Hello fellow Iditarod teachers! There is “Snow Way” it’s already November! Time sure flies when you are having fun and looking forward to the Iditarod! This month we are definitely going to “DIG” Deep.. Discover, Investigate, and Grow… with musher mandatory gear.
November’s lesson is titled, “Iditarod Options” and focuses on financial literacy. This activity will give students a hands-on opportunity to choose pieces of gear by using what they know of wants and needs as well as opportunity cost. While all gear in the lesson is a need, features of each could be a want. Students also see that each choice they make means giving up another, which is opportunity cost. Feel free to use this as a review of these concepts or even as a springboard to teaching them. Starting with a fun “Would You Rather” gets them in the mode of choices and decisions. Each student receives the materials needed including instructions, the gear cards, choice boards, and a laminated tracking sheet. They explore 10 pieces of gear including their sled, lead dog, boots, dog food, etc. There are 3 choices for each piece of gear, costing different amounts of money. Students will make a choice of which they will buy, recording it on their tracking sheet, all while staying within a budget. This activity flows naturally into a great discussion of what choices each person made, opinion writing pieces that defend the choices, or even hosting a debate for older students. Hopefully this lesson will not only help students build their financial literacy, but also gain even more understanding of gear that every Iditarod musher must carry!
Differentiation:
Grade K-1/Special Learners- Edit cards to simplify details and focus on $1, $2, $5, $10 amounts to practice simple addition or skip counting. Velcro would also assist younger students in placing their cards on the board.
Grades 4-6- Take the task a step further and have students compute the gear prices x 16 dogs or even dogfood x16 dogs and numbers of drop checkpoints
Middle School- Utilize the upper elementary differentiation as well as calculating the weight of food the dogs eat cost of different food brands based on those numbers.
“Trail Techy” for November highlights the computer science vocabulary word, Decomposition. This simply means, breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable parts. When we break down a long addition math problem into columns, that is decomposition. When we break down a spelling word into sounds, that is decomposition. We don’t even realize we are doing computer science continually every day! The lesson on selecting gear allowed students to break down mandatory gear selection into smaller, more manageable steps. This month let’s Hit’s the Trail and really jump in with both boots! Go to www.code.org and it is very simple to set up your class and assign their course. (Course A-K/1, Course B-Gr. 1/2, Course C- Gr. 2/3, Course D- Gr. 3/4, Course E- Gr. 4/5, Course F- Gr. 5) Once you do, students can work on specific coding concepts or work through the lessons in sequencial order learning more and more as they go. The site is built on the concept of decomposition! Take those tough tasks and break them down into smaller, easy-to-succeed steps! You will have amazing computer coders before the sun sets on the trail!
