Paws Along the Trail with a Dog Handler Mushers often employ dog handlers at their kennels. These people work hard keeping the dog yard clean and getting to know the dogs through feeding and watering, harnessing, and socializing them. Many of the Iditarod competitors were once dog handlers before trying their hand at the big race. …
Paws Along the Trail with Wolves or Dogs? Wolves, ghosts, pumpkins…these are all things we think about on Halloween. Though I hid as a child when hearing the wolf score from “Peter and the Wolf,” now I find wolves intriguing. They are close kin with dogs, and occasionally show up along the Iditarod Trail. Some …
Paws Along the Trail with World Flags How many countries have been represented by mushers in the Iditarod? It’s a question your geography or math students can discover! This lesson can be used as a research activity, statistical activity, world geography review, or just an extra credit project for those early finishers in your class. …
What a great conference we had! Learning how to incorporate the Iditarod into STEM, primary source research, literacy, writing, math, and art was the emphasis for this incredible professional development weekend. Jen Reiter, 2014 Teacher on the Trail™, led the educators in activities involving the history of the Iditarod Trail and working with primary sources, giving everyone strong …
Paws Along the Trail: making a mental Iditarod picture Do my students understand what multiplication actually represents? For example, that 8 x 42 is 8 rows of 42, or 8 groups of 42? I want them to learn to form mental images when they see math symbols. Day 1 goal: give a thinking/doing problem to establish a …
Paws Along the Trail with Lhotse, the Mom Dog Athlete Shaynee Traska was all smiles and the first rookie musher to sign up for the 2018 Iditarod at Iditarod Headquarters in June. She and her husband, Jeremy, have been building their kennel of sled dogs and training toward their dream of running the Iditarod Trail. Talking with …
Paws Along the Trail with Adoption What happens to sled dogs when they are retired or when they just don’t have the heart for pulling? Mushers keep them or find new, loving homes for the dogs. Heidi: For two summers at Iditarod Educator’s Camp, I loved seeing Copernicus in the dog yard. He appeared to be …
Back when I began following the Iditarod and the EDU website, I read about 2004 Teacher on the Trail™, Jeff Peterson. I remember thinking, “Wow! I would LOVE to do that!” The dream began for me, but it seemed beyond reach. As the years passed and I used the Iditarod more and more as a tool …
Paws Along the Trail with Real News A friend recently sent me a video depicting sled dog racing in a bad light. She asked if I had seen any of those incidents while in Alaska. I replied with a more balanced article that showed what I have observed over the years. Recent videos on the Internet …
Paws Along the Trail with Character As you get your class list, do your eyebrows go up at certain names? Do you feel a twinge of joy seeing other names? Whether we are thrilled or not, those students are our team this year. As the teacher, or musher if you will, it is our job …
