Mush!
Tracking Travelers on the Trail

Keywords

Materials Needed

Lesson Plan

In this activity, students create a bulletin board map of the Iditarod trail; each student uses the map to track the trek of the musher s/he is following.

This lesson can be used as a standalone activity or in tandem with the lesson Follow the Leaders.

Before the Lesson
Before the lesson, prepare a bulletin board by covering it with white construction paper and using a large black marker to draw on it an outline of the state of Alaska. You can do that easily by photocopying a map onto a transparency, placing the transparency on an overhead projector, projecting the map onto the bulletin board, and tracing it. If you have a projector hooked up to a classroom computer, that will make your job even easier!

Notes:
* Explore the maps in the Map Resources section below for a map to use for your bulletin board; choose a map appropriate for your grade level.
* Alaska is a large state, so you might reproduce on the bulletin board only the section of the state in which the Iditarod takes place; you could then post a small inset Alaska outline map with a drawn rectangle to indicate the part of the state shown on the enlarged map.

Did you know that the Iditarod actually takes two different routes? The beginning and end sections of the route are always the same, but the middle section of the route changes. In even-numbered years, the Iditarod takes a northerly route; in odd-numbered years, it takes a southerly route. Be sure to trace this year's route on your bulletin board.

You might mark the area between each pair of points on the map with the mileage mushers will cover between those points. You can find that information online for both routes.

Instead of tracing the route, you might use thick red yarn to mark the route.

You will also want to prepare in advance a simple worksheet or chart with the following text (select grade-appropriate headings only) for students to copy:

Finally, prepare an index card for each checkpoint in this year's race. Write the name of the checkpoint in large letters at the top of the card.

• The checkpoints for odd-numbered years, in order, are as follows: Anchorage, Eagle River, Wasilla, Knik, Yentna, Skwentna, Finger Lake, Rainy Pass, Rohn, Nikolai, McGrath, Takotna, Ophir, Iditarod, Shageluk, Anvik, Grayling, Eagle Island, Kaltag, Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain, Safety, Nome
• The checkpoints for odd-numbered years, in order, are as follows: Anchorage, Eagle River, Wasilla, Knik, Yentna, Skwentna, Finger Lake, Rainy Pass, Rohn, Nikolai, McGrath, Takotna, Ophir, Cripple, Ruby, Galena, Nulato, Kaltag, Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain, Safety, Nome

The Activity
Now that you have prepared the map, work sheet or chart, and the index cards, assign each student to research one of the checkpoints along this year's Iditarod route. You might handpick checkpoints for each student, or let students select from a hat an index card that has the name of one of the checkpoints written on the top of it.

Students use the Map Resources below to learn all they can about their assigned checkpoints. They find the information listed above (or on the work sheet you created), as well as the most interesting facts they learned about their assigned checkpoint. Then they transfer what they consider the most important information from the work sheet to the index card.

Alternative setup: Arrange students into cooperative groups of four students each. Provide each group with four cards; each card has a different checkpoint name written at the top of the card. Let students use the Map Resources below to research their checkpoints; or provide each group with a packet of materials comprised of the pages noted in the Map Resources. On the first day of the assignment, each student in the group works independently to locate the assigned information for his or her checkpoint. The following day, students share their work within their groups; group members do additional research about all the other checkpoints in the group and add information to the Iditarod checkpoint sheets that were begun the day before. Finally, on the third day, the student who did the initial work takes back his/her sheet, edits its contents, and selects the most important and interesting information to write on the index card with the checkpoint name.

When students have completed their research cards, bring them together and draw their attention to the bulletin board, on which each checkpoint is written in marker. One stop at a time, call on students, ask them to share the information they've written on their cards, and post the cards by the appropriate checkpoints on the map.

Now you have a map that gives students information about each checkpoint in this year's race, and you are ready to put it to a practical use as each student tracks one musher's progress throughout the race. Students might print out a photograph of the musher and check daily on the musher's position in the race. (They might even post their musher's photo to an index card along with a few biographical facts about him or her.) Students move the photo each day to reflect the last checkpoint at which the musher and dog team had logged in. For information about how to track the mushers, see the Follow the Leaders lesson plan.

Extension Activities

Map Resources
The following resources will be useful to students as they research checkpoints along the Iditarod trail. If students have Internet access, you might provide a hotlist of these sites for their use. If Internet access is not available on a daily basis, you will want to put together a packet of materials for each group to use.

Checkpoint Descriptions

Assessment

Check students' logs and index cards for accuracy, grammar, neatness, and for the student's ability to follow directions.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

LANGUAGE ARTS: English

GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.4 Communication Skills
NL-ENG.K-12.7 Evaluating Data
NL-ENG.K-12.8 Developing Research Skills
NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

• GRADES 3 - 5

NM-NUM.3-5.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems

GRADES 6 - 8
NM-NUM.6-8.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems

GRADES 9 - 12
NM-NUM.9-12.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems

• GRADES 3 - 5

NM-MEA.3-5.1 Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units, Systems, and Processes of Measurement
NM-MEA.3-5.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements

GRADES 6 - 8
NM-MEA.6-8.1 Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units, Systems, and Processes of Measurement
NM-MEA.6-8.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements

GRADES 9 - 12
NM-MEA.9-12.1 Understand Measurable Attributes of Objects and the Units, Systems, and Processes of Measurement
NM-MEA.9-12.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements

GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-COMM.PK-12.1 Organize and Consolidate Their Mathematical Thinking Through Communication

GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-CONN.PK-12.1 Recognize and Use Connections Among Mathematical Ideas
NM-CONN.PK-12.2 Understand How Mathematical Ideas Interconnect and Build on One Another to Produce a Coherent Whole
NM-CONN.PK-12.3 Recognize and Apply Mathematics in Contexts Outside of Mathematics

GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-REP.PK-12.1 Create and Use Representations to Organize, Record, and Communicate Mathematical Ideas
NM-REP.PK-12.3 Use Representations to Model and Interpret Physical, Social, and Mathematical Phenomena

GRADES K - 12
NSS-G.K-12.1 The World in Spatial Terms
NSS-G.K-12.2 Places and Regions
NSS-G.K-12.3 Physical Systems
NSS-G.K-12.5 Environment and Society
NSS-G.K-12.6 Uses of Geography

GRADES K - 12
NT.K-12.1 Basic Operations and Concepts
NT.K-12.5 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