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Heidi Sloan 2018 Teacher on the Trail
Paws Along the Trail with Wonderful Volunteers People have asked me, “What was your biggest surprise on the Iditarod Trail?” My answer is the volunteers. I had no idea the extent of what goes on “behind the scenes” to pull off such a race! Volunteers come from everywhere! Some are local adults and school children from …
Paws Along the Trail with Fractions The Iditarod lends itself to teaching fraction concepts and computation in many ways. For fraction concepts, see the musher drop bags above. The denominator shows the total in a fraction set. The numerator shows which particular bag in the set. Looking at mushers’ websites and their dog listings/photos, students …
Paws Along the Trail with Resilience and Respect Resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Christina traveled all the way from the UK to attend the Iditarod Winter Teachers’ Conference in Anchorage. Her enthusiasm for the race and how it impacts her students was infectious! She works at the college level, helping students …
Paws Along the Trail with Returned Dogs Mushers began the Iditarod race with a maximum of 16 dogs before 2019, now they start with 14. They must end with no less than 5. Students often are concerned about what happens to the dogs that don’t finish the race. If a musher feels a dog …
Paws Along the Trail with Puppies Musher Meredith Mapes completed her rookie Iditarod race in March 2018. As did many mushers, Meredith parked her sled under the Burled Arch finish line and walked up the line of her dogs, petting and thanking them. Recently, she had another event to celebrate. One of her dogs had …
The Iditarod race crosses 1,049 miles of Alaska, so the mushers and their dogs travel through varied terrain. This gives music teachers or classroom teachers an opportunity to teach the physical geographic features while following the Iditarod Trail! Our school’s music teacher and I created this little chant to help students understand some of …
Paws Along the Trail with Warning Signs This time of year, teachers are reviewing reading and test-taking skills in anticipation or dread of the annual standardized tests. In the midst of what can be drudgery, throw in some Iditarod articles for comprehension practice. Motivation and engagement will soar! One reading comprehension skill that challenges our …
Paws Along the Trail and Watch Sled Dogs Spending five weeks in Alaska gave me ample opportunities to observe sled dogs. I want to answer some questions students often ask and share some of my favorite dog photos from the Iditarod Trail! Is it hard for the mushers to get the dogs to run? Mushers …
Paws Along the Trail with a River Ice Break-up Rivers flow, yet freeze throughout Alaskan winters. Airplanes use the solid rivers as runways. Snow machines criss cross the wide, frozen expanses. The Iditarod mushers spend plenty of time sledding and camping on rivers as they follow the trail toward Nome. A village on the …
Paws Along the Trail with Lots to Carry I left for Alaska on Presidents’ Day, February 19, carrying gear to last me five weeks in the cities, schools, and bush of Alaska. On March 5th, I pared down my gear to essentials since I had to carry it all on the Iditarod Trail. There have …