Quick Check-in with the Iditarod

I'm sure it has not escaped anyone's notice in Alaska that the Iditarod has begun. As of my last check, most of the leading racers were out of Nicolai, while the leader, Martin Buser is out of McGrath. I know there are many teachers who do big, involved units of study and projects on the Iditarod, while others do some parallel activities like keeping maps, or doing some readings.

Those teachers doing the big stuff are already well aware of the Official Site of the Iditarod. For those of you who'd like to give your students some peeks into the race and treat it more along the lines of current events, the Official Site of the Iditarod is great. Simple to navigate, with a list of short, relevant videos right on the front page, as well as current race standings - this page can give your classes some quick but exciting insight into the most famous sled dog race in the world!

Just plug your projector or SmartBoard in and bring your class instantly to all the excitement!

Want more depth? If students get interested, there are plenty of great links within the site for even more information about the race and the racers!

It's Iditarod time again!

Those of us here in Alaska Gateway know dog mushing season is here again. On Saturday, March 7, Tanacross had their big dog races, the Great North American is coming up next week, and the last weekend in March is Race of Champions - and that's just in our neck of the woods!

As most of you are well aware, the biggie, The Iditarod, had its official start this weekend in Anchorage and then the restart in Wasilla. I know there are many classrooms here in AGSD that follow the race and run lesson plans and learning activities to coincide with the race.

For the EdTech portion of your classroom Iditarod experience, here are a few extra resources.

Of course there is the Official Site of the Iditarod complete with history, photos, live broadcasts, and current race standings. For classrooms who are doing activities with mapping race progress or graphing distance and speed of certain racers, this is race central - check it daily or several times a day as the information is always current.

For some ready made lesson plans and their accompanying resources, check out the Alaska Educational Program's "Alaska: Learning Taken to Extremes". They have a great Mushing in Alaska Unit with some nice looking resources.

The Discovery Channel Site has a nice selection of video shorts on the Iditarod. Last time I checked, there were over 30 of them to choose from - checkpoint info, caring for the dogs, interviews with the mushers, trail conditions, etc.

One other nice online classroom resource I will list here is Idita-Read. I know several teachers in AGSD have used this over the last couple of years and reported that the kids really enjoyed the competitive reading activities and the tie-in with the race. Idita-Read students rely on reading minutes to travel the distance along the trail from Anchorage to Nome.

*Flickr photo of husky by ozczecho