Lesson 1: Introduction to the Iditarod Sled Dog Race; Grades 2-8; Geography, Social Studies, and Science; This lesson introduces how climate relates to lifestyle and culture.

Lesson 2: The Alaskan Husky; Grades 4-8; Technology, Science; This lesson uses computer skills such as cutting, pasting, and saving a Word document as a vehicle to learn the unique characteristics of the Alaskan Husky. 

Lesson 3: Making Electricity from the Sun; Grades 4-12; Science, Technology, Geography, Environmental Education; In this hands on lesson students see how the angle of a solar panel in relationship to the sun’s rays directly effects voltage output.  The Internet is used to research the average hours of sunlight per day for locations across the globe.    

Lesson 4: Wilderness Survival; Grades 4-8; Social Studies, Environmental Education; Students actually build a debris shelter(or model) as they study the hierarchy of survival priorities.  Read Iditarod stories of survival from the book More Iditarod Classics.

Lesson 5: The Reason for the Seasons; Grades 2 -6;  Science, Environmental Education; Students learn about the tilt of the earth and the angle of incidents of the sun’s rays and explain the causes of seasonal change.

Lesson 6: Are We There Yet; Grades 5-12; Technology, Geography; Find out how far it is from your house to Alaska and how long it will take to get there driving, walking, or using public transportation.

Lesson 7: Why is Iditarod a Ghost Town ; Grades 4-12; Environmental Education, Social Studies; Students determine the best place to locate a village by evaluating several locations for available water resources, type of soil, signs of wildlife, and ease of travel.

Lesson 8: The Cold Hard Facts; Grades 4 and above; Technology, Science, Math;In this lesson students use an Excel spreadsheet to record temperature data from their local area and a location in Alaska.  They also use the graphing capability of Excel to create a graph that compares the 2 locations.

Not only is recycling a great idea, but what about reducing the amount of printing done at the school so that less paper is used?  If you want some motivation to reduce, get a hold of your school district’s paper budget.  Sit down first though before you look at it. And, if you want to create a visual for others to see the need to cut back on paper use, borrow the gym and create a pile of boxes big enough to hold the number of reams of paper your school uses in a year.  If you want another shock, figure out how many trees it would take to make that amount of paper.  Not a pretty site.

So, I’ve come up with a number of ways to use less paper and to save money on printing.

1. Have students do assignments in the computer lab and save them to a folder on a drive so that you can down load them to a flash drive.  It is a lot easier to carry a flash drive home in your pocket than a bag full of papers.

2.  Use one of the free test makers on the internet rather than printing your tests out.  http://www.teach-nology.com/downloads/test/

3.  Make worksheets on the computer and save them to a drive that is accessable to your students.  If you go to Tools in the tool bar, and then come down to Protect Document in the drop down menu, you can lock your document so the questions can’t be changed.  You can also provide fields for the students to type their answers.

4.  Only print one copy on your computer printer.  Use a potocopier to make multiple copies.  Copier costs are much less than printer costs.

5.  Some printers are capable of printing duplex. Suggest to your purchasing department that they buy printers of this type.

6. Print to a laser printer instead of an inkjet printer.

7. Make sure students are not printing things they shouldn’t be printing.

8. To save toner, change your printer default to draft mode.

9. Always do a Print Preview before printing to verify that you are only printing pages that you need.

10. For color printers, only print color if needed.

Each one of the above suggestions by itself is no great savings, but if we all follow them, and make them a habit, together we can make a difference.  Live lightly!!!

So, what is this Trail to Every Classroom? TEC is a workshop administered by the National Park Service which helps teachers develop a curriculum for their school using the Appalachian Trail as a recreational, environmental and educational resource. The Trail to Every Classroom curriculum has several functions, 1) to get students outside, experiencing the environment, 2) to get them actively involved in their community performing a needed service, and 3) to teach students the unique history of their community so that they know why and how their community originated. These goals are accomplished by using two teachings methods; Service Learning and Placed Based Education.

