Race Kit

This kit page includes User Guides to learn more about how to use the Idita-Read.org system. It also includes other resources freely offered for use by anyone who wants to do an Idita-Read event without a paid subscription to Idita-Read.org: Trail Tools include helpful printables to distibute to students; Supplemental Learning Links showcase other online, (mostly) non-commercial resources to support Iditarod-related themes; and, Activity Ideas submitted by Team Managers who participated in previous years.

User Guides

Use these guides to learn more about how Idita-Read.org's tools work. Printable Guides are in PDF (Adobe Reader required) and Screencasts are Flash movies (Flash Player required). Project the Screencasts for Mushers videos onto a large screen for the whole team or have small groups watch at computer stations.

Printable Guides

Screencasts for Managers

Screencasts for Mushers

Supplemental Learning Links

These third-party online resources provide learning activities and information about the Iditarod, along with other topics (e.g., science, social studies, art) related to Alaska, the Arctic, and lesson ideas.

Multidisciplinary
Reading & Writing
Iditarod & Mushing
Geography, Mapping & Climate
Science & Technology
Social Studies
Art
Miscellaneous

Also, check out musher Book Reviews and Staff Picks for books covering various subjects and topics.

Multidisciplinary Related to the Iditarod Trail

The Serum Run Game — Our absolutely favorite resource! This interactive game sends mushers on a mission that integrates the Iditarod Trail concept with geography, history, culture, and science. Mushers even get to pick their lead dog! Offers three levels of difficulty and three game lengths. A certain level of reading skill is required, however, as there is no speaking on the audio track.
Bureau of Land Management's Iditarod National Historic Trail — includes trail chronology, stories, and more.
Iditarod Historic Trail Visitor Guide — Part 1 (PDF)
Iditarod Historic Trail Visitor Guide — Part 2 (PDF)

Reading & Writing

Storyline Online — An excellent online streaming video program featuring famous actors reading chlidren's books aloud. Includes Closed Captioning.
Into the Book — A highly interactive reading comprehension resource for Grades K-4 that focuses on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing.
Elements of a Story — An interactive resource for Grades 2-5 that explains the basic parts of a story.
Read-Write-Think: Student Materials — Lots of lessons as well as printables and interactives for students, including Literary Elements Map, Story Map, Comparison and Contrast Guide and more.
The Writing Site — Guidance for teachers on how to assess student writing.
Stairway to Reading — Guidance for teachers and ready-to-use reading lessons and assessments.
Creating a Classroom Newspaper — Guidance for teachers; Activity idea can be incorporated with Iditarod-relevant topics. See Newspaper Activity idea in right-hand sidebar below.

Iditarod Race & Mushing

Official Site of The Iditarod
Iditarod's section For Teachers
Learn About the Iditarod
Iditarod Trail Race History
Iditarod Trail Race Media Guide — Includes descriptions of the checkpoints, trail legs & musher profiles
Mushing Terminology
Official Iditarod Trail Map
Idita-Read.org's full-size Iditarod Trail Map — A larger, printable Google Map that includes the Iditarod Trail Race checkpoints.
Cabela's 11x17 Iditarod Trail Map (PDF)
Checkpoint Info (checkpoint descriptions) from Cabela's (doc)
The Anatomy of a Dog Sled
Pack a Dog Sled — a WebRangers interactive from the National Park Service
Cool Jobs Videos — Iditarod Musher
Student-made Iditarod PowerPoint Presentations
PBS: Sled Dogs — An Alaskan Epic — A look at the sled dog, the history of the Iditarod, and the real life story of Balto and the race to save lives threatened by a diptheria outbreak in Nome, Alaska.
The Iditarod: An Interactive Unit Study Outline — Many good activity ideas and additional links to information.
EducationWorld: Iditarod Lesson Planning — Various activities that can be customized for all grade levels.
Race to the Sky — Montana's annual sled dog race. February 12-27, 2010. They offer some Educational Opportunities.

Geography, Mapping & Climate

Idita-Read.org's full-size Iditarod Trail Map — a larger, printable Google Map that includes the Iditarod Trail Race checkpoints.
Geography Drop — Your mission is to correctly identify cities, rivers, and other locations in Alaska. Your airplane is ready to take you there!
Alaska History & Cultural Studies: The Geography of Alaska
Alaska Studies — Especially check out the Maps section.
Arctic Climate & Meteorology Primer
Alaska Climate Summaries — Compare and contrast climate trends.
Arctic Map & Current Weather Reports
EdHeads: Weather Activities — Interactive module for understanding weather reports and prediction, temperature conversion, and a weather glossary; includes teacher guidance.
Franklin's Forecast — Instructions on how to make your own weather station and other weather-related explanations.
Weather World 2010 Project — Integrates current and archived weather data (images & text) with instructional resources (modules & curriculum), including a collection of multimedia instructional modules covering meteorology and remote sensing.
GeoKids: Geography for Kids — Read about the Earth in the Geography Online section and play some mapping games in the Geogaphy Games section. The Latitude and Longitude Map Match Game is especially good.
National Geographic: Xpeditions — Lesson plans and activities for exploring geography through mapping skills.
PBS/NOVA: The Search for Longitude — Play the two interactivities — Find Your Longitude, to understand why having a precise timepiece (known as a chronometer) helps you determine your longitude, and compare that with how GPS: The New Navigation works.

