Zuma's Paw Prints

Iditarod Air Force

                                                                                   Hello friends, I have a question from my new human friend Charlie. He asked, …

Before…Next…!

Hello, Teachers! How many times have you asked your students, “What were you doing before…?” Or maybe you have asked them, “What will happen next?” Making predictions and sequencing events are important skills. Mushers and their teams deal with sequencing quite often: Who will be first on the gangline?, What will I need to do …

Sanka’s Weekly Challenge: Yentna Restart Times

The JR Iditarod mushers run 75 miles out to the Yentna Station Road House. The starter/timer out at Yentna records the time each of the JR Iditarod mushers checks into the halfway checkpoint.  Your problem is to calculate the time each of the mushers can depart Yentna for the finish line in Willow.  The mushers …

Saturday – March 2 – Ceremonial Start

Libby Here! Hello Boys and Girls! I’m howling, howling, howling with excitement!  We are half way through February.  Time is going so fast! On Saturday, March 2, the race will start in Anchorage.  That’s called the ceremonial start. When every musher leaves the starting line, there will be a special passenger in the sled.  That …

Logo! Logo! Logo!

Libby Here! Hello Boys and Girls! A logo is a symbol or sign that stand for something.  Does your school or the town you live in have a logo? Does your classroom have a logo? If you were making a logo about you, what would it look like? Every year, Iditarod gets new logos.  Here …

Supplies and more Supplies!

Libby Here! Hello Boys and Girls! Straw isn’t the only supply that gets sent to the trail. Mushers bring their supplies to a location where the supplies which are in bags called ‘drop bags’.  The name of the checkpoint the bag needs to go to on each bag. Each bag is filled with supplies a …

Roll It…!

Hi, Teachers! Need a quick activity to break up the day! Here is one, “Roll a Topic“.  You can use this to get your students talking and sharing about the Iditarod. Put students in groups of two or three and provide them with a die.  Each student will take turns rolling the die. The number …

14 Dogs!

Hello Friends, Each year the humans on the Iditarod Board of Directors review the rules to see where changes can be made to help make the race safe for humans and canines alike. Brayden and Vivienne noticed that Rule 17 states that “the maximum number of dogs a musher may start the race with is fourteen …

Sanka’s Weekly Challenge – Differential

How can the first team to cross the finish line be the winner if teams depart from the start at 2 minute intervals?  Teams are required to take a long rest.  For the JR Iditarod it’s 10 hours and for Iditarod it’s 24 hours.  A time adjustment is added to their departure after the long …

Straw! Dogs Love Straw!

Libby here! Hello Boys and Girls! It’s straw time!  Well, sort of! Every year, volunteers get together in February to pack and sort bales of straw.  Each bag of straw is marked with the name of a checkpoint on it.  The straw is then loaded up and taken to airplanes. Pilots fly the bags of …