Mush!
Tracking Travelers on the Trail

Subjects

• Language Arts

Mathematics

• Measurement
• Statistics

• Current Events
• Geography

Grades

• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12
• Advanced

Brief Description

Objectives

• research the checkpoints along the route of the Iditarod.
• create parts of a class map to be used for tracking progress of the race.

   

  Keywords

  Alaska, Iditarod, map, geography, route, musher, miles, mileage, scale of miles, data, real-life

  Materials Needed

   

• computer with Internet access (preferred) or printed pages from sites referenced in the lesson
• white construction paper
• markers
• index cards
• student work sheet, or a sample layout for student research (provided)

  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:

• Iditarod Checkpoint:
• Checkpoint Pronunciation:
• Checkpoint population:
• Location (longitude and latitude):
• Mile Marker Number:
• Interesting Facts:

  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

• Students might keep a log of the progress of their mushers and dog teams.
• Each student might keep an Alaska map of his/her own with the route drawn and the checkpoints marked. (Alternative: Each group of students might keep a single map.) Students record each day the checkpoints through which their mushers have passed and the time at which those checkpoints were passed. [The Web site below doesn't link to these books. It might be a problem with my browser though, so please recheck it.]
• If you have a budget, you might purchase Iditarod children's' books to give as prizes to the student in each group whose musher and dog team are first to complete the race. In order to keep interest alive until the very end of the race, you might have a special prize set aside for the student who patiently tracked the Red Lantern Award winning team -- the last team to finish the race.

  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.

• Iditarod Northern Route Map
  This nice clickable map provides lots of detail about each checkpoint along the northern (even-numbered years) route.
• Iditarod Southern Route Map
  The checkpoints on the southern (odd-numbered years) route are featured on this map.

  Checkpoint Descriptions

• The official site of the Iditarod offers descriptions of the race checkpoints. (Find them by clicking on the checkpoints listed on the chart below the southern and northern route maps.)
• Cabela's Iditarod site also offers race checkpoint detail and a printable PDF map of the routes.
• Links to interesting information about each checkpoint are included on from the UltimateIditarod Web site.
this map too.
• Iditarod Race Maps, from the Anchorage Daily News provides maps for the southern route; the maps offer mileage and links to more information about some of the checkpoints. (NOTE: On our most recent check, 3/1/12, this map had not yet been updated to the 2012 race map.)

  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

  NL-ENG.K-12.2NL-ENG.K-12.4NL-ENG.K-12.7NL-ENG.K-12.8NL-ENG.K-12.12
  GRADES K - 12
  Reading for Understanding
  Communication Skills
  Evaluating Data
  Developing Research Skills
  Applying Language Skills
  MATHEMATICS: Number and Operations
  NM-NUM.3-5.1
  • GRADES 3 - 5
  Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
  NM-NUM.6-8.1
  GRADES 6 - 8
  Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
  NM-NUM.9-12.1
  GRADES 9 - 12
  Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
  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: Communications NM-COMM.PK-12.1
  GRADES Pre-K - 12
  Organize and Consolidate Their Mathematical Thinking Through Communication
  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-12.1NM-REP.PK-12.3
  GRADES Pre-K - 12
  Create and Use Representations to Organize, Record, and Communicate Mathematical Ideas
  Use Representations to Model and Interpret Physical, Social, and Mathematical Phenomena
  SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography NSS-G.K-12.1NSS-G.K-12.2NSS-G.K-12.3NSS-G.K-12.5NSS-G.K-12.6
  GRADES K - 12
  The World in Spatial Terms
  Places and Regions
  Physical Systems
  Environment and Society
  Uses of Geography
  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 03/01/2012