Summary: Here are the lyrics to The Iditarod Checkpoint Song. Write them on a song chart or overhead transparency to help students learn the names of the checkpoints as they sing aong with the music. (See the link on the left hand menu bar for the music.)
Download Lesson Plan: The Iditarod Checkpoint Song
We all marvel at their toughness. How do the men and women who compete in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race do it? Certainly these are uncommon people, these athletes we admire for their tenacity and spirit; for their love of their dogs; and for their passion for the wild side of Alaska. And we are more than fans; we are incredible addicts, race junkies. We know
Then there are a few mushers we also know for their personal battles with disease. The stories of how they fought for their lives show us how the same traits that make them outstanding people and mushers helped them cope, hope, and persevere while battling cancer. Four Time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher fought a long and valiant fight with leukemia, passing away in August of 2006. She was an amazing woman and admired worldwide. Lance Mackey successfully battled throat cancer and has won the last two Yukon Quests and Iditarod championships. No one else has accomplished this feat. And then there is the lady who is easily identified in a crowd by her pink parka-DeeDee Jonrowe, a breast cancer survivor.
DeeDee’s story is particularly inspiring to me because I am facing challenges similar to those she overcame in 2003. I was told I had cancer in late September and had a radical hysterectomy at the end of October; it took the better part of two months to recover. I then began chemo and radiation therapy three weeks ago, with three weeks left to endure. It is not fun, I promise, but neither is it permanent. I should be finished with my treatment schedule by the end of January. Then near the end of February, I am supposed to go dashing off to Alaska for a month to fulfill my duties as 2009 Target Teacher on the Trail.
Right now in the midst of nausea and weakness and drowsiness from medications, I can’t imagine it. But I’m going to do it, because so many others have shown me the way. And if DeeDee can race the Iditarod so soon after surgery and chemo therapy, then I can monitor and report on it. I’m going to do it. Teacher on the Trail coordinator Diane Johnson (what an encourager!) and her wonderful team are committed to my going forward with it, and they will be there to help. I’m going to do it.
The Target corporation scores another “bullseye” as the sponsor of the Target® 2009 Iditarod Teacher on the TrailTM program! On December 18 a huge box arrived at my home overflowing with beautiful red and white Target gear. It included apparel for my school presentations, warm outerwear, and the cutest little Bullseye dog riding in a Target shopping cart. My grandson Asher quickly laid claim to Bullseye and Jake once again allowed me to dress him in some Target finery.
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting the real Bullseye at the Ceremonial Start of the Iditarod in Anchorage. (I wonder if he will be there this year?) Thank you, thank you Target for all of your help and support of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race!
In particular, I want to thank you for your support of my year as the Target Teacher on the Trail, and the “Don’tForget the Bag” program.
I’d like to introduce my one-year-old Siberian husky. His name is Jake, and he is posing in this picture wearing a reusable Target® bag. Jake is pointing out that sled dogs think it is a very cool idea to help take care of our environment by using cloth or reusable shopping bags. 
He hopes that you will want to join him in cutting down on the use of dangerous and unsightly plastic bags. To encourage your class or school to participate in a “Don’t Forget the Bag Week” program, the Iditarod Education Department would like to issue certificates of participation. In addition, I will post the names of each school that participates on this website
Our goal is to have 50 schools participate. The number 50 was selected to honor the state of Alaska as it celebrates its fiftieth year of statehood in 2009. Please send the name of the sponsoring teacher, school or class, address, and the day of your event to: click here. Then publicize your event and help us reach the goal! I will post the list in mid-March, after the Red Lantern winner has crossed the finish line in Nome.
Jake also reminded me that it was time to post some husky related lessons. So here are two lessons to encourage PK-K students with number readiness. Happy Tails!
Summary: 16 husky number cards help students learn number order and one-to-one correspondence. The accompanying songs teach adding and taking away one.
Download Lesson Plan: Husky Number Cards
Download Lesson Supplement: Husky Take Away Song
Download Lesson Supplement: Husky Plus One Song
Summary: This is a fun and easy daily station where students can practice counting and writing numbers independently.
Download Lesson Plan: Dog Bone Count
When I returned home to North Carolina, I was struck anew by the beauty of my own surroundings. Unfortunately, Western North Carolina is not as pristine and untouched by human excesses as the Alaskan wilderness. I felt a tug, a call to present a project to children at my school and around the world that would empower them to take steps in their young lives to take care of our planet. As educators, don’t we need to instill a respect for our physical world and its limited resources? After careful consideration, I came up with an environmental awareness project called “Don’t Forget the Bag.” It is a project that shows students they can make a difference and show compassion to their planet by just changing one behavior. The effects of that change can be felt locally and globally. The goal was to not only raise awareness, but to also begin a new habit. For one week, students and their families were asked to use cloth or reusable shopping bags and refrain from using the plastic bags that are provided at checkout counters in most stores.
At my school we kicked off “Don’t Forget the Bag” week with a fifteen minute PowerPoint presentation. The slides gave statistics and showed photographs of the harmful effects of plastic shopping bags on the environment. It was a wonderful eye opener for the students to see how plastic bags pollute our communities, our waterways, our forests, and, in particular, how they endanger wildlife that inhabit each of these places all over the world.
To conclude the presentation, faculty, staff, and students were presented with reusable fabric bags. Target®, my sponsor as the 2009 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail, provided 800 bags for this project. Thank you Target® for investing in the environmental education of our children.
