Iditarod Thematic Unit

From OpenContent Curriculum

2010 Participating Teachers

• Justin Dipaola - jdipaola@glv.bssd.org

Another Iditarod is Upon Us!

CURRENT STANDINGS from Iditarod.com

LIVE UNALAKLEET CHECKPOINT WEB CAM

This is the starter page for a wiki-based thematic unit on dog mushing, and the Iditarod that is open to all teachers and students who would like to use it. If you are looking for 2009 Iditarod resources:

• 2009 Iditarod Information - Iditarod 2009 news, musher information, links to news stories as they happen, and more!
• 2009 IditaProject Registration
• 2009 VIDEOS & PHOTOS!
• VIDEO STREAM - BSSD Video Stream of Iditarod Coverage.
• Iditarod Forums - The best place to go for all race related talk!
• GOOGLE EARTH IDITAROD - University of Fairbanks EarthSlot Google Earth map of the Iditarod Trail with musher information. VERY COOL - Thanks to the UAF folks for ANOTHER great map.

Anyone can contribute - teacher, student, Iditarod fans or those interested in mushing itself - so create an account, and let's make it the best single resource out there!

This is a work in progress, but formalizes curriculum elements that have been used in the Bering Strait School District for many years, and blends them with new technologies, such as podcasts, video streams, student and teacher created content, resources, and lesson plans.

BSSD has more schools in villages along the Iditarod National Historical Trail than any other school district - including the Iditarod School District!

We welcome you to use the Talk Page to discuss the direction and development of this Open Content resource.

2009 Iditarod In Progress!

The BSSD IditaProject team is beginning it's active planning phase for the 2009 Iditarod season, and registration is open! This year there will be a free online course for teachers and schools that will be first come - first served.

Last year, IditaProject reached this registered audience:

MUSHING MEDIA - Iditarod 2009 Photos & Videos & Archives

Videos & Photos

Iditaproject 2009	Iditaproject Archives 2007-2008
Iditaproject 2009 Photos	Iditaproject 2007
Iditaproject 2009 Videos	Iditaproject 2008

RSS Feed

- Subscribe and receive ALL the updates!

2009 Ceremonial Start Photos

2009 Ceremonial Start Videos

Student Broadcast Team Video Stream of Iditarod Coverage

VIDEO STREAM - BSSD Video Stream of Iditarod Coverage.

2009 Live Coverage

In addition to IditaProject itself, our users are collaboratively providing free 2009 Race Coverage Resources for tracking Iditarod 2009 news and events!

Expanded IditaProject coverage is planned this year that will include free video conference connections with schools around the country. These sessions will also broadcast live via a Flash stream that requires no special software.

In addition, this page has a solid collection of lessons, resources, and standards-linked support materials. It will also have links to all prior year podcasts, video streams, and MP3s that were produced by students and teachers.

The new IditaProject Mushing Forum Area is open all year, but is particularly busy during the race with fan discussion, race reports, and even some of the mushers stopping in. The volunteer moderators there have done an excellent job at organizing off season chats, interviews with mushers, and generating a supportive community. This year the IditaProject participants will use the Teachers Only Forums there, and the student-moderated Students Only Forum to directly discuss events, and get classrooms more connected and involved.

2009 Partnerships

For the fifth year, we are partnering with organizations such as the Bureau of Land Management's Iditarod National Historic Trail program, the Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance, GCI's SchoolAccess division, Northern Air Cargo (NAC), Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation (NSEDC), and others to make this collaborative teacher-to-teacher, and student-to-student project possible. More information on sponsorship and activities planned will appear here shortly.

Want to help sponsor our project?

• Email John Concilus

Video Conference and Distance Course Registration

• IditaProject Registration for teachers and schools

Wiki Editing: Where to Start?

If you are new to wiki syntax - which is MUCH easier than HTML - we recommend you take a look at the excellent one page wiki editing cheatsheet that you can print out.

Use the "Edit" button along the top to change any page. To create new pages simply put double brackets around a word or phrase that becomes the page name like this [[Cool New Page]]. The example page link would red, which indicates that only a page "stub" or placeholder exists. You can then click that red link to add information to the newly created page.

This outline is only a rough organizer for the Bering Strait School District's IditaProject. Please add to the outline so that we can begin to make this a good Iditarod unit for everyone.

Anybody can contribute by registering with a valid email address!

