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Welcome to Iditarod EDU!
Engaging lessons based on Insider video clips.
Our four-legged correspondents write for all ages..
Collection of all things Iditarod.
Latest EDU Posts
When my son Andrew was a freshman in high school, he took a course called AP Human Geography that sounded really interesting to me. My curiosity was even more piqued when my next child took the same class. What is this human geography stuff, I wondered? I asked my kids about their assignments, and it …
Learn how to harness the power of the Iditarod and sled dog racing to increase student engagement and drive in your classroom. Add new gear to your classroom sled bag. Broaden your repertoire of Iditarod-themed lessons in a multitude of content areas and across a wide range of age and grade levels. This professional development …
What does it take to prepare for a long mission in an extreme environment? So far in this series, we have compared training for the Iditarod and astronaut training. We have learned about some differences and similarities between sleds and spacecraft. Now it’s time to talk about fuel and food. It must be getting close …
When a class “gels,” it’s a beautiful thing. Students work together willingly and support one another. They get along, and they tolerate one another’s differences. One thing you can do to really move this process along is build a shared culture of stories. For me, that’s sled dog stories. The first sled dog book I …
Dear Friends, Some people think that sled dog teams and their drivers, or “mushers,” just pay $4000 and sign up to race in the Iditarod across Alaska. That isn’t true. There is a rule that says: ROOKIES: report card/assessment forms and rookie reference must be included in order to enter the race. What? Mushers need …
I love how numbers can tell stories of the world around us. One of my challenges as a 2024 finalist was to write a post with lesson ideas using math. This was the night of the Anchorage Musher Banquet, and I found myself poring over the 2023 Musher Stats page in the Iditarod program. I …
On the surface, it may seem that there aren’t a lot of commonalities between dog sleds and spacecraft. After all, a sled is a structure designed for teams of dogs to pull loads across ice and snow. Spacecraft have many components including rocket engines, service modules housing life-support mechanisms, and astronaut living quarters. But there’s …
There is still time to join the postcard challenge!!! We are looking for classes or homeschool families from several states to round out our fifth annual Iditarod Postcard Challenge! If you join the project, you are committing to sending postcards to each class on the list between the start of school and when the …
Have you ever experienced a desire to accomplish something tremendous? It’s a feeling I can relate to! To continue the September theme of “What are they Pulling?” I want to talk about goal setting and tracking. 2024 Iditarod mushers have varied goals about the upcoming race. Canadian musher Rob Cooke says, “The goal is to …
By now teachers are back in the swing of the school year. We are diving into curriculum, analyzing data, working with coaches and mentors, and planning with our teams. We have our routines established. Our lives have returned to the rhythm of the school year. One thing we do here in Texas is a silent …