I have included the PowerPoint, the letter sent home to parents, and the lesson plan for the “Don’t Forget the Bag” week project. Please consider having your own program during your Iditarod studies.
Download Lesson Plan: Don’t Forget the Bag Lesson Plan
Download Lesson Supplement: Cathy’s Presentation Notes
Download Lesson Supplement: Flyer to be sent home
Summary: Students will create their own 12″ x 12″ Alaskan quilt.
Summary: Readers Theater is the reading of a text in a play-like fashion. I have written two scripts. The first script is geared towards pre-readers. The teacher reads the portion of the script that moves the story, and students respond with a refrain or simple lines that are repetitive and easy to learn. The second script is for written for first and second grade students. Although props and costumes can be involved in an elaborate Readers Theater, most involve the children simply reading the text with good fluency. By performing a Readers Theater, students are given an excellent reason to read, reread, and reread a text; they are practicing for a performance.
Summary: After reading Polar Bears by Gail Gibbons students will complete an ABC or 123 dot-to-dot of a polar bear. The teacher will read the Polar Bear Fact sheet and students willpoint to the corresponding physical feature on their completed dot-to-dot polar bear. For example, when the teacher reads the fact, “Polar bears have small ears so they won’t freeze.” Students point to the ear on their picture. After all the facts have been read, students watch the National Geographic Video. The teacher then introduces the polar bear song to the children.
Could there be a more exciting time to include Alaska and the Iditarod in your curriculum? Many of you know that Alaska is preparing for its 50th anniversary as a state in 2009, but the big news of this Labor Day Weekend is the announcement that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is the Republican Party’s choice for vice president. With that announcement all eyes turn to Alaska. Everyone wants to know about this candidate who is the first GOP woman on a presidential ticket. Where is she from? What are her views? What is her background? Here are a few interesting bits of information about Sarah Palin for Iditarod followers. Before Palin was governor she was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, which is where Iditarod Headquarters is located. In June of 2007 Governor Palin attended the festivities on Musher Sign Up Day at Iditarod Race Headquarters. And the governor’s husband, Todd, loves to race through the snow, but not on a sled. He prefers to ride a snow machine (or snow mobile for those of us who live in the lower 48).
Of course with thoughts turning to Alaska many of the political controversies of that state hit the airways. As I listened to All Things Considered on my favorite National Public Radio station, the topic of global warming came up. Margaret Williams, Alaska’s director of the World Wildlife Fund, shared her observations of how melting Arctic ice is currently affecting polar bears. Later in the day questions arose about the pros and cons of drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). ANWR consists of 19,049,236 acres in northeastern Alaska often referred to as the North Slope region. The refuge supports a greater variety of plant and animal life than any other protected area in the Arctic Circle. This controversy has been going on since the Carter administration.
As we all begin a new school year these political issues give us a marvelous opportunity to educate our students. Without giving our own political views we can use these topics to educate young people on the importance of researching issues, weighing the pros and cons, and forming an educated position. So with these issues in mind, I give to you three lessons on Alaskan animals. I hope you can plug these lessons into your Iditarod studies this year and, as this Labor Day Weekend is the symbolic end of summer, let me wish you a happy and productive 2008-2009 school year!
Summary: During the study of Alaska’s Arctic animals and where they live students will be able to tell the teacher one cold fact about each animal. A cold fact is anything that tells how these animals survive in such a harsh environment. Two facts, for example, that help the willow ptarmigan survive are that he turns white in the winter (his camouflage) and that he grows extra feathers in the winter, even on his feet (for warmth). This information is reviewed and reinforced by playing the Arctic Animal Memory Game and Arctic Animal Bingo.
Summary: Students will look for red, yellow, blue and green toothpicks distributed in a grassy area and discover that the green toothpicks are more difficult to find because they are the color of their surroundings.
Summary: After conducting the toothpick experiment and reading Gone Again Ptarmigan students will see in this art activity how important camouflage is to Alaska’s state bird, the willow ptarmigan and other Arctic animals. (Other Arctic animals that change their coats or feathers with the season are the Arctic fox, the short-tailed weasel (known as ermine in their winter coats), the snowy owl, and the snowshoe hare. Polar bears keep their camouflage all year long!)
Brain research tells us that physiological things happen to us when we listen to and make music. Music causes changes in EEG activity and pulse rate. We as educators can use this research in our teaching strategies because music engages multiple memory pathways and increases receptivity that is known to enhance and accelerate learning (Music with the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen). Who wouldn’t want to use another mode of instruction to enhance and accelerate learning?! Using this information to incorporate singing and movement in our classrooms is easy, fun, and can happen outside of music class.
I was very fortunate to have the legacy of song writing passed down to me by my friend and mentor, Genevieve Fortuna. Years before the brain research studies were available to the general public she was writing songs as essential pieces of curriculum. She knew that music lifts our spirits and brings joy to our souls; she also knew it was a fun way to deliver information. I learned much from this wise woman, just like husky pups learn from the wise, more experienced sled dogs. Genevieve moved from the classroom several years ago and is currently in the business of parent education, but we continue her music legacy. Now no unit feels quite complete until we have at least one song to go with it!
Summary: Students will learn about the Iditarod by singing and learning a finger play that can also be dramatized.
Summary: Students demonstrate understanding of an area that you are emphasizing in your instruction by circling or underlining on the “Five Little Huskies” handout. For example, students can circle all the capital letters in the poem.
Summary: Students will learn strategies to decode the word “Iditarod.” They will identify all letters by name and sound, place the letters in the correct order and orally read “Iditarod” as a sight word.