Middle School

IditaRead Finisher’s Certificate

Your IditaRead “mushers” may be crossing the finish line soon. Here are the PDFs and jpeg for a black and white or a color finisher’s certificate for you to present to your finishers. Additionally, we want to thank the over 1,200 teachers that signed up for the digital IditaRead program.  The suggestion box is live …

Tracking Forms! Follow the Mushers During this Race. Collect Data.

Following the race is exciting for students. To keep track of musher progress and other data during the race as mushers travel from checkpoint to checkpoint, use one of our sample tracking forms that are listed on this page or create a chart to gather the data you want students to collect. During odd numbered …

2023 “Return to the Southern Route” Trail Mail Design Winner Announced

Over 50 entries were submitted for the 2023 Trail Mail Art Design contest.  There were many, many outstanding designs and choosing just one was difficult. The Education Department thanks our judges Jon and Jona Van Zyle as well as Wendy Brott for their continued support in this project. In the end they took into consideration …

Educational Trail Mail Sales are Open!

We are so excited to announce that sales for the Educational Trail Mail Project are open! This is an amazing chance for your class to send a piece of mail down the trail in one of the 2023 student-designed cachets and help us raise funds for our education programs at the same time! It’s very …

Iditarod: The First Ten Years – September 2021

Welcome back to a new school year! The 2022 race is the 50th running of the Iditarod. The anthology, Iditarod: The First Ten Years, was compiled to preserve the stories of those who launched The Last Great Race. The goal of the Old Iditarod Gang was to have this book for classrooms to use as …

IditaRead Digital: The Last Great Reading Race Reaches Over 21,000 Students

On February 7, the Iditarod Education Department launched the new digital version of a favorite Iditarod classroom activity, an Iditaread.  Embracing technology and realizing the need for virtual and digital tools for learning, the education department and our technology partners developed version 1 of the IditaRead Digital. And you, our Iditarod teachers, responded immediately and …

Iditarod P.E. Challenge

Iditarod PE Challenge Hey amazing teachers, check out this PE unit that was designed for virtual education by Alaska teacher and prior Iditarod Teacher on the Trail Finalist Lisa Wiley.  Let the enthusiasm of the mushers and sled dogs inspire your students to complete all the Iditarod PE Challenges while they learn about the trail …

Going North – The Rush Is On!

In September of 1898, the “Three Lucky Swedes” discovered gold on Anvil Creek, founded the Nome Mining District, and started a new rush to the North.  By 1898, Nome had a population of 10,000, many of whom had arrived for the Klondike Gold Rush.  When gold was discovered on the beaches of Nome, the rush …

Glogster – The Iditarod, Machu Picchu, and Denali

Many teachers always comment that they want to incorporate the Iditarod all year, but they don’t know how.  As a result, the Iditarod makes it into their classroom for a small amount of time.  It is very possible to teach the Iditarod year round while still teaching your other curriculum. My students are currently studying …

The Amazing Iditarod Race

This past Monday was a chilly one in Chicago!  The temperature at the opening of school was -7*, and many schools in the Chicagoland area were closed.  However, the weather made for a perfect setting for my Iditarod math lesson. This is a fun lesson that can be adapted for any grade.  In the lesson …