The 2009 Junior Iditarod began this morning in a virtual winter wonderland.  The 21 participants left in two-minute intervals with the snow falling in big fluffy flakes, creating a kind of musher snow globe.  The fast trails of last night were made a bit slower by the new fallen snow; in fact, the snow was falling so heavily that the Iditarod Air Force could not fly the volunteers and race officials out to the checkpoint.  That meant, Target^TM Teacher on the Trail Cathy couldn’t fly out either.  So, what were we to do?!  The problem solving answer: snow machines (snow mobiles for those in the lower 48…).  So this year, this southern Teacher on the Trail went to the Yentna checkpoint via snow machine!  Not only did I get to ride on a snow machine for the very first time in my life, but I also drove the machine for 40 minutes on the Yentna River.  It was so exciting!  The trip was absolutely beautiful and so much fun.  For the second time this week we had a clear view of Denali.

Do you know this famous author?

That’s right!  Robert Blake, author of the books Akiak and Togo, was at the Yentna checkpoint.  Mr. Blake lives in Nashville, Tennessee but was visiting this remote roadhouse on the Yentna River drawing and doing research for his next book.  I can’t tell you what the book is about because the author tells me it is going to be a “surprise.”  We will all have to wait knowing that it will be a must read for our classrooms!

As the junior mushers arrived at Yentna each one signed off on their time with the race official, had their sled checked by the race marshal for their required gear, and were guided to a resting spot.  Each musher received six bottles of heet, straw for their dogs, and a bottle of juice.  By 11 p.m. all the mushers were in and the race officials went inside the station for a warm and delicious meal.

Dan and Jean Gabryszak own and operate the roadhouse year round.  In the winter there are lots of snow machines that come off the river for gas and refreshment and in the summer it’s a fisherman’s paradise.  This evening Dan entertained us by singing and playing guitar while Jean dished out mounds of food.  Soon we were all full, warm, and ready for bed.  Everyone had to be up early as the first musher was scheduled to depart shortly before 6 a.m.

We were fortunate that the weather wasn’t too cold.  Highs had been in the mid-20’s and the low was -10 with little to no wind; in the morning the mushers and dogs woke up to clear blue skies.  And the trip to the finish line would be faster than getting to the halfway point at Yentna.  When the last musher headed for Willow that morning, some of the officials headed back on their snow machines and the rest of us flew back in a bush plane.  The trip by plane only took about 15 minutes compared to the 2-hour snow machine ride.  It was wonderful to see from the air where we had traveled the day before-on lakes and rivers, and through the woods.  We made it back in plenty of time to see the finish.  Stay tuned for race results!

The start date of Iditarod XXXVII is quickly approaching. Race organizers are attending to the last minute details of the Last Great Race.  The food bags have been sorted and distributed along the trail.  Mushers have their dogs in the “taper” phase of training.  Just like human distance runners they prepare for racing by putting in lots of mileage early in the season and then when it gets close to race time they significantly decrease mileage, saving energy for the big race.

The same is true of us in the Iditarod Education Department.  The Target^TM 2010 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail finalists are preparing for their 10-day, 24/7 interviews in Anchorage.  Diane Johnson, Iditarod Education Director, is putting the final touches on the Winter Conference with all of its fine speakers and fun field trips.  I have had a wonderfully busy time visiting schools in the Wasilla area, where I have been sharing Iditarod songs and stories with the children.

And now it is time for me to put on my real winter gear and cover my first race.  I have the distinct honor of covering the Junior Iditarod.  The Junior is a 150-mile race for mushers 14 to 17.  The trail stretches over the first 85 miles of the main Iditarod Trail to Yentna Station, where competitors are required to take a 10-hour layover, before returning home the next day.  The race is designed to teach young mushers how to travel long distances with their dog teams-a stepping-stone to the real Iditarod.  Follow these young mushers with me right here as we see how this year’s race unfolds.  Start time is 10 a.m., Saturday, February 28.

I couldn’t have had a more perfect flight to Alaska.  The sky was bright blue all day, and l had the nicest people sitting next to me on both legs of my flight.  And, I SAW DENALI!  For the first time in five visits to Alaska, Mt. McKinley was not hiding behind the clouds.  She was beautiful.

