We have recently been invited to take several classes on virtual visits to places we have visited in real life.
The first tours were to Egypt.
We showed the classes pictures of some of the temples, tombs, and other places of interest.

I tried to convey my excitement when I first touched a pyramid, something I had only seen in pictures from when I was a kid.
"It's real!    It is really big!    I knew it would be but it is bigger than I imagined!"


Here Ramesses the Great is depicted as symbolically uniting Upper and Lower Egypt by tying papyrus reeds, representing Upper with lotus stems representing Lower.
Both figures are the same pharaoh.who is represented as a god in other similar carvings.


Here are some of the kids imagining what it  would be like to be there.
 

Among the topics we discussed was the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut and the rule of the first significant female pharaoh.


And of course Tutankhamun also spelled Tutankhamen and several other ways.
Who was famous not because he was an important ruler but because his rather small tomb had not been looted before it was discovered by archaeologists in 1922.


For what they saw and a lot more you can go to our web site here but come back to see another of our virtual trips.

Second graders are getting ready to go to Africa.


it appears that a wild beast is already in the classroom.
The plant on the table is an African Onion we gave to the class.
It is a long vine that grows from a large bulb that superficially resembles an onion.


Everyone likes babies, even hippo babies.


The kids were looking at a gemsbok, also called an oryx.


It is one of the largest antelopes.
It is about 4 feet tall at the sholder and can weigh up to 660 pounds.
The little one in the next picture is a full grown dik-dik.  It is about 12 inches tall and weighs 12 pounds.


We visited a class in Uganda.
Most of them were wearing the school uniform, striped shirts.
One of our group passed out stickers that the kids in the class had fun putting on each other's foreheads.


Most of the kids came to school in a boat.
It looks full but there were about 9 more kids to pack on board.


A warthog came into our camp in the Serengeti


In the Ngorongoro Crater we saw this hyena and her baby.


Further on this lion showed her offspring how to kill a zebra.
Then they all had it for lunch.

A different lion came close enough to me that I could have touched it.
The kids in the class didn't think that would have been a good idea ... and neither did I.

The kids were fascinated with the handicrafts that people in Zimbabwe had made.

We met a rhinoceros  named  Gumboots while we were walking.
It was very peaceful and you can see we were able to get very close.
It just wanted to take a nap.
Unfortunately we learned that a few months after our visit Gumboots was shot and killed by a poacher who wanted his horn.
Some people think that the horn can be used for a medicine. 
They are wrong.  It can not cure anything.


In Botswana this man taught me how to make a bow and arrow and then gave me a lesson in how to use them to hunt.


Here are the bow and arrows.
The bowstring is made from fiber from a plant the bushmen find in the forest.
The tips of the arrows were made from bone from a giraffe or from a bit of metal they salvaged.


The kids had a great time imagining they were with us in Africa and what they would find there.

It looks like we have a herd of antelope with a couple of elephants judging by the horns and big ears.


We hope that the kids learned a lot about the places we visited and that our virtual visit will inspire them to someday really go there.