. Geographically speaking a mountain pass is a saddle point between two areas of higher elevations and makes a path for crossing between the chains of mountains.
Mountains usually act as barriers between the borders of two countries or cities, the mountain passes between the mountain ranges allow an access for from part of the land to the other.
Over the centuries the mountain passes have been used by the traders and various for travel and trade. Even today, these mountain passes are used for such purposes. Many of the mountain passes break the barriers between two countries making the passage clear for the travelers.

9. What is a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?3
Web Search
How are mountain passes connected to geological activity in the earth?
(Possible queries: “mountain pass” “mountain pass formation”)
From Wikipedia ( and (
Mountain passes make use of a gap, saddle or col (also sometimes a notch, the low point in a ridge).
A ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:-

10. What is a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?4
Web Search
Name three other mountain passes in the United States.
(Possible queries: “mountain passes United States”)
From Tourist Link (
Listed mountain passes include:
Dunraven Pass
Sylvan Pass
Marias Pass

11. What is a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?5
Web Search
Are there mountain passes in other countries? Name one. What are other names for a mountain pass?
(Possible queries: “mountain passes around the world”)
From Hub Pages (
Listed passes include:
The Great St.Bernard’s Pass - The great St Bernard’s pass is present in the western Alps located in Switzerland and Italy.
The Khardung La Pass - The Khardung la’s pass is located at the Ladakh range of the Himalayan ranges present in Jammu and Kashmir, India.
The Stelvio Pass - The Stelvio pass is Located in the Eastern Alps at Italy. Elevated at the height of 2757m it is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps and the second highest of the Alps.

12. What is a mountain pass? Why are these roads important?
This slide is a chance to summarize the information from the previous slides to build your final answer to the question.