Iditarod Resources Overview

In general, our goals for this Open Content thematic instructional unit on the Iditarod Sled Dog Race are:

• Collaboratively create a repository of Iditarod themed teaching units
• Organize Iditarod resources so they can be used by anyone interested in tracking or learning about the race
• Organize the instructional resources into a sensible array that can be used by multiple age and skill level groups
• Align embedded BSSD and Alaska standards to those from other locations and groups

Iditarod 2009 Quick Reference

These links are for quick reference, and can be added to by anyone:

Tracking the Race

• Iditarod Race Trail Map - an updated map of the race trail. Thanks Cabelas!

• 2009 Race Coverage - Collaboratively edited live wiki tracking Iditarod 2009 news and events!

• Anchorage Daily News coverage - Very nice in prior years, and usually very informative.

• The Official Iditarod Website - The ITC has lots of coverage that is subscription only, and some free resources, too.

• Josh Roger's IditaBlog - Josh always has great Itidarod coverage posts, and used to live in the area. He's a genuinely nice guy, as well ;-)

• Alaska Public Radio Netwwork Coverage - Great little audio clips, and interviews from the race while it's happening.

• Nome Alaska Radio Station broadcasts the finish live!

• Daily pictures from a school in Shageluk - Will this school website be active this year? No posts since 2007-08 school year.

Iditarod Forums

• Mushing Forum - Open Mushing Forum hosted by BSSD. Many active users, and 13,000 + posts in first 8 months!

• Iditarod Talk Forum - The official forum the ITC runs.

Webcams

• Anchorage 4th Avenue AlaskaCam - See the ceremonial Start of the Iditarod Race

• Anchorage Hilton Webcam of 4th Avenue - View the activity down at the 4th Avenue ceremonial Start

• Anchorage Sheraton Webcam - This one doesn't show the ceremonial start, but you can see where they will be going, and you might even catch a glimpse of the mushers as they head down the trail.

• FAA Alaska Weathercams Along the Iditarod Trail - Up to the minute views of the weather and surrounding landscape at 13 Alaskan communities and remote sites along the historic Iditarod Trail from Seward to Koyuk. Very cool views of the mountain country crossed by the Iditarod Sled Dog Race can be seen at the Puntilla Lake and Rohn cams. Helps prevent fliers who follow the Idita-route from crashing into mountains obscured by clouds or snow. Scroll down the list to select one of the following (listed here from south to north, although on FAA site is listed alphabetically): Seward, Portage Glacier, Anchorage, Birchwood, Puntilla Lake, Rohn, Nikolai, McGrath, Ruby, Ruby Airport, Galena, Kaltag, Unalakleet, Koyuk, Elim

• BSSD IditaCam - Live, steerable camera periodically available throughout race

• White Mountain Checkpoint Cam - Under repair, but will be online soon!

Race Route & Checkpoint Info

• Earth SLOT 3D Iditarod Checkpoints - This is great stuff, and the UAF GIS guys volunteer to add to it each year. Make sure you thank them.

Photos and Media Galleries

Video Views of the Trail Today - On-the-ground and from the air!

• Farewell Lakes - Iditarod 2008 - Snowmobile south on the Iditarod Trail across the Farewell Lakes during the 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race during a warm spell. View is SE toward Alaska Range.

• Helicopter Landing at Rohn Airstrip - 2008 helicopter landing at the Rohn airstrip, home of the BLM Rohn Shelter Cabin and Iditarod Sled Dog Race Rohn checkpoint. View is east to Dalzell Gorge (gap between mountains above/right end of airstrip)

Mushing Blogs

Past Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Stats

2008 Iditarod

• Wikipedia Iditarod 2008 - This is the wiki page on the 2008 race at Wikipedia.

• Free Flickr Photostream of 2008 Iditarod - Excellent source of free images from last year's race!

2007 Iditarod

• Wikipedia Iditarod 2007 - This is the wiki page on the 2007 race at Wikipedia.

2006 Iditarod

• Wikipedia Iditarod 2006 - This is the wiki page on the 2006 race at Wikipedia.

2005 Iditarod

2004 Iditarod

History of the Iditarod

First there were Native Alaskan trails connecting their on the coasts, over the mountain passes, and along the rivers in Alaska. Next came the Russian fur trappers, traders and colonizers, and they used the same trails. Next came the Americans, who stampeded for gold on the same trails and linked new towns like Fairbanks, Nome, and Iditarod.

The Alaska Road Commission then linked a series of these trails from Seward to Nome, through the town of Iditarod. When the goldfields went bust, and many of the trails grew over for a half century, until a group of folks led by Joe Redington Sr., had the wild idea to hold a sleddog race from Anchorage to Nome.

