Teacher Edition | View the Map
Week of January 5, 2025
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When our flight arrived at the gate in Cairo (2 weeks ago), our cell phone started ringing. It was Uncle GT calling. He told us that he was waiting at our arrival gate. Given some past events, he was concerned for our safety in Cairo, so he investigated himself and learned that Mr. V was not staying in Cairo but only connecting there to a flight to Morocco. Mr. V was on his way to Morocco. So Uncle GT, Geo, and I returned to the ticketing agent to get the next flight to Morocco.
Even though we didn't stay in Egypt, Geo and I learned much about the country. Egypt is located on the northeastern side of Africa. Egypt has various levels of altitude. Altitude simply means how high land is above (or below) sea level. And in Egypt, the lowest altitude is found in the Libyan Desert. The altitude of this desert is 436 feet below sea level. The highest altitude is found at Mount Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula. At Mount Catherine, the altitude is 8,600 feet above sea level. Holy Idaho! I remember that Denver was called the "Mile High City" because it was 5,280 feet (a mile) above sea level. 8,600 feet is a lot higher than Denver! Most of Egypt is covered by the Sahara Desert. Holy Idaho! Did you know that human beings couldn't exist in Egypt without the Nile River? I wonder why?
- Meri
This picture shows the Citadel Mosque, a famous landmark in Cairo.
Egyptian Pyramids!
Downtown Cairo (and the beautiful Nile River)
Airpano
Visit this site to see a virtual tour of the pyramids in Cairo, Egypt. Holy Idaho! They are amazing!!
We also flew over Algeria. Algeria is the second largest country in Africa (the largest country in Africa is Sudan). Algeria is about three times the size of Texas. Wow, that is one big country! Algeria has more arable land than in Libya (about 3% of the land). Algeria also has more natural resources than Libya: zinc, petroleum, iron ore, natural gas, phosphates, lead, and uranium. Nearly all Algerians (99%) are Sunni Muslims, while 1% is Christian or Jewish. The official language of Algeria is Arabic. We have learned so much about so many neat places on this mission.
- Geo
Here is a rock formation found in Algeria.
Check out this cool road and bridge picture that I found (taken in Algeria).
Map of Africa
What cardinal direction did we travel going from Egypt to Morocco? What five African countries form the northern border of Africa?
Yesterday was the big day! Mr. V flew into the capital city of Morocco (Rabat). Since we did not have a ticket, the agent would not let us enter the airport's main terminal. So, we had to wait in the baggage claim area. Finally, we saw him walk through the doors and stand by the belt to watch for his luggage. Geo walked over and stood next to him for a few minutes. Then he casually told Mr. V that he looked just like a man we met in Ethiopia. The man looked startled and said, "no speak English." We knew he was lying, but he didn't know we were onto him. So we told him that we must be mistaking him for someone else.
We decided to follow Mr. V and prove that he understood English and that he was the bodyguard in Ethiopia. We kept a close watch on Mr. V. When he got into a taxi outside of the baggage claim area, we jumped in the taxi behind him and said, "follow the taxi in front of us." We pulled up to a beautiful hotel in downtown Rabat. We lucked out and were close enough to the reservations desk to hear Mr. V talking to the receptionist (IN ENGLISH)!
When he turned around to head to his hotel room, he saw us standing there. He quickly looked the other way, but Geo stopped him. We asked him why he said he didn't speak English when we had just heard him speaking English to the receptionist. He told us that he didn't want to be bothered by "kids." We told him we weren't going away until we discovered what was happening. So he sat down and told us the truth (or at least the information he knows).
Mr. Vuhn (aka Mr. V) was hired by the Equators to be their bodyguard in Ethiopia. He thought they worked for the Canadian government. When we visited the village in Ethiopia, he realized that he was working for crooks that had dog-napped Dewey.
Mr. Vuhn approached the Equators about Dewey, and they denied everything. Later that evening, Mr. Vuhn heard loud barking coming from the mud hut the Equators were staying in at Abuye. When he arrived at the hut, the Equators were in a taxi (with Dewey). The Equators owed Mr. Vuhn $2,000 for his services - which they never paid! Holy Idaho! So now Mr. Vuhn is looking for the Equators, too. He wants his $2,000, and he wants to rescue Dewey. So we decided that the three of us would work together.
- Meri
This picture shows one of the bay areas of the Straits of Gibraltar.
Here is a beautiful waterfall (found in the Straits of Gibraltar).
The land of Morocco.
Rabat, Morocco - Virtual Tour
Take a virtual tour of this beautiful city.
We have a few days off to enjoy the country before the Equators arrive on Monday. Uncle GT plans to show us around New Zealand. He has been there many times. Take a look at the attached map and tell us what cardinal direction we should travel going from Morocco to New Zealand. Be prepared; our map doesn't have Morocco labeled (remember that Morocco is bordered by Spain - across the Straits of Gibraltar and Algeria).
- Geo
This is the view from Mr. Vuhn's hotel balcony (in Morocco).
altitude - how high land is above (or below) sea level.
arable - land that can be used to grow crops.
cardinal direction - a term used to describe all four primary directions (north, south, east and west).
natural resources - any substance that is made by nature and used to enhance the lives of living things. Some examples of natural resources include sunlight, minerals, soil, and water.
Straits - narrow passageways that connect two larger bodies of water.
Straits of Gibraltar - The Straits of Gibraltar connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.
Back to topAdditional Web Resources:
Exploring Africa
Exploring Africa brings Africa into your classroom through numerous interdisciplinary lessons. There are 20 modules (within 4 general units of study). The general units include "Why Study Africa," "Studying Africa Through the Social Studies," "Studying Africa Through the Humanities," and "Regional Perspectives." Each module contains a teacher version that includes objectives, focus questions, activities, background information, and more.
Grade 3-5: Knows the basic elements of maps and globes (title, legend, cardinal, scale, grid, meridians, time zones, etc.).
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 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.
Grade 3-5: Knows different methods to measure data (miles, kilometers, time, etc..).
Grade 6-8: Understands distributions of physical and human occurrences with respect to spatial patterns, arrangements, and associations (e.g. why some areas are more densely settled than others).
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).
Grade 6-8: Knows the physical characteristics of places (soil, vegetation, wildlife, etc..).
Grade 3-5: Knows the characteristics of a variety of regions (climate, housing, religion, language, etc..).
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 6-8: Understands the symbolic importance of capital cities (such as Canberra, a planned city, as the capital of Australia).
Grade 3-5: Knows how communities benefit from the physical environment (e.g., people make their living by farming on fertile land, fishing in local water, working in mines; the community is a port located on a natural harbor, a tourist center located in a scenic or historic area, an industrial center with good access to natural resources).