Here we go Iditarod Trail Teachers! The week leading up to the race has finally arrived! As your Teacher on the Trail for 2026, I am so honored to be your connection between the race and the students. This year the theme will be “Letter of the Day…the Iditarod Way!” Beginning with the letter A and mushing all the way to the letter Z, each day will bring you not only events, experiences, interactions, and perspectives from the trail, but lesson ideas and activities that begin with that daily letter as well. So let’s get out there together and “race through the alphabet…one letter at a time”!
We are going to kick off this year’s race with “A”! It only makes sense to start this journey talking about Alaska, Anchorage, Arctic, and Adventure! I arrived yesterday to the great state of Alaska to begin this teaching adventure. The sky was clear, the arctic temperature mild, the mountains absolutely stunning. A 3 hour time difference and traveling that begin in the wee hours of the morning left this educator jet-lagged and thoroughly exhausted. Today, however, was a brand new day! As I made my way from Anchorage to Wasilla to begin a week of presentations in classrooms, it’s impossible to not be awe-struck by the simple beauty of Alaska. It doesn’t make you wonder WHY someone would want to live in the arctic, it makes you wonder WHY NOT. The winter wonderland that surrounds you is only a small piece of what makes this land what it is. Dog-sledding and the Iditarod is just the icing on the cake, the cherry on the top, the winner’s woof, the Nome bonus!
“A” few classroom ideas:
- Writing prompt…”You are a musher on an arctic adventure in Alaska..” It must contain a certain number of A words, adjectives, adverbs, etc.
- Students sort animal cards into Arctic and Not Arctic.
- Give students cards with photos of survival gear. They must choose only a certain number of the most important and defend their choices.
- Graph and analyze details such as arctic temperature and distances between arctic locations.
- Have an “A-Day Checkpoint Challenge”. Each task students complete throughout the day earn a pawprint toward Nome.
- Take a brain break and Act like a sled dog, Airplane arms in the Arctic wind, Avalanche jump, tiptoe Across the ice, Anchor the sled, Avoid the snowdrifts, etc.