That was 37 years ago, and annual races have been held ever since. The trail was designated by Congress as the Iditarod National Historic Trail in 1978. So when you think about "the history of the Iditarod", do you mean the sleddog race? the historic trail? the historic town? or the river named Iditarod? There are centuries of history out there!!

• BLM Iditarod National Historic Trail-Free poster, links to historic documents and stories, and organizers kits for the Historic Iditarod Centennial.
• [1] - Trail History by the Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance
• Wikipedia Iditarod Article - Huge amount of information on the Iditarod Sled Dog Race and the historic trail.

Iditarod Educational Links

Are you a teacher who has used or located a good existing resource? List it here, and consider registering for IditaProject 2009. It is free for teachers and schools anywhere.

• Tracking the 2009 Iditarod!

This year's IditaProject topic threads:

• History and Culture of the Race - In process!
  • BSSD About the Iditarod - Just a page stub so far...
  • Alaska Gold Rush
• Mushing Math- In process!
• Veterinary Medicine and Sled Dogs- In process!
• Race Statistics and Logistics- In process!

Collaborative Instructional Units - Created by the IditaProject Working Weekend Team, but feel free to help!

The units below are linked to BSSD standards, but anyone can contribute or use them:

• Mushing Science
• Letters of the Iditarod
• Research_iditarod
• Rocking the Iditarod
• Favorite 2009 Iditarod Musher
• Mushing Probability & Graphing
• Cold Feet
• Create Your Own Iditarod Team
• Iditarod Musher Budget
• Joe Redington as a leader
• Fact or Fiction Iditarod
• Fantasy Iditarod Game - In process!
• Iditarod Newspaper
• Dogson Elementary Social Studies
• Iditarod Race Statistics
• Sled Dogs - Forming and Defending an Opinion
• Selection in Sled Dogs
• Minature Sled Building

Note: Anyone can create units of their own here on this wiki by creating an account, and then just entering the name of the page in the search bar to the left and clicking "Go". The red then creates a new page with your unit title. Just use the Lesson Plan Template if you like by typing in {{subst:Lesson_Plan}} at the top of a blank new page!

Free Rubric Creator - Great site to make rubrics that can be then uploaded to the wiki for your activities.

General Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Resources (For All Ages)

• Websites Tagged "Iditarod" - a live stream of websites tagged in Delicious as "Iditarod"
• IditaProject Registration - Free video conference and Flahs streams for teachers and schools, and a free online distance learning course.
  
• Follow the Leaders Track the progress of a musher and dog team in this lesson that includes all curriculum areas. (Grades K-12)
  
• Sunrise, Sunset An Iditarod mapping activity illustrates why Anchorage, Alaska, has less daylight than cities in the continental United States. (Grades 3-12)
  
• Mush! Tracking Travelers on the Trail Students get to know Alaska and the Iditarod route as they track mushers' progress on a map they create. (Grades 3-12)
  
• EarthSLOT Data Mashup- This is a fabulous resource for tracking the race, and learning about the route. The UAF folks have maintained this for free for several years, and it pulls Google Earth maps, race data and GPS tracking into one place...For FREE!
  
• 2008 Iditarod KML File - This is the free KML file that UAF provides to use in Google Earth. It is for last year's race. If you think it is useful, please thank the developers!
• Everybody is a Winner A primary source document answers students' questions about Iditarod winners. Work sheet included. (Grades 4-8)
  
• Working Dog Web This is a terrific resource website with many excellent links.
  
• General Info for Kids/Teachers from Ultimate Iditarod
• Iditarod Quicktime Video Library This site has quicktime videos about many Iditarod-related topics, including:sleds and lines, drop bags, the dogyard, basic mushing gear, musher clothing, feeding at a kennel, etc.
  
