Globetracker's Mission: Finding Dewey

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Teacher Edition | View the Map

Week of November 3, 2024

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Monday

In our last post, we shared the mysterious text that Uncle GT received. If you don't remember, we can share it again.

Text Message to Agent GT: I have Dewey. We r in Mexico - gl finding us. Hehehe. YDKM - Dewey is OK. GGN - Ms. E.

We weren't sure where to begin our search, so we asked you in our last blog post to help us to decide. Most of our readers said we should begin in Mexico City. I think you all were wise to start our investigation in Mexico City since it is the capital and a very busy city. During our journey, Geo and I studied maps of Mexico and did some research about the country. I never realized how large the country of Mexico is! It is 2,000,000 square kilometers. It would take about 8 million children lying down from head to toe to cover the perimeter of this large country. The official language spoken is Spanish. An astonishing 89% of Mexican residents are Roman Catholic. Holy Idaho! If you want to purchase something in Mexico, you don't use dollars but instead, use Mexican Pesos. The climate of Mexico varies from tropical to desert. The coast and lowlands are hot and humid for 12 months of the year. The interior highlands are milder and drier but do get cooler in the winter months.

Mexico has two large bodies of water that surround most of the country. Can you look at the map (I posted the link below) and figure out what the two large bodies of water are? On the eastern coast, you will find the beautiful Gulf of Mexico. On the western coast, you will find the equally breathtaking Pacific Ocean. A small part of Mexico (called the Yucatan Peninsula) is also bordered by another large body of water - the Caribbean Sea. Can you find Phoenix on this map? Holy Idaho! I never realized that I lived so close to Mexico.

- Meri

Map including Phoenix and Mexico
Can you find Phoenix on this map? What cardinal direction would you travel to go from Phoenix to Mexico? Does this map include a scale? If so, about how many miles are between Phoenix and Mexico?

Virtual Tour of Mexico City
Take a virtual tour of Mexico City and visit about ten famous locations.

Tuesday

Uncle GT called us early this morning, and they traced the location of where the text was sent from the mysterious Ms. E. It was near the Caribbean Coast of Mexico. We arrived on the Caribbean Coast after a LONG ride in a taxi van. The Caribbean Coast of Mexico is on the Yucatan Peninsula. A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three or more sides (but is not an island). The Yucatan Peninsula is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. We just arrived in Cancun (one of the more popular coastal cities). Our hotel is amazing - there are 4 pools! I took a picture of the city and posted it at the end of this post. The tropical area of Cancun is one of the world's most sunny climates. During the months of September, October, and November, the Yucatan Peninsula does have occasional strong winds and rain - sometimes even hurricanes. The yearly average temperature is 78 degrees Fahrenheit (25.5 degrees Celsius). After taking a long swim in the sea, Meri and I decided to go visit another thing that makes Mexico amazing - the ancient ruins. We took a bus tour to Chichen Itza, the largest of the Mayan ruins. The Mayans were a native civilization that was here long before Spanish explorers arrived, and their art and influence remain among the people who live in nearby regions today. The ruins are also on the Yucatan Peninsula, so it was a short ride. The ruins go back as far as the 7th century - that is, the 600's! There was no sign of Dewey on the Caribbean coast so far. We are still waiting to hear an update from Uncle GT. But we are learning a lot while we wait.

- Geo

The view of Cancun from our hotel balcony!

Chichen Itza - the largest of the Mayan Ruins

Visit Chichen Itza - Virtually
This virtual tour offers many video clips about the ruins.

Thursday

While we are waiting for more leads on Dewey, we wanted to tell you something that we learned about Mexico City. The fascinating fact is that Mexico City is the highest in North America. Can you believe that? I guess there is a city that is higher than the Mile-High city of Denver (remember we flew over Denver last week). Mexico City is about 7,200 feet above sea level. Remember that Denver was 5,280 feet above sea level.

Pandora to us: RUOK? WAYN - Mexico? Saw your blog post photo. U2 at the beach?

Us to Pandora: Yes, in Mexico. TTYL

- Geo

Friday

After an exciting few days in Mexico, we are now in Central America (Guatemala). Central America is also part of the North American continent. We flew on a commuter airplane to Guatemala. Earlier today, we received the following text message from Uncle GT.

Text Message from Uncle GT: HT - have news on Dewey. Head to the cap. of Guatemala ASAP.

