Mission Reports from Tibet

In our next drama session, the Agents arrived in Tibet and found out what Carmen was trying to steal: all of the stories of Tibetan Buddhism!!

They had only one hour to intercept and solve the clues that Carmen was leaving her agents! They had 3 clues to solve.

1. At the Yak Hotel in Lhasa they ordered vegetable momos (traditional Tibetan dumplings). As they were eating (yum!), they noticed that the bottom of the plates had scrambled letters on them! They had to work together quickly to unscramble the letters, sending them to...

2. Potala Palace, "West Hall". At the Potala Palace, the guards were only letting religion students into the West Hall. To prove they were studying Buddhism, the IDA agents were asked to draw a picture of one symbol or story of Buddhism. Thankfully, the guards were very impressed by their knowledge and let them in.

3. The next clue lead them to the sacred Nam-Tso Lake where they had to accomplish a difficult task as a team!

Hear all about this latest mission to Tibet from the Agents themselves!

First stop, Yak Hotel where Agents Karma, Tenzin, Dream, Jackson, and Mateo share the details.





What happened next? Listen to Agents Bryanna, Shams, Tajah and Lindsey and find out!




Agents Jose, Christopher, Julian, Tanner, Owen, and Andre tell more about Potala Palace.






The adventure continues at Lake Nam Tso, hear from Agents Spencer, Solomon, and Cormac!





And finally, hear more about how the Agents saved the day - straight from Agents Dolma, Lidija, and Willa!

Alexis: I.D.A. Mission to TIBET

Here is a report on our third InFlight drama session with the agents of the IDA.

Safely back on the yacht after our adventure in Kenya, the IDA agents had a debriefing of their mission. They had successfully foiled Carmen San Diego's plans to steal all of the trees of the Green Belt Movement (planted by Wangari Maathai and the women of Kenya) as well as the National Motto, "Harambe!", which means "to pull together". We discussed the kinds of things that Carmen likes to steal: very significant, large-scale things that are very important to a country. We also talked about how well we did as agents and how we could improve for our next mission. Ideas included listening better, paying attention to details, improving our tourist disguises, and thinking on our feet to come up with better answers when asked about who we are and what we're doing.

We were just about to have a little free time in the fitness and pool room, when an urgent message came in from Headquarters! They had intercepted a message from Carmen! The message said: "Same latitude as Cairo, Egypt". We got out our atlases and started making guesses as to what country it could be. Two more intercepted communications were retrieved. They were pictograms that we deciphered: "Roof of the World" and "Home of Snow". I think Karma, Tenzin, and Dolma knew where it was at this point! But, we all discussed the meaning of the messages and came to conclusion that there must be many mountains in this place. Just then, HQ called again. They had just hacked into one of Carmen's computers and were able to record the screen of one of the computers as a google search was happening. This was the google search of one of Carmen's agents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhPQxO6qbDE

They were very excited about this video and had lots of

ideas about what Carmen might be up to in Tibet! This was on April 27th, sowe knew that we had one week to get there. Headquarters sent us information about traveling in Tibet immediately. I read some information to the students about the very high altitude of Tibet and how most travelers need to take several days to rest and acclimate. We discussed how this would be impossible to do since when we would arrive on May 4th, we would only have a few hours to discover Carmen's plan. We decided we would need to be in excellent shape before we arrived! We got right to work. A team of agents started redesigning the fitness room. They drew up plans for rock climbing walls, high-tech tread-mills that simulate steep mountains, and even fake mountains with fog/snow machines and fans simulating the weather conditions in the Himalayas. Another group studied the symptoms and remedies for altitude sickness. Another team studied pictures of Mt. Everest climbers and made a list of all the supplies we would need should we have to do any Himalayan climbing while there. It was a very productive, exciting end to our 3rd drama session. Sally Sleuth told everyone she would head straight to Tibet to start sleuthing for clues. In the meantime, the agents would spend one week on the yacht, researching all the could about Tibet (and working out in the new fitness room!)

The following week, Alexis (Ingrid Investigator) prepared amazing centers for the students. They read books about hte Dalai Lama, they listened to recordings of Tibetan words (recorded by Tenzin, Dolma, and Karma), they listened to music, watched a video, and took a field trip to the Ruben Museum of Himalayan art where they heard many stories of Buddhism!

Stay tuned for the agent reports about what happened when they arrived on May 4th in Tibet!

I.D.A. Kenya: Mission Report on the Game Park, Marketplace, and Our Escape!

After our encounter at Casablanca, the clues led us to the Game Park. Hear all about what happened!

Agent Andre gives us the details:



Agent Tenzin tells us the story!



Agent Mateo gives us the report!




After solving the Game Park Puzzle, we were off to the Marketplace in Meru.