• Daily Race Statistics This is a page you can print to have students track the race on a daily basis.
• Create Iditarod Word Searches - An interactive Word Search maker that comes with some Iditarod terms. Teacher customizable.
• Iditarod Unit Resources - Excellent list of educational links, and resources on the Iditarod from The Smith's.
• Ultimate Iditarod A good site for answering questions about the Iditarod.
• Sled Race This site just shows pictures of what looks to be something exciting kids would love to participate in.
• Discovery Channel Iditarod Info-Musher resources and map.
• Iditarod Unit Study- Also contains numerous links.
• Midge Frazel's Iditarod Site Midge has created a terrific site with quite a few external links - including some mention of BSSD's efforts.
• Idita-Mation - Iditarod Clay Mation Activity
• Trading Card Maker - Great tool for making your own Iditarod trading cards like *MartinZoo's IditaDeck from the 2008 race. Lots of possibilities for this tool
• Iditarod Flickr Pool- A pool of high quality Iditarod pictures, some even with map locations. The downside is that many of these resources are copyrighted.
• Klondike Dreams: a Teacher Resource SiteThe links found here are just a fraction of the possible resources available. GOOGLE lists over 1,000,000 entries for "Iditarod" & over 64,000 entries for "Teacher Resources Iditarod." This is just a place to start.
• Making a Map This school starts their Iditarod unit every year by making maps they can use to follow the race. They include pictures of a lot of the maps they have made. A great artistic project to kick off the Iditarod.
• Frontier Alaska Game from Discovery
• Free Iditarod Printables from homeschooling.about.com
• Webster Schools State Road Elementary- This is a terrific resource. Updated seasonally. Extensive links to Iditarod and other races. Musher links. Animal links. Teacher resource links.
• Battle Creek Schools Iditarod Links - Very good site that pulls together a ton of links for teachers.
• The AlaskaKids site - includes the Serum Run game This site has many Alaska-specific activities and lessons including a Serum Run game that is reminiscent of the Oregon Trail game. The site is probably best for students in grades 2-6.
• Idita-Warm-up Activity Though mostly a physical education activity, there are certainly also opportunities with this activity for math, technology and social studies. This activity is accessible for most ages.
• The MushHusky Study Guides for All Levels This website offers over 50 study guides, all based in Alaska, many directly linked to the Iditarod. Content areas include, Math, Science and Reading and there seems to be something for most grade levels including high school. Some good resources here.
• Multiple Lesson Links for All Levels This listing has Iditarod-based lessons and activities for grades K-12 in multiple content areas. Definitely a good place to start.
• Village Math-Dog Lot Math, Sled Runners and other village-based math problems.
• Village Science-Dog Sleds, Winter Trails, Shelters and more.

Primary Grades Resources (K-3)

• Making an Idita-Rock - Download instructions for this craft project for young students - making a dog team out of rocks. Originally from the Cabela's website.
• Mrs. Kris Coates Iditarod Unit This is a great thematic unit with many activities to keep students engaged.
• Teacher Lesson Plans for Grade 3-a link with teacher resources/lesson plans produced by a librarian in Pennsylvania
• Iditakid-A race around the school with checkpoints, rules, etc... teaching about the Iditarod.
• Scholastic Thematic Unit Here is an Iditarod Thematic Unit called Iditarod Picture Dictionary to use with lower elementary. What's neat about this site is it has a scoring guide built in to the unit that is electronic.
• Musher Biography Template A basic template students can use to display biographical info on mushers.
• Info on Iditarod This website is neat. You choose a part of the Iditarod, then read a small article related to that choice and answer a couple of true/false questions about the reading. All interactive and a good connection for comprehension checks while learning about the Iditarod. All made by 5th graders.
• Iditarod Race Stations For the lesson, students will be traveling to ten stations that are designed using the Iditarod theme. Each station is named after an actual checkpoint in the race. Each station is marked with it's name, direction for completing the station and the number of points scored at the station. The display serves as one station where students answer questions about the race.
• Education World - Track the Trek-complete with national standards.
• Musher Picture Dictionary Lesson Plan
• Graph the Winning Times- linked to national standards
• Packing for the Iditarod- Another Education World Lesson
• Creating an Iditarod Picture Dictionary For K-2.
• Mushing Log- linked to Indiana State standards

Upper Elementary Resources (4-8)

• Alaskan Iditarod WebQuest: A Literature-Based Unit of Study This seems directed toward grades 4-6.
  
• Mrs. Morgan's Great Iditarod Adventure - Daily Lessons A teacher created these daily math, language art and writing assignments for her students. Roughly around 4th/5th grade level - some good ideas stubs at the very least!
  
• Dream a Dream, Reach a Goal This is a webquest designed for 5th and 6th-graders. this one was originally created in 2005, but again, this will take very little work to update and customize for your classroom.
  
• [http://education.nmsu.edu/webquest/wq/iditarod/ Iditarod Webquest - This webquest reaches across multiple content areas and is set up rather nicely. A plethora of terrific links.
  
• Joan's Science Lesson This unit has activities for ways to connect snow with the Iditarod and how this could effect the dogs.
• Woodsong Integrated Unit-This unit uses Gary Paulsen's Woodsong and integrates math, science and social studies lessons.
• The Great Race to Nome by Karen Krupnick Here is a list of several math activities ranging from graphing to calculating distance and timezones.
  
• Iditarod Webquest This webquest is centered around a rookie musher coming to the student to get some questions answered. This links should take you to the PowerPoint overview of this unit.
  
