Sled Dog Ed

Dear Educators,

The Iditarod Dog Sled Race is about to begin! Within about two weeks, the streets of Anchorage will be howling with fun. The restart in Willow will be all paws on deck ready to embark on an adventure. Your students should be just as excited as us dogs are for the race, even if we are a retired sled dog.

Speaking of dogs, there are some great K9 Dog Journalists that work for the Iditarod Education Department and write articles for students about the race. These articles give historical information, facts and trivia, dog care specifics, musher information and life lessons. The great thing about using these K9 reporters is that each one writes at a different reading level for students.

One of the teachers that comes to the kennel to talk with me about ideas to include in my articles, shared about these K9 reporters. I was all ears as I knew many of you would be interested in how to use the articles. Each student is given the name of one K9 reporter: Zuma, Gypsy, Libby or Sanka. Students are then directed to the Iditarod.com Home Page and under the Education tab on top they select Zuma’s Paw Prints. Each reporter is shown with their dog picture and the words, “Read ____’ s articles”. Clicking on that phrase brings up a list of articles written specifically by that dog reporter.

In addition, the teacher informed me that Common Core Standards for reading informational text can be accomplished with this activity as well. Students read their chosen article and then are given a Paw Print Journal Form. 

What a great way for students to learn about the race and demonstrate their summarizing and opinion writing skills with our fabulous line of K9 Journalists. Check them out!!!

I think I will head on down to my post in the dog yard and curl up for some sweet dreams…Zuma…Gypsy…Libby…Sanka!!!!

~Sled Dog Ed