Science & Technology

Cool Critters — Features some basic facts about Alaskan animals.
Artifact Match — An interactive game featuring a variety of artifacts highlighting Alaska Native art and technologies. Players must match the artifact with its description.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's National Digital Library — A great source for images and other media in the public domain to use for projects.
All About Glaciers
Arctic — A Friend Acting Strangely — This Smithsonian Museum online exhibit explores how the Arctic's climate is changing and how that affects the people and animals who live there.
Auroras! Mysterious Lights in the Sky — Excellent animated overview of aurora science, created for Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum; especially good for younger students.
Auroras: Paintings in the Sky — Get an overview of the science behind the Aurora borealis.
Auroras Forecast — Explore this prediction site at the University of Alaska to get an idea of how scientists measure the conditions that can produce these natural beauties.
Aurora Borealis Photo Gallery — Nome, Alaska
Arctic Wildlife Portfolio — Grouped by Birds, Mammals, and Sea Mammals.
Wild-eyed Alaska — Includes video clips of animals.
Funtastic Facts about Alaska's Wildlife
Alaska: A Bird's Eye View — Join Tutangiaq, the Canada goose, and explore Alaska from a unique perspective. Find out information on changing climate patterns, history in Alaska and much more. This site uses satellite imagery to illustrate volcanic eruptions and includes a compilation of online resources.
Virtual Field Trip: Climbing Denali — Explore Denali — the tallest mountain in North America, learning about geology, ice science, and more! When you click Virtual Visit, it will ask for a Trip Password - just bypass that and click the Virtual Visit icon again (on that page) to start the field trip.
Virtual Field Trip: Mammals of Denali — Learn about some of the ways in which animals here have adapated to living in this subarctic climate. When you click Virtual Visit, it will ask for a Trip Password - just bypass that and click the Virtual Visit icon again (on that page) to start the field trip.
Minerals Management Service: Kids' Corner — Short Subjects — Includes information about crude oil, oil rigs, Alaska's volcanoes, etc.
PBS: The Alaska Pipeline
PBS: Building the Alaska Highway
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

Social Studies

NEW! Alaska Native Knowledge Network: Lessons & Units — A database of lessons and units searchable by content and cultural standards, cultural region and grade level.
NEW! Dena'ina Qenaga Digital Archive — Provides information about the Dena'ina (Athabascan) language
Col. Goodwin's report to the Alaska Road Commission after his surveying exploration to determine trail routes (PDF) — A digital copy of this primary source.
Artifact Match — An interactive game featuring a variety of artifacts highlighting Alaska Native art and technologies. Players must match the artifact with its description.
Alaska History & Cultural Studies — Great information about the state's Geography, its different cultures, its history as a Russia Colony and America's Territory, along with its Government and Modern Alaska life. Includes a timeline comparing events in Alaska with national and international events.
Alaska's Digital Archives — Provides great primary source materials for exploring Alaskan history and cultures.
The Story of Alaska's Flag
The People of Whaling — This is an excellent photo exhibit giving an insider's view of the whaling culture of the Inupiat people.
Crossroads of Continents — Explore this museum exhibit to learn more about Siberian-Alaskan peoples & history.
North Slope Barrow — Explore the different Native Alaska Villages located along the northern coastline.
Looking Both Ways — Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People of Southern Alaska
Alaska's Gold

Fine Arts

Totems — Art and culture related to Alaskan Totem poles. Compare these to cultural arts of other Alaska Native groups. When you click Virtual Visit, it will ask for a Trip Password — just bypass that and click the Virtual Visit icon again (on that page) to start the field trip.
Yup'ik Masks — Explore the art, history, and cultural importance of these ceremonial masks.
Northern Journeys

Miscellaneous

Wumpa's World — A very interactive Web-based game designed for children ages 3 to 5. Create your own fish and save a baby whale. Paddle your kayak through the ice floes and catch fish through a hole in the ice. Play matching games with a seal. Paint with a polar bear. These are just a few of the activities offered on Wumpa's World. If the animation pauses, click around to move forward again. Audio speakers required.

