Join the Idita Read™ and race from Anchorage to Nome!
Click on this to use the Iditarod forms for your students. Tip: Ask students to save the forms to the computer. Students can then type on the form instead of printing out the forms to practice ‘green’ habits.
To use a map to track student progress in an Idita Read™ follow these directions:
First click on the image to view the larger version of the image.
Next, right click on the image to save the image to your computer. (Save Image As)
Choose a name such as, “Diane’s Iditarod Trail map” (only your name!) so you can easily locate your map on the computer.
Once you have completed that step, go to the PAINT program and open that program. Select: File and then Open. Locate the image on your computer. (Find it where you saved it!)
After your map is on your screen, select a color and tool (such as the spray paint) to trace your progress along the Iditarod Trail. Be sure to save the map so that race progress is updated.
Each students can save their own map and use it to show their progress during the Idita Read™.
For those who do not have a PAINT program on the computer, click on the map to enlarge the view. Print the map. Use markers to trace your progress or glue colorful stars or stickers on the checkpoints to show reading progress. Print in gray scale to save on ink.
Optional method of recording progress using these bookmarks to record the book titles.
Teacher’s tool: Award Certificate
Teacher’s tool: Bookmarks to download for students. Give as rewards or incentives!
*Special thanks to teacher, Sheila Blair, for sharing the forms she used with her students. Her ideas were used in the creation of the forms for this article.
For additional information on Idita Read projects™ click here.
Editor’s note: Hundreds of schools around the nation have created incredible Idita Read projects that align reading goals and use our race, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, as the project’s theme. Teachers have provided testimony that an Idita Read project is engaging to students and that students are empowered to read more during an Idita Read project than other times of the school year. Students enjoy reading and ‘racing’ the mushers from Anchorage to Nome. An Idita Read™ program can be used at any grade/reading level and be designed to meet individual or group reading goals. We salute those schools and teachers for using the race as a tool to encourage students to read more!
An example of a school project that exemplifies an Idita Read can be found at this website link. This Idita Read project is run by Sally Javier of IDEA. (Homeschool with Interior Distance Education of Alaska, a part of the Galena City School District.) At this link, you will find many great ideas that you can adapt to your own classroom or school Idita Read™ project. The IDEA Idita Read project that Sally Javier facilitates for homeschool families each year serves as a modal for a school district wishing to create or design their own Idita Read™ project. As education director for Iditarod, I applaud Sally for her dedication to encouraging students to read and thank her for willingness to share her ideas with others.
Photo of Jeff King, provided by Sally Javier.
Other successful Idita Read projects have been run by Sheila Blair (Click here to learn more) and this project in Wisconsin. (Click here.) Check back for other examples soon to be posted!
The education department does encourage teachers or schools to create their own Idita Read projects using the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race as inspiration for the project. We welcome your using the race theme or our materials (or creating your own materials to use), but do not give permission for you to create an Idita Read project to sell to others. If you do discover an Idita Read project that requires you to pay a fee to participate in the Idita Read, keep in mind this is not an official Iditarod project and permission to sell an Idita Read™ — Iditarod Educational project to teachers/schools/home school families has not been granted.
We encourage teachers to create an Idita Read program that ‘works’ for their own students because we know that our race is an inspirational tool to encourage your students to read and learn! Students have fun reading, enjoy racing their musher to checkpoints and into Nome, and many students discover new books and authors along the Idita-Read Trail!
We’d enjoy hearing about your Idita-Read projects and your success. Please send an email. We’ll post your ideas to help others create projects for their students.
