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Teach and Learn
Engaging lessons based on Insider video clips.
Our four-legged correspondents write for all ages..
Collection of all things Iditarod.
Latest Teach and Learn Posts
As teachers meet the needs of students virtually, mushers are stepping up to lend a hand. Julia Cross who is the highest placing Canadian in Jr. Iditarod history has a whole list of field trip topics ready to present to students either pre-recorded or live. Julia says, “If a teacher would like to set up …
Lesson Summary: Students run, jog or walk for a predetermined amount of time and intensity around the gym. When time is up, students choose a checkpoint to go to. A student rolls the die to determine what exercise the group will do. All students perform the exercise. Repeat. Procedural Activities: The instructor selects 6 activities …
Essential Question: Who did it? What process do we follow to investigate? (Blood Typing/Forensics/Immune Response) By Sid Lucas. Students will investigate a simulated murder on the Iditarod Trail by performing a blood typing test and applying their understanding of blood type and the human immune system. A Forensics Mystery This lesson is created for students …
Have your students gotten interested in the card game Top Trumps? It’s a quick and easy card game that just so happens to work on place value skills while playing! There are decks published on topics ranging from animals to presidents to Harry Potter! Why not harness the love for that game and combine it with …
Jodi Bailey wrote a post in her kennel’s blog about the numbers in her drop bags for Iditarod. Drop bags are what mushers pack in advance of the race and send out to the race checkpoints so they have a supply of gear, dog food, and people food during the race. This post on Dew …
Summary: On December 18, 2020, the Rookie Musher Meeting took place via ZOOM. Veteran mushers gave their advice on technical aspects, but they also gave great encouragement about embracing the race as it has been changed and enjoying the experience. Being a rookie doesn’t mean a musher is inexperienced, it just means a musher hasn’t …
Our first annual Trail Mail Art Contest was a tremendous success! We were thrilled to accept over 40 entries from students in grades 4-12 and from all over the country. A team of Iditarod Educators narrowed the field to ten finalists which were then judged by artists Jon and Jona Van Zyle. The Iditarod Education …
With the Iditarod Trail Committee announcing the historic route for the 2021 Race, The Gold Trail, all attention this year will focus on the historic town and checkpoint of Iditarod. Iditarod came into existence after the Christmas Day, 1908 gold strike on Otter Creek, a tributary of the Iditarod River. By the summer of 1909 …
Last month, we looked at the use of the Iditarod Trail as a mail trail by investigating trail mail. This month, we turn our focus to the use of the Iditarod Trail during the Gold Rush Days. The vault of the Miners and Merchants Bank is one of the few structures still standing in Iditarod …
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 …