A FANTASTIC FAMILY ADVENTURE - CONNECT PRIMARY 5 Term 2 - خامس ابتدائي

UNIT 12 FICTION READER: A FANTASTIC FAMILY ADVENTURE LESSON 1 88 BY NICOLA GARDNER ILLUSTRATED BY NATHALIE ORTEGA

PICTURE DICTIONARY dinosaur Dinosaurs were very big animals which lived millions of years ago. bones Our body has many bones to help us stand up. skeleton Fish and other animals have a skeleton made of bones inside their bodies. tracks Animals' feet leave tracks on the ground where they walked. binoculars She likes looking at things in the distance with her binoculars. ibex An ibex is a type of desert animal like a gazelle. archaeologist An archaeologist is someone who digs underground to find objects from many years ago and studies them. archaeological dig An archaeological dig is when people work together to find something under the ground. 89

Ramy and Malak are playing in the yard. Suddenly Dad calls them from the house. "Hey kids, come and see this story in the newspaper!" The children run inside to see. Dad says, "Look. They found something amazing near Grandma and Grandpa's village." "What is it, Dad?" asks Ramy. "It looks scary!" Dad says, "No Ramy, it's not scary at all. It's the skeleton of a dinosaur. A group of archaeologists found it. And your uncle Youssef is one of those archaeologists!" 90 "That's awesome, Dad!" says Malak. "The dinosaur skeleton is really old, isn't it?" "Yes, that's right, Malak." says Dad. "It's about 98 million years old!" "Wow! Uncle Youssef has got a really interesting job, hasn't he?" says Ramy. "Yes, he has. And his work is important too. It helps us learn about the past." says Dad.

Later that evening Ramy and his family are having dinner. Dad says, "Do you want to go there the next time we go to Grandma's house?" Ramy says, "That's a great idea, Dad. It would be an adventure to go into the desert!” Mom says, "There's a beautiful nature trail there. Why don't we walk that together?" "Oh yes please, Mom! I love nature." says Malak. ☐ "Ramy! Malak!" Grandma calls. She is so excited to see her grandchildren. "I have prepared your favorite things - feteer and mint tea! Come inside and eat." "Hello," says Grandpa to Mom and Dad. "It's so good to see you." "It's lovely to be here," says Dad. "Tomorrow we want to take the children on a nature trail." "Excellent," says Grandpa. "There's lots to see in our area. It's a beautiful place." 91

The next morning everyone is happy. They are ready to walk the nature trail. They are wearing hats, scarves, and sunglasses. They have snacks and water in their backpacks. Mom has some binoculars too. She wants to look at the amazing birds that live here. They are in a beautiful part of Egypt with many types of rare animals. 92 It's a lovely warm day, not too hot. It's a perfect day for walking. There are cactus plants and palm trees and they see sheep and some camels. Malak is very pleased because she loves animals. "Please walk quietly and carefully everyone, "she says. "If we are quiet, we could see a fennec fox, or a dorcas gazelle, or maybe a sand cat." The family continue along the trail. Ramy sees animals' tracks in the sand. Dad takes a photo of a fennec fox. Mom sees many beautiful birds. Everyone is enjoying the trail.

Then Mom says, "Hey everyone, I have something in my shoe. Can we stop for a minute?" She sits down. The others drink some water and wait. Ramy looks down at the rocks near the path. He sees some strange shapes inside them. "Look!" he says. "What are these things in the rocks, Dad?" "I don't know," says Dad. "They look like bones ... "We are very near the place they found the dinosaur skeleton." says Mom. "Maybe they are dinosaur bones!" Ramy is very excited. "Let's ask Uncle Youssef!" he says. "Dad, can we call him?" "Yes, of course." says Dad. Uncle Youssef is very interested in the rocks Ramy found. He tells Dad to take some photographs of them and meet him at Grandma's house for dinner. Later that evening Dad shows Uncle Youssef the photos and Ramy shows him the place on the map. Uncle Youssef asks the family to go back there with him the next day. 93

The next day they go back along the trail. They find Ramy's rocks and Uncle Youssef looks at them carefully. "They are not dinosaur bones in the rocks," says Uncle Youssef. "But they are certainly very old. They are probably from a type of ancient ibex that doesn't exist now." Ramy is disappointed because the bones are not from a dinosaur. But Uncle Youssef says, "Well done Ramy for finding them! It is important to take time to look at the world around us and watch things - just like an archaeologist! Now, would you all like to come to the dig and see my dinosaur skeleton?" "Yes please, Uncle Youssef!" say Ramy and Malak. 8.8 94 "Here it is," says Uncle Youssef. "What do you think?" "Wow!" says Ramy. "It's amazing to think it lived millions of years ago." "And that its bones were under the ground for such a long time." says Malak. "In fact, we found the skeleton because of climate change." says Uncle Youssef. "Now there is less rain and fewer plants. This means the ground is dry and the wind can blow away the sand. Things that were under the ground come to the surface. That's good for archaeologists but bad for the planet."

Later everyone is getting ready to go home. "Thanks for showing us the dinosaur, Uncle Youssef," says Ramy. "It was so interesting. I would love to be an archaeologist. It's such a cool job!" "It's fascinating work, but it's hard," says Uncle Youssef. "Sometimes we look for years and don't find anything." "We can help if you're looking for other dinosaurs!" says Malak. "Thanks for all the delicious food." says Mom. "It was lovely to see you both again." "Thank you dear. Come back and see us soon." says Grandma. "So, did you enjoy our trip?" asks Mom in the car. "Yes, I thought it was fantastic." says Ramy. "Me too!" says Malak. "What do you think you learned from it?" asks Dad. Ramy says, "I learned it's important to look around us carefully and notice things in our environment." "Yes, that is how you can discover interesting things." adds Malak. "You're right, kids" says Dad. "Well done!" 95