What have the Quilts been up to during October?
Four Iditarod Traveling Quilts are on a special educational journey from school to school around the nation. Each month, read about each quilt. Get a glim pse of the lessons and activities that schools are involved in while hosting an Iditarod Quilt in their community. This article will summarize Quilts 1, 2, and 3. Read about Quilt 4 at this link.
Quilt 1 traveled to Watertown, South Dakota to visit the Kindergarten classroom of Denise Hoff.
A special package arrived in the classroom. The students were excited to ‘meet’ the Iditarod Traveling Quilt that had traveled from one Dakota to the next. As the teacher displayed the quilt, the discussion and Iditarod energy began in the kindergarten classroom. The students talked about each of the squares. They chose their favorite square and thought about reasons for choosing favorite squares. The students also talked about dogs. The students also looked at an enlarged map of Alaska. The Iditarod Trail was outlined so all of the students could see the race route of more than 1000 miles! Smaller individual maps were made for the students.
Near the end of the month, two kindergarten classes and two second grade classes gathered to meet special guests. Mr. Brad VanMeter’ came to their school because Brad has visited Alaska and been at the start of the Iditarod many times. He has even helped get teams to the starting line! Dean Johnson was with Brad for the presentation as was Brad’s Alaskan sled dog, Desert. Brad shared information about the race, the dogs, and about his friend, Iditarod Musher Vern Halter.
The students have read books about Akaika, Togo, and Swifty. The movie, Balto was a thriller for the students to watch!
The students designed their own quilt square and submitted it to be a part of a future Iditarod Traveling quilt.
Later this year, the students will be making sleds from Popsicle sticks. The students have plans to invite an Iditarod musher to visit the school, too.
When the race begins, Denise and the school administration will direct a school wide Iditarod Watch.
After visiting the school, Quilt 1 departed for Indiana.
Quilt 2
The quilt spent October in El Paso, Texas, with the Bradley Generals. Students from 3rd, 4th and 5th grade Gifted and Talented classes read 2 versions of the Libby Riddles book, “Storm Run” and compared how the same story was told for 2 different audiences. Students read and studied musher biographies from the Iditarod website. They will use these to write their own mini-biographies for a special unit on Iditarod. They each picked a musher to follow during the race, making sleds to move along an Iditarod Trail down the hallway. Students also dressed up in Nome wear that their teacher uses when working at the finish line. El Paso NEVER gets cold enough to wear these clothes! We can’t wait for the race to begin.
Quilt 3
Quilt arrived in Washington at Grand Mound Elementary. The students enjoyed meeting quilt and discussing the messages that were found on each square of the quilt. During the quilt’s stay at the school, the teacher cleverly integrated the themes found on each square of the quilt into the content learning for the students.
Interested in learning more about the Iditarod Traveling Quilt project? Read this article and follow the links.