During the long flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage, I had plenty of time to chat with the fellow sitting next to me.  I think it is so interesting that, if you talk long enough to a complete stranger, you will eventually make a connection.  As our conversation unfolded I found out that Duane Hanson, my fellow traveler, is the pastor of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Wasilla.  That was our first connection-I was headed for Wasilla.  Duane had wonderful stories of his early years as a pastor on the Seward Penninsula of Alaska in Shishmaref and Nome.  In Nome he lived next door to legend musher Herbie Nayopuk and would run his second team of dogs.  There’s the second connection-dog sledding.  At the end of the flight Duane invited me to attend the soup and sandwich dinner and Ash Wednesday service at his church.  I said I would like that and and I meant it.

As we were getting off the plane, I connected with my friend Terrie Hanke, the 2006 Teacher on the Trail.  I introduced her to Duane and told her about the invitation.  We started to walk away when Terrie said, “Wait a minute, I know this guy.”  We returned to Duane and indeed they did know each other.  Duane and Terrie had golfed on the same course in Dallas, Wisconsin and Terrie had actually given Duane’s wife golf lessons.  There it is!-the third connection.  It is a small world.

Terrie and I both attended the dinner and service; the dinner and fellowship were terrific.  So now I’m looking forward to more connections as I begin the Alaska piece of my Target^TM Teacher on the Trail journey.  I am reminded that it is not only wonderful to have others along with you on your journeys, but to see who will cross your path, and how they will contribute to your life and you to theirs.   It is, I believe, part of why we are called to do these sorts of things.

My bags are packed and I only have a few little odds and ends to take care of.  Last night I sewed my patch on the Teacher on the Trail sleeping bag.  Every teacher who has been selected for this position has a patch on the bag; along with mine, there are now a total of eleven.  The bag started its journey in Indiana (1999), then on to South Dakota (2000), Colorado (2001) to Missouri (2002), and then Oregon (2003).  The next year bag was in Minnesota (2004), then on to Massachusetts (2005), Wisconsin (2006), Florida (2007), Arizona (2008), and now to me in North Carolina (2009).  This sleeping bag has really moved around these United States! 

Here are two sleeping bag activities for your students.  1) Use the Internet and find out how many men and women have been Teacher on the Trail.  2) Using a map of the continental United States, color the states blue that have had a male TOTT.  Color the states pink who had a female TOTT.  3) Number the eleven states showing the sleeping bags journey, i.e. (1) Indiana.  4) Draw lines from the first state to the second, etc., until all eleven states have been connected.

Now the TOTT sleeping bag has been to these eleven states but its real duty is out on the Iditarod Trail during the Last Great Race on Earth. Wherever the teacher goes, so goes the sleeping bag.  At each checkpoint on the trail the teacher pulls it out of his/her duffel and looks for a place to sleep.  I’ll post pictures of the 2009 journey of the sleeping bag out on the trail.  I hope we find warm and cozy places to sleep!

Valentine’s Day may be over but the sentiments of that special day of love still linger in the air.  Here are two bits of advice to warm the heart I found written on chocolate wrappers: “Do all things with love” and “Love cures people, both the ones who give and the ones who receive.”  Now these sayings may be a little sappy, but parents and teachers everywhere desire that their children be loving, kind, and responsible.  As teachers and parents, we hope and pray that our children make good choices, know the difference between right and wrong, and show others they care.  Children constantly hear from authority figures that they are in charge of their behavior and all of the decisions they make.  But how do we as parents and teachers purposely instruct our children in these matters?  I like to refer to this instruction as “matters of the heart.”

There are loads of complicated programs developed to train children in areas of character or “matters of the heart,” and I am sure many are effective.  But I have found real-life examples from the Iditarod to be particularly effective.  My school’s “Buddy System” uses the Iditarod to build relationships between students; it teaches them, in an interactive format, what it means to be compassionate and responsible.  It is a simple system that profoundly encourages appropriate behavior, and it works!

Each fourth grader (big buddy) is paired with a pre-kindergarten child (little buddy).  The pair will remain buddies for the next five years (after which the little buddies become big buddies with little buddies of their own!)  On their first meeting in August the fourth graders give their buddies stuffed husky dogs.  Together they name the dogs, decide their gender, and make collars with dog tags for them.  The buddies have their photograph taken with their dog and the dog’s birth certificate, with all of its vital statistics, is attached to the back.  Each of the buddies receives a copy to take home.  Through this initial interaction deep bonds are already forming.

However, prior to the buddies’ first meeting, the pre-kindergarten teachers (dressed up as “Canine Fairies”) deliver the stuffed 7″ huskies to the fourth graders.  The Fairies impress upon them the responsibility that comes with being a role model to younger children and what that behavior looks like.  We even ask them, “Are you ready to take on this responsibility?”  Of course their response is a resounding, “Yes!”  The fourth graders are so excited to be at long last big buddies after years of being the little buddy!  The Fairies then give the dogs to the students to take care of for the weekend.  When they return to school the next Monday, we have the fist buddy meeting with subsequent meetings scheduled every month for the rest of the school year.