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Trail Tools

To get ready for the trail, use these printables to track mileage, record checkpoint stops, and write book reviews along the way.

Idita-Read Bookmarks
A great item to hand out to your mushers! Includes spots to write in student's name, username, and password for logging in. Print on paper or cardstock; 4 per sheet, with dotted lines as cutting guides.
Reading Log Mileage Worksheet
Mushers can use this worksheet to help track Reading Mileage to make it easier to record at your Base Camp later. Includes place for "supervisor" to initial log entry.
Checkpoints Weather Log (PDF)
Print and distribute for mushers to record the basic weather information provided at each checkpoint along the Idita-Read.org Trail. Great for making charts and comparing with hometown weather statistics.
Blank Weather Log (doc)
A Word document format, so that managers can modify it as they wish. Suggestion: Use to record daily hometown weather for comparing to Iditarod Trail weather on same dates.
Checkpoint Tracking Chart (Northern Route)
Mushers can log the date they completed each leg of the trail
Student Privacy & Permission Slip (doc)
Print and distribute our Privacy Policy to parents (optional permission signature), as needed. We provide this in Word document format, so that Team Managers can add other relevant information.
Race Rules (PDF)
Print and post as a reminder.
Literary Log Sheet
Log each book you read along the trail.
Book Review Guidelines
Helpful guidance for writing (and assessing) book reviews:

Activity Ideas

Shared by Idita-Read Team Managers from previous race years.

Check out the Event Blog post, Idita-Read Highlighted at Montana Reading Conference for other ideas and photos of activities, coordinated by Librarian Lynne Nevrivy of Malta Elementary School.

I had a bulletin board that I drew a map of the trail with checkpoints labeled. Each student colored a small husky and cut it out. They all pinned them to Anchorage and we moved them after logging in every other day. It really helped them to see their progress and to be constantly reminded of the goal they were trying to achieve.

We also ordered medals as extra incentive and reminded them that those that achieved the goal would recieve the medal, certificate and be pictured in our local paper. We order the medals from a local trophy store. They were hung on a red, white and blue ribbon to wear around their neck. In the middle of the medal was a real picture of a sled dog team and the title Idita-read.

Our 6th grade teacher created a giant wall map for the race. Each student had their own dog that they moved along the map. The students loved when they got to advance their dog and it was a good way to see where everyone was at. It also created more class competition. She would post the finishers and the total team miles, also.

We put a map on a bulletin board, labeled a push pin for each student so we could mark on the map where they were. We invited people who build dog sleds to come to our school (with dogs) to demonstrate how the sleds are equipped and how the dogs are harnessed, etc.

We held an Idita-Read kick-off party to get the excitement up.

Our team obtained a learning trunk from Race to the Sky, Montana’s largest sled dog race (350 miles) and utilized its contents and curriculum to link the reading experience more closely to mushing and the actual Iditarod Race.

In conjunction with the Idita-Read challenge, our school district [in Florida] hosted an “Iditawalk” for our students and families, encouraging participants to walk for 1,131 minutes — it was a great motivator for boosting physcial activity together!

Our 5th and 6th grade classes (65 students) participated in an all day Read-In during the race. They collected pledges and raised $4000 to donate library books to the Kalskag school which recently burned down. The school lost everything. We ordered $1000 worth of Scholastic books to get their new library restocked and gave them the remaining $3000 to use as they needed. We were amazed at the total amount raised and it was a great motivation for those reluctant readers.

At the conclusion of the race, we had a party for the finishers and those who made it past Iditarod. We had popcorn, juice and watched Balto. All participants received the certificate and finishers also got a pencil, but those who didn’t make an effort to at least get half way had to go to the other room and read, while the students who didn't let obstacles overcome them and made their goal got to come to the party.

Other Activity Ideas

Newspaper Activity

Incorporate Iditarod-related themes and assign individual or pairs of students to research and write for different sections of the newspaper. See the Learning Link, Creating a Classroom Newspaper for additional guidance. Sections might include:

World: Who knows about the Iditarod throughout the world, and why are they interested in it?
Nation: Dispel common myths held by people about both the Iditarod and Alaska in general.
State: Discuss the logistics of putting the Iditarod together.
Local: What happens or will be happening in your classroom, town, or village when the Iditarod Race is running?
Sports: Report on the race and the status of the racers and their dogs.
Business: What are the costs of joining and running the race—consider the event staff and the participants
History: What does the Iditarod represent? Explain the serum run to Nome in 1925. Can also feature other historical points and highlights along the trail.
Life: Discuss the cultural context/importance of dog sledding in Alaska.

[Newspaper idea adapted from Bering Strait School District's project wiki.]

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