Who benefits from TEC? Everyone! That’s the great thing about using these methods to teach students. The students aren’t learning in a vacuum. They are actively participating in their learning as active members of their community. Students also benefit by using all of the content areas during their involvement. The very nature of TEC lends itself easily to a multidisciplinary approach. As an example of this, during the TEC summer workshop, teachers could attend a technology session where they learned to use a GPS as a teaching tool in their classroom. They also had the opportunity to attend a science oriented environmental quality monitoring session where they were learning about the effects of air pollution on vegetation and soil, doing a macroinvertebrate study in water and in the soil.

 

Herb, along with his wife Jamie, who is a librarian, live in a log home they built and now share with 3 huskies, 5 cats, and a mule.  Herb is a K-6 environmental education and technology teacher at Southern Fulton Elementary School in Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania.  He is also a part time grant writer for the district and has been instrumental in helping the school secure more than $115,000 for the environmental program and the nature trail.  Herb says he has the best teaching job anywhere and also the biggest classroom, since his classroom is the 140 acre school property of woods and fields, which also includes a pond, wetlands, and several streams.

Before becoming a teacher, Herb had a variety of occupations.  He was a farmer, blacksmith, farrier, sawyer, machinist and tool and die maker.  Having these experiences has enriched Herb’s classroom by giving him the necessary background from which to draw upon in order to make real life situations a part of the curriculum in his classroom.  What better way is there to give meaning to learning other than to use the lessons to solve problems students may face once they are in the real world?  Herb was also a Youth Conservation Corp Crew Leader for the United States Forest Service at the Teton Basin Ranger District in Driggs, Idaho.  That was one of the most rewarding and fun jobs he says he ever had.  Imagine getting paid to experience the Tetons and all the adventures they provide and, at the same time, teach students how to care for a fantastic resource so that it is there for future generations.  Speaking of future generations, the next generation has recently been added to Herb’s family by way of a grandson Zeke, and a granddaughter Ella.

Herb also volunteers his time to several community organizations.   He has been treasurer for the local soccer club for 20 years, and because of his extensive experience playing and coaching soccer, he also is a clinician at soccer clinics for coaches.  After receiving the necessary training, Herb became a Trail Stewardship Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Equine Council.    His skill and experience in building and maintaining trail has also led to a volunteer position with the Mid State Trail Association as a trail maintainer.

One project Herb’s school will be participating in this year is the “Books to the Trail” program.  Schools involved in this program hold a fundraiser to help schools in need receive books.

When Herb isn’t coaching soccer you can find him working with his Huskies.  He recently acquired a dog sled and spent a major portion of his spare time last winter viewing the blue ridge mountains of Central Pennsylvania from the back of a dog sled.

If you ask Herb, there’s no better way to travel than dog sled and it sure beats the noise and toxic exhaust of a four-wheeler or snowmobile.

If you ask us, there will be no better way to spend the 2009 – 2010 school year than being on the Iditarod Trail with the Target® Iditarod 2010 Teacher on the Trail^TM Herb Brambley.

Download Lesson Plan: Legends: Raven…A Trickster Tale From The Pacific Northwest

Download Lesson Plan:  Cathy’s Canine Treats

Download Lesson Plan:  Make a Volcano!

So with all the ways numbers affect our lives I thought it was time to post a few number lessons.  One lesson is for building up the excitement of The Last Great Race on Earth by counting down the days until Iditarod XXXVII.  The second is a fun lesson on learning to skip count by 5’s using dog bones and tally marks.  And in the third lesson students will sort dog bones by color, demonstrate 1-1 correspondence in counting, and show conceptual understanding of the terms more, less, and equal.  Since my last message, I did post a lesson on phonological awareness using the book, Sled Dogs Run, by Jonathan London with illustrations by Jon Van Zyle.  The teacher’s guide that accompanies the lesson is filled with ideas that can be used for transition times, dismissal, as well as small and whole group instruction.  I hope you can add these lessons to your Iditarod studies.  Happy Trails!

Download Lesson Plan:  Dog Bone Tally

Download Lesson Plan Supplement:  Tally Sheet