On their second meeting in September the buddies paint doghouses for the puppies.  In October the buddies meet for such activities as a special pizza picnic prior to attending a school assembly to meet Hugh Neff, the 2004 Rookie of the Year, and his lead dog, Marcellus.  The Iditarod is the perfect theme to build positive relationships.  And then in March when the real Iditarod is going on we have our own Iditarod adventure.  The fourth graders are the huskies and the pre-kindergarten children are the mushers.  They race across Alaska, from Willow to Nome, on plastic sleds over the damp grass. 

Last year we had our school Iditarod covered by our local television station and newspaper.  They recorded the fun, the laughter, the sledding, the hard work, the dogs singing for their supper, and the eating of dog bone cookies prepared by the pre-kindergarten children.  Best of all, the fourth graders were recorded by the media answering the question, “What does it take to be a big buddy?”  The responses touched the hearts of teachers and parents alike when they responded, “I have to be responsible for my buddy.”  “I have to make sure he is safe.”  “I have to set a good example.”   These were not empty words.  The responsibility the fourth graders take for their buddies was evident in their behavior.  They were making good choices based upon the needs of their buddies; moreover, these responses come from the heart.  It is in matters of the heart that we see these young ones begin to realize their place in our community.  To be responsible is to give back.

The relationship mushers have with their teams in the real Iditarod gives children a picture of how to be responsible.  There are always wonderful examples for students to watch on Iditarod Insider.  For example, find out how Paul Gebhart made responsible choices based on the needs of his dogs in last year’s race.  You will find this listed under March 12 Paul Gebhart finishes 8^th. 

At the end of the Carolina Day School Iditarod the pre-k mushers treat their fourth grade huskies to some homemade dog bone cookies.  The dough is easy to work with and the cookies are very tasty!  The recipe for these great canine treats follows this message. 

This week in my pre-kindergarten class we are studying the letter “V.”  Obviously we would study “V” the week of Valentine’s Day, the week of giving and receiving love.  But I’ll save my love letter for my next post; what I want to talk about is the other exciting thing we study during “V” week-volcanoes!

Students of all ages love stories about volcanoes.  Volcanoes are so powerful, and unpredictable.  These natural wonders give teachers the perfect opportunity to study history and science.  For example, look at all of the history we learn from the city of Pompeii.  This amazing city was perfectly preserved under tons of ash from the volcanic blast of Mount Vesuvius.  The discovery of Pompeii gives us a picture of what life was like in that ancient city.  History literally unburied.  From this history we can ask students why the people of that city didn’t flee and save themselves.  This is where the science comes in.  The people of Pompeii had no warning. 

At this very moment in our history, scientists, seismic experts from the Alaska Volcano Observatory are monitoring one of the nation’s highest-threat volcanoes.  Mount Redoubt, located on the Kenai Peninsula, 106 miles southwest of Anchorage is being watched round-the-clock.  One of the latest activity reports a vapor plume rising above the volcano’s summit crater.  There are holes melting in the upper Drift glacier.  The melting glacier on the side of Mt. Redoubt means that heat from the magma is moving up to higher elevations.  Many folks have written in to ask, “Will Mount Redoubts activity have any effect on Iditarod XXXVII?”  At this point, we don’t know for sure, but probably not.   But unlike Pompeii, today scientists can give us fair warning of any potential eruptions.  The Alaska Volcano Observatory is a wonderful example of how science can help save lives and protect property.

Here is a little scientific history of Mount Redoubt’s last series of eruptions that took place in late 1989 through early 1990.  During that eruption, the second most costly in the history of the U.S., ash clouds disrupted national and international air traffic and mudflows threatened an oil storage facility near Cook Inlet.  But perhaps the scariest event occurred on December 15, 1989.  A Boeing 747 flying 150 miles northeast of Anchorage encountered an ash cloud and lost power in all four engines.  The plane, with 231 passengers on board, dropped more than 9,800 feet before the flight crew was able to restart the engines.  Thankfully they landed safely.

Currently the Mount Redoubt volcano alert is set at orange, the level just below actual eruption.  Just as in 1989, an eruption can interrupt or interfere with air traffic.  But the falling ash from an eruption presents the greatest danger to residents of Alaska, so they have been preparing themselves by purchasing protective goggles and facemasks.  And who knows-maybe we will see mushers wearing facemasks at the start of this Iditarod!