Check out Agent Dream's Report:



And finally, listen to Agent Tanner describe our daring escape!

I.D.A. Kenya: Mission Report on the Encounter at Casablanca Dance Club!

Hear firsthand from our agents about our encounter with Carmen's henchmen in the Casablanca Dance Club!

First, from Agent Christopher:



Now hear from Agent Owen:




Agent Bryanna tells her side of it:




Agent Lindsey fills in some details:




Agent Shams gives the play-by-play:




Agent Willa gives us the details!

I.D.A. Learning about Kenya

Listen to Agent Jose's report on Kenyan music. This information was absolutely invaluable to our agents when they were deep undercover in the Casablanca dance club!





Want to know more about food in Kenya? Check out Agent Cormac's report! The agent's used this information when they were tracking Carmen's agents in the Meru Marketplace.





Curious about the people of Kenya? Listen to Agent Dolma!

I.D.A. Mission in Kenya!

Last week, our agents successfully stopped Carmen from stealing the Trees of Kenya! Before they could tackle this mission, they researched and learned about the country. Read on to see our Field Reports on Kenya and our Mission Reports on how we stopped Carmen's nefarious plan!

Alexis: The International Detective Agency's New Recruits!

On Tuesday, April 13th, I started the InFlight residency with Alexis' class! Alexis, myself, and the students will be blogging about our adventures over the course of the next two months. Our social studies topic is World Communities. Here is what happened on the first day.

The students received a TOP SECRET manilla envelope addressed to 3rd and 4th grade students of the five boroughs (and their teachers). They were concerned that the envelope might have aroused curiosity from non-3rd and 4th graders and that it may have been tampered with. So I asked them to help with the story-telling and figure out a way that this could have been prevented. They came up with the idea that it was actually sealed with a finger-print scanner that would open only for the students of Alexis' class. Excellent thinking and problem-solving! Also, a great way to give them an early chance to co-create the drama, setting the stage for what is to come!

The envelope contained a DVD from Sally Slueth (myself) from the International Detective Agency explaining how 10 years ago the criminal mastermind, Carmen San Diego and her crew (you may have heard of her) went on a stealing spree around the globe, stealing such treasures as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Milky Way, the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, the Hip Hop music from NYC, the penguins from Antarctica and the Brooklyn Bridge. Fortunately detectives returned the stolen goods, but recent intercepted communications indicate that she is back and greedier and smarter than ever. A new generation of agents are needed to find out what she is up to, before it's too late! The students followed Sally Slueth's instructions to text message a code if they were interested in being interviewed. Luckily, they were all interested--whew!

Myself and Alexis were in role as Sally Slueth and Ingrid Investigator, the recruitment agents. We administered a series of tests to find out if the students were up to job including world geography questions and mapping skills. They also completed a language proficiency test, making a list of the word "hello" in as many languages as they could. We counted at least 25

different languages! In small groups, they were asked to create statues of world treasures with their bodies which included the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Pyramids, a space hotel, and the house of the Dalai Lama! They also had to answer why they, as a class would make great agents.

"We're very sneaky."

"We play alot of video games and some games are detective games so we are good mystery solvers."

"We did a mystery unit and solved mini mysteries."

"Because we listen."

"Because we have mixed grades and are from different places"

"We are smart"

"We are talented"

When Ingrid and I faxed the test scores to headquarters, the results came back with good news:

all the students were chosen as the new recruits! The chief also had a surprise for them: he was giving them a high speed yacht fully equipped with all the technology they would need. This way they could travel the world, following Carmen's trail. The chief named Ingrid Investigator the Captain, due to her extensive navigation experience.

These are the new recruits for the IDA and these are the recruits in their tourist disguises!

After we took a tour of the ship, we got a message from HQ! They had just intercepted some communications and needed us to figure them out immediately! We gathered in the stern of the boat (the captains room) and listened to a clip of music picked up from the background of a cell phone call. After listening several times, the students guessed that the music was from Africa. They got out their atlases again and from the following words, discovered that they think Carmen and her crew are headed to Kenya and will arrive in 7 days! "Equator, Coast, Lake Victoria, Nobel Peace Prize, Nairboi". The new agents mapped a route from NYC to the coast of Kenya through the Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and finally the Indian Ocean. I said good-bye to the agents, letting them know I would go to Kenya ahead of them and make arrangements for their arrival.

They will spend the next 4 days traveling to Kenya. On the yacht they will go through an intensive study of Kenya in order to be prepared with as much knowledge when they arrive next Tuesday. Alexis (Captain Ingrid) has outfitted the yacht with a music and language listening/learning center, a library, a map/geography center, articles on the daily life of Kenyans and many other resources. They should be experts by the time they arrive, disguised as tourists to catch Carmen before she strikes again!