Our theme this year at Blythe is "Around the World in 180 days!"  Montague the Bear will give clues each morning from a French or Spanish country.  Students will try to guess which country Montague is visiting that week, and will drop their answers in a special box in the Media Center.  A winner will be drawn each Friday.

Monday, September 28, 2009 - This French-speaking country is found in the heart of Africa and is about the size of the state of Texas.  Most of the children only attend school sporadically through age 14 resulting in less than 50% of the population being able to read above a 3rd grade level.  The capital of the country is Bangui.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 -This French-speaking country also has a national language called Sango.  It is also one of the poorest countries in the world with its food staple being a root called Manioc.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - Due to the poverty of this country, the life expectancy is only 44 years of age.  It also has only 1 international airport with only 2 other small airports with paved runways!  This is also a land locked country.

Thursday, October 1, 2009 - This country sports some beautiful wild rainforests and wild flat lands which has sadly drawn many elephant poachers to the area making ivory a chief industry for many years.  This country has lots of wild animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, elephants, cheetahs, wild bore, ostriches, kangaroo, zebra, and more.

Friday, October 2, 2009 - This poor African country was once protected by the French.  It has gone through several political wars resulting in its becoming an Empire for many years.  This is also the country that Mlle Bixby was born in and lived through 2 of those military wars going first from a republic, to an empire, and back to a republic.