So what is the capital city of Guatemala? Geo figured that out quickly - the capital city of Guatemala is Guatemala City. I did some research about Guatemala during our flight. Did you know Guatemala has active volcanoes, Mayan ruins, and even earthquakes? Wow, this is one busy country.

Okay - you are not going to believe what happened! As we pulled up to our hotel, we saw another taxi drive by us. Guess who was in that taxi - a dog with a striking resemblance to Dewey, and he was with a woman in some sort of uniform! About 5-minutes later, we received a phone call on our cell from an unknown number. The female caller said, "I know that you two geography sleuths saw Dewey. We are on our way out of the city and heading to the ocean waves. Stop following us - Dewey is in no danger. He is necessary for our current project. GO BACK HOME." And then she hung up the phone.

Holy Idaho! The first thing we did was called Uncle GT. He said to travel west towards the coast. He had reason to believe they are heading to South America. We are taking a cruise; I can't wait - I have never been aboard a ship. The ship stops at several ports, but Uncle GT has told us that he believes that Dewey could only be heading to Brazil, Argentina, or Chile based on some research from his department. Which one should we investigate first?

We need your help - where should our investigation in South America begin?

- Meri

Guatemala City Walking Tour
Take a walking tour around Guatemala City.

Map of Central America and South America
Use this map to help us to decide where to go next.

Vocabulary Terms:

cardinal direction - a term used to describe all four primary directions (north, south, east and west).

peninsula - a piece of land that is bordered by water (on three or more sides), but is not an island. A peninsula is attached to a larger body of land but sticks out into the water.

scale - shows the relationship between the distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the earth. For example, 1 inch may equal 500 miles. This allows users to calculate the approximate distance between two locations on a map.

Additional Web Resources:

Travel for Kids - Mexico
This website is another great site for kids! The website includes a book list of stories that are purposeful to read to your students all about Mexico.

Standards for this episode:

Understands the characteristics and uses of maps, globes, and other geographical tools and technologies.

Grade 3-5: Knows the basic elements of maps and globes (title, legend, cardinal, scale, grid, meridians, time zones, etc.).

Knows the location of places, geographical features, and patterns of the environment.

Grade 3-5: Knows major physical and human features of places as they are represented on maps and globes. Knows how to read different maps: road, relief, globe, etc..

Grade 3-5: Knows the location of major cities in North America.

Grade 3-5: Knows the approximate location of major continents, mountain ranges, and bodies of water on Earth.

Grade 6-8: Knows the location of physical and human features on maps and globes (e.g., culture hearths such as Mesopotamia, Huang Ho, the Yucatan Peninsula, the Nile Valley; major ocean currents; wind patterns; land forms; climate regions).

Grade 6-8: Knows the relative location of, size of, and distances between places.

Understands the characteristics and uses of spatial organization of Earth's surface.

Grade 3-5: Knows different methods to measure data (miles, kilometers, time, etc..).

Understands the physical and human characteristics of a place.

Grade 6-8: Knows the human characteristics of places (e.g., cultural characteristics such as religion, language, politics, technology, family structure, gender; population characteristics; land uses; levels of development).

Understands the concept of regions.

Grade 3-5: Knows the characteristics of a variety of regions (climate, housing, religion, language, etc..).

Grade 6-8: Understands criteria that give a region identity (such as Amsterdam as a transportation center or the Sunbelt's warm climate and popularity with retired people).

Understands that culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions.

Grade 6-8: Knows how places and regions serve as cultural symbols (Opera House in Sydney or Tower Bridge in London).

Knows the physical processes that shape patterns on Earth's surfaces.

Grade 3-5: Knows the physical components of Earth's atmosphere (weather and climate), lithosphere (land forms such as mountains), hydrosphere (oceans, lakes and rivers), and biosphere (vegetation and biomes).

Grade 3-5: Knows significant historical achievements of various cultures of the world (e.g., the Hanging Gardens or Babylon, the Taj Mahal in India, pyramids in Egypt, temples in ancient Greece, bridges and aqueducts in ancient Rome).

Understands the forces of cooperation and conflict that shape the divisions of Earth's surface.

Grade 6-8: Understands the symbolic importance of capital cities (such as Canberra, a planned city, as the capital of Australia).

Understands how physical systems affect human systems.

Grade 3-5: Knows natural hazards that occur in the physical environment (floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc..).