Today I spent the entire day presenting about the Iditarod to the incredible staff and students at Larson Elementary. This was a wonderful experience for me personally, as it was the first time I have been able to present to new students in person. Zoom had been my platform for every presentation prior, so it was so nice to see all of the faces and smiles on everyone. The students were eager to learn about the Iditarod, its history, the basic set up of a dog team and the things that make it special for me. I was able to present to all grade levels K-5 throughout the day, and really enjoyed my time at Larson. 

There were great questions from the kids and some pretty memorable ones too. 

However, the highlight of the whole experience came at the end of the day. A student passed me in the hallway and said “Thank you, that was actually really cool.” As I said to many of the groups today, I have been teaching for 17 years in multiple districts, and Iditarod has always been the constant theme come February and March. The kids love it, and it’s these small comments from students that help make it so worthwhile. I left with some small parting gifts and thank you notes, got invited to play volleyball at the end of the day, and was invited by a Kindergartener to come back Friday for Spirit Day because they gave me this great T-shirt. She also said that it’s sometimes popcorn day. That might just get me to take her up on the offer…

Thank you again to everyone at Larson for welcoming me into your building and allowing me to be an Eagle for a day. 

A wonderful gift to remember my time at Larson.

After the day was done, I was able to call home to say goodnight to my daughters during dismissal at Larson. They were really confused about why they were going to bed, and I was still at a school. This lead to a great teaching prompt idea!

Teachers: Have your class talk about the time zone differences, and imagine what they would be doing if they were in Alaska right now! Being from Ohio, there is a 4 hour time difference; Alaska being 4 hours behind. This could lead to a bigger discussion/exploration of time zones and how it is set up around the world! The international dateline could be really interesting to talk about too.