• The Great Race to Nome by Karen Krupnick Here is a list of writing ideas connected to the Iditarod.
• Iditarod Thematic Unit Here is a website that contains a thematic unit related to the Iditarod.
  
• Iditarod Math: Ten Math Work Sheets Teach About the Iditarod Ten decent math worksheets related to the race. Word problems, multiplication, fractions, division...]
  
• Teacher Lesson Plans for Grade 4-6-Teacher Lesson Plans produced by a librarian in Pennsylvania
• Mushing Graphing & Probability - Excellent hands-on upper elementary / middle school lessons!
• Thematic Unit Ideas-Complete with specific examples, sample lesson plan..
• Taking a Stand on Sled Dogs Here is a great unit that helps students with persuasive opinions and point of view with regards to the Iditarod.
• Body Fat Experiment-Experiment about adaptation to cold environments.
• A Study of Alaska
• Math Worksheets Once you get to this site, scroll down to Ten Iditarod Math Worksheets. Different worksheets using different math application in real world word problems regarding the Iditarod.
• Iditarod Race Stations- Activity lesson for grades 3-4 includes LA, SS and MA.
• Iditarod Fieldtrip
• Iditarod Race Stations For the lesson, students will be traveling to ten stations that are designed using the Iditarod theme. Each station is named after an actual checkpoint in the race. Each station is marked with it's name, direction for completing the station and the number of points scored at the station. The display serves as one station where students answer questions about the race.
• Education World - Track the Trek-complete with national standards.
• Musher Picture Dictionary Lesson Plan
• Graph the Winning Times- linked to national standards
• Balto's Great Race Aimed at grades 3/4, this is a complete lesson plan. Students begin by reading The Bravest Dog Ever – The True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford and wind up making a model dogsled. This has a lot of things to like: cooperative grouping, group evaluation and personal reflection. Ready to use.
• Packing for the Iditarod- Another Education World Lesson
• IditaDeck Game - MartinZoo says he'll have a new version up this December.
• Mush!The Iditarod Game - Nice game developed by SDSU's course in learning simulations. Some parts are broken links, but we are asking the professor there for permission to get copies, and will offer to host the files if needed.
• A Grade 6 plan for a writing activity This is a nice little lesson where students are asked to do some research and detail differences between the first Iditarod and this year's race. With a slight tweak or two, this one is ready to go.
• Mush Rush Game - Simple web game that shows parts of a sled and teaches basic dog commands to navigate the Northern Route.
• Beaverton School Distric Thematic Unit This incorporates many content areas and connecting with Iditarod.
• A scavenger hunt with physical activity to boot Participants will work together as a team to collect scavenger hunt items or checkpoint cards while enjoying a fun aerobic activity. A complete lesson plan.

Secondary Resources (9-12)

• Joan's Science Lesson This site has a weather unit regarding the Iditarod targeting MS/HS levels.
  
• Lessons From the Iditarod - some basic information about the physiology of how sled dogs are able to run the Iditarod.
  
• A Study of Alaska
• Education World - Track the Trek-complete with national standards.
• Musher Picture Dictionary Lesson Plan
• Graph the Winning Times- linked to national standards
• Packing for the Iditarod- Another Education World Lesson
• The MushHusky Study Guides for the Secondary Classroom While this site has a lot of things for many levels, it does have some good items for the high school-age student including a Math & Physics Unit Guide and a Reading List for Older Readers. Some of the other units provide some good starting points which could easily be adapted for older students.
• What Does it Cost to Run the Iditarod? Check this site out for a reasonably-detailed list of the costs an average musher is facing in order to prepare for the Iditarod. A nice resource on which to base a lesson or activity.
• Patrick Nolden, a biology teacher at Soldotna High School in Soldotna, Alaska, submitted this lesson in which students learn about the history of the Iditarod. (Grades 6-12) The year is 1925. Serum must get to Nome within six days to save the community from diphtheria. An Iditarod problem-solving quest for students!

State Specific Standards & Lessons

• Florida Grade 3 Unit - Kip Mitchell of Pinellas County School District did a nice job pulling these resources and guides together for an integrated Grade 3 unit. Lots of good stuff here linked to Florida standards.

2009 Iditarod Musher Info

Please see 2009 Race Coverage page for a complete list of 2009 mushers, and information about their websites, blogs and news stories.

Uncategorized Iditarod Links

This area is a temporary holding area for a links that our volunteers, teachers and other contributors will organize into appropriate categories so folks can find them. If you are not sure where something goes, put it here!!

Links to Check