Teachers Share

“Sharing Our Stories” From Student Journalists in Takotna, Alaska

Sharing Our Story from Student Journalists attending Takotna Community School, Takotna, AK Mrs. Smith’s Class Starting the School Day My name is Elijah, am nine years old, and I am in third grade in Takotna, Alaska. I live on Mile 329 of the Iditarod Trail. My job the first week of school was to lead …

IditaRead- California Style

Every year we hold an IditaRead.  Our budget runs between $450 and $500.  The following is a summary of the a typical Idita Read: We went to a company  and ordered these cool dog tags as reading incentives for the kids.  They run about $.30 apiece when ordered in a large quantity.  Any student reaching …

Idita Read in Wisconsin

Hi!  I teach 1st grade at St. John the Baptist School in Green Bay, WI. I just wanted to share what we are doing for the Iditaread challenge.  The Iditaread challenge was kicked off with a small banquet of dog bone shaped Scooby snacks, popcorn balls and snow cones.  During the Banquet teams were announced.  …

Iditarod IS Education! Using Zuma’s Paw Prints is a Teaching Tool

Zuma’s Paw Prints isn’t JUST reading material for your students.  It is more than knowledge about Alaska and the race.  The articles are content for teaching language arts and other curriculum areas. Bonnie Nizamis  is an independent consultant working with schools across the country – and as she teaches teachers how to integrate technology in …

IditaRead™ Success in North Carolina

My school, Northwest Elementary in Kinston, NC, participated in the IditaRead™ for the first time this year. We challenged our 3-5th graders to see if they could read 1049 books.  We started on February 22, and boy did the kids read!  We had no idea that they would take to it quite like they did.  We …

Idita Read Success Story

My class did a modified version of Idita-Read.  I copied all of the materials from the web-site for each of my students.  On the first page of the packet, the students had to set goals.  Our goal as a class was to read for 15 minutes everyday during Language Arts class.  This could be any …

I’ll “Mush” Vicariously Through Books, Video, and the Official Websites

I wrote the attached article for our state (South Carolina) Association of School Librarian’s professional journal, Media Center Messenger. I love following the Iditarod every year and every two or three years we do an Idita-READ event to inspire kids to read. I also attached the letter to parents and reading log that I’ve used …

Ohio Students Create a Virtual Dog Team

Real or Virtual? It is Hard to Tell! By Laura Collins, Ohio One of my gifted 6th grade students’ favorite Iditarod activities is to create “virtual dog teams”. Students produce an informational document about their “kennel”, with highlights about the 16 dogs on their “Iditarod team”. We do all of this on the computers, so …

Idita Math at Larson Elementary School

At Larson Elementary School, in Wasilla, Alaska, Idita-Math is an important family event! On February 1, the school kicked off a month-long event that is designed to helps students improve math skills through an Idita-Math project.  More than 100 students, their parents, and teachers attended the event, a ‘Family Game Night’ which partnered math practice …

Idita Read Success Story

My class did a modified version of Idita-Read.  I copied all of the materials from the web-site for each of my students.  On the first page of the packet, the students had to set goals.  Our goal as a class was to read for 15 minutes everyday during Language Arts class.  This could be any …