Jen Reiter 2014 Teacher on the Trail

Tales from the Trail: Neither Rain, Sleet, Nor Snow The Mail Must Go

“Always striving to find ways to get the trail recognized, another idea was hatched at one of the many meetings.  The Iditarod Trail was a mail trail, so why not have each musher carry mail?  An arrangement was made with the U.S. Postal Service to carry cachets, packets of letters, over the Iditarod to Nome.  …

A Message for Our Favorite Mushers!

Just a little holiday wish for our favorite mushers from the boys of 3A!  We hope you enjoy it! [wpvideo YCfusiys]

Warming Up the Pups!

We learned from our Skype with Denali National Park (Denali Skype) that one of the adaptations that sled dogs have that allow them to survive in the arctic is their fur. Sled dogs actually have two coats of fur. The under layer is thick and dense and helps to keep the dogs warm. The outer layer, …

Sled Dogs of Denali

One of the big parts of our Social Studies curriculum in third grade is the study of our National Parks as a subtopic of our study of Fifty States.   Alaska is the home to 15 national parks, preserves, monuments and historic parks.  The Park Service in Alaska also oversees 49 National Historic Landmarks and 16 …

Tracking the Weather

“How cold is it going to be in Alaska when you are there?” is the question I seem to be asked most often these days. I decided to get my students started on the task of tracking the weather in Alaska and comparing it to what is going on here in Baltimore.  We are creating …

Tails on Our Field!?!

“They can’t wait to run!” “Wow! Look at them go!”   A site you don’t see every day on the varsity lacrosse field: a team of six gorgeous Siberian huskies pulling a wheeled cart…. Thanks to a generous donor, we were able to have Maryland Dog Sledding Adventures visit our school for two assemblies. Catherine …

Tales from the Trail: Monica Update

We are learning a lot about being ethical news reporters!  A film crew visited our school and even after a forty minute interview, they still managed to report that I am competing in the Iditarod! They boys have taken that to heart and are applying their new sense of justice to all of their reporting …

Tales From the Trail: The Junior are Training Too!

The story goes that a group of five to seven kids started the Junior Iditarod because they were less then eighteen years old and therefore couldn’t compete in the main race.  The first race was held in 1978 and there were actually two divisions that year; a junior division for ages 11-14 and a senior …

MMM Starting Up!

When the weather turns colder and my kids start complaining about having to go outside for morning recess (yes, we need to have a talk about recess in Alaska in the winter), I know it’s time to start our MMM Challenges!  We are starting ours a bit early this year so they are completed by …

Skyping with Squid Acres

Just a quick comparison: Baltimore time:  1:30pm    Squid Acre time:  9:30am Baltimore temperature:  51⁰F    Squid Acre temperature:  0⁰ It’s a distance of 4, 152 miles away from us and would take us 2 days and 23 hours to drive there. But with Skype, we could connect in a matter of minutes!  Using Skype in the …