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Follow the Leaders

Iditarod

Return to Iditarod Brrrreathes Life Into Tired Curriculum (Brrrr!)

 

Subjects

Arts & Humanities
  • Language Arts
Educational Technology

Mathematics

  • Applied Math
  • Arithmetic
  • Statistics
Physical Education
  • Team Sports
Social Studies
  • Current Events
  • Geography
  • History
    • State History
  • Regions/Cultures

 

Grades

  • K-2
  • 3-5
  • 6-8
  • 9-12

 

Brief Description

Students track the progress of a musher and dog team in this lesson that includes all curriculum areas.

Objectives

Students will
  • learn about the backgrounds of different mushers.
  • learn what it takes to be a musher.
  • track daily progress of a team by using race logs that are filed online.
  • track progress on a map.
  • keep a journal of his/her team's progress.

Keywords

Iditarod, musher, Alaska, journal, data, race, biography, dog, trail

Materials Needed

  • computer with Internet access or printed pages from the Iditarod Web site and other Internet resources
  • Checkpoint Sheet -- create a checkpoint sheet based on the checkpoints of this year's route

Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students follow the progress of Iditarod mushers and their dog teams. Each student follows a different team and updates that team's progress (daily, if possible) during the race.

This lesson might be used in conjunction with another of this week's activities, Mush! Tracking Travelers on the Trail. Students can use the map ideas in that lesson -- including a map bulletin board -- to track the progress of the selected mushers.

Before the Lesson
How much do your students know about the Iditarod? If their knowledge is minimal, before introducing the lesson you might want to provide them with some Iditarod background and history.

The Activity
Dozens of sled teams will participate in this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Brief biographies of those individuals are available on the official Iditarod Web site; see Musher Listing. (Click each musher's name to learn more about him or her.) To start the lesson, you might print out the biography pages, cut them into individual biographies, and provide each student with a musher bio.

Alternatively, students might choose mushers at random: Put all the bios in a hat or bowl and let students select. There are probably enough women mushers this year that each girl might be able to follow a different woman, if you feel that is appropriate. Older students might read through the biographies and select a musher whose background sounds interesting. (That might be difficult to do, however; all the bios are very interesting!)

During the race students can check each day for news on the race. Students can track their musher and dog team on the Musher Checkpoint Sheet they created from the checkpoints of this year's race.

Note: The race takes a different route in odd- and even-numbered years; it follows the Southern Trail in odd-numbered years and the Northern Trail in even-numbered years. See the Mush! Tracking Travelers on the Trail lesson for more information about race routes.

Extension Activities

  • Math. Have students "do the math" by figuring out exactly how much progress the mushers make each day and how much time they are on the trail.
  • History. As the race progresses, students will be excited to learn more about the history of the Iditarod. Use the opportunity to share some of that history with them. Each day you might share another piece of history from Iditarod background and history.
  • Language. Students might keep a journal during the race. That journal might be a personal journal in which they document their mushers' times and progress. Each day they can also add a new fact about the history of the race, their musher, or the dogs. Or students might keep a journal in which they write as if they are the musher, sharing their thoughts and feelings about the race, their dogs, and anything else that is appropriate.
  • Geography. Students track daily progress on an Iditarod map.
  • Spelling. Base the week's spelling words on mushing terminology.
  • See additional lessons that are part of this article or view lessons from our archives in previous articles, The Iditarod: The Last Great Race and Iditarod Activities Across the Grades.

Additional Sources
Students in grade 4 and above can use a variety of online news sources to learn more about the race and track the progress of their assigned teams. Following are a handful of Internet sources that publish regular updates about this year's race:

Assessment

Assessment depends on which of the activities listed above are used.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

LANGUAGE ARTS: English

NL-ENG.K-12.1NL-ENG.K-12.2NL-ENG.K-12.4NL-ENG.K-12.6NL-ENG.K-12.7NL-ENG.K-12.8NL-ENG.K-12.9NL-ENG.K-12.12
    GRADES K - 12
    Reading for Perspective
    Reading for Understanding
    Communication Skills
    Applying Knowledge
    Evaluating Data
    Developing Research Skills
    Multicultural Understanding
    Applying Language Skills
MATHEMATICS: Number and Operations
NM-NUM.PK-2.1NM-NUM.PK-2.3
  • GRADES Pre-K - 2
  • Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
    Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates

NM-NUM.3-5.1NM-NUM.3-5.3
  • GRADES 3 - 5
  • Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
    Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
NM-NUM.6-8.1NM-NUM.6-8.3
    GRADES 6 - 8
    Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
    Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
NM-NUM.9-12.1NM-NUM.9-12.3
    GRADES 9 - 12
    Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
    Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
MATHEMATICS: Measurement
NM-MEA.3-5.1NM-MEA.3-5.2
  • GRADES 3 - 5
  • Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units, Systems, and Processes of Measurement
    Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements
NM-MEA.6-8.1NM-MEA.6-8.2
    GRADES 6 - 8
    Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units, Systems, and Processes of Measurement
    Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements
NM-MEA.9-12.1NM-MEA.9-12.2
    GRADES 9 - 12
    Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units, Systems, and Processes of Measurement
    Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements
MATHEMATICS: Data Analysis and Probability
NM-DATA.PK-2.2
  • GRADES Pre-K - 2
  • Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data

NM-DATA.3-5.2
  • GRADES 3 - 5
  • Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
NM-DATA.6-8.2
    GRADES 6 - 8
    Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
NM-DATA.9-12.2
    GRADES 9 - 12
    Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
MATHEMATICS: Connections NM-CONN.PK-12.1NM-CONN.PK-12.2NM-CONN.PK-12.3
    GRADES Pre-K - 12
    Recognize and Use Connections Among Mathematical Ideas
    Understand How Mathematical Ideas Interconnect and Build on One Another to Produce a Coherent Whole
    Recognize and Apply Mathematics in Contexts Outside of Mathematics
MATHEMATICS: Representation NM-REP.PK-12.1
    GRADES Pre-K - 12
    Create and Use Representations to Organize, Record, and Communicate Mathematical Ideas
SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography NSS-G.K-12.1NSS-G.K-12.2NSS-G.K-12.5
    GRADES K - 12
    The World in Spatial Terms
    Places and Regions
    Environment and Society
TECHNOLOGY NT.K-12.1NT.K-12.5
    GRADES K - 12
    Basic Operations and Concepts
    Technology Research tools

See more lessons in this week's Lesson Planning article Iditarod Brrrreathes Life Into Tired Curriculum (Brrrr!).

View additional lesson plans in the following articles from our archives:
* The Iditarod: The Last Great Race
* Iditarod Activities Across the Grades

 


Last updated 3/01/2012