Teacher Iditaread Checklist 2011
Dates to Remember:
School Kickoff –Week of 2/28
Ceremonial Race Start –Saturday, 3/5 in Downtown Anchorage
Official Race Start – Sunday, 3/6 in Willow
Race Finish – when all mushers reach Nome
Choose2 musher names for your classfrom the Musher List posted on the board in the Staff Room – write your name next to the musher.
Decide which of these mushers will be your main“mushing partner” for the Iditaread. (Should this musher have to withdraw or scratch, you may follow your remaining musher.) You can get more info about your musher by clicking on your musher’s name online at:
I will make a copy of the flyer “The 2011 Iditaread Challenge – All School Reading Event” to go home with each student in your class for the Wednesday folder on 3/2.
You will make copies of the Student BookmarkReading Log 2011that I’ll email to you for each student in your class.
Reading goals this year will be 1 story, short book or chapter for each checkpoint. (A student may choose a higher goal if they prefer.) Campbell Airstrip is Checkpoint #1 – there are 25 checkpoints in all on the Southern Route (odd years).
Go to the “Iditaread Student Package”, which I will email to you, for lists of all the race checkpoints. You may want to make booklets for each of your students of some or all of these pages. Students can track their reading, or track their musher’s progress daily this way and/or write things they learn about their musher. Or you may want to use this package to make a bulletin board display for the entire class to use. It’s up to you.
Total the stories/short books/chapters your entire class expects to read, and that will be your classroom goal. Post this goal + your classroom musher name somewhere in your room or on your grade level bulletin board in the cafeteria.
Have someone responsible for printing and posting the progress of your musher daily (check iditarod.com) beginning 3/7/11. (The official race start is Sunday, 3/6.)
Tally the number of stories/short books/chapters read and logged by the students in your class as you can. (This is the tricky part – it is hard to get all the students to bring their completed bookmark reading logs back each day. You could also keep extra blanks handy for those who seem to lose their bookmark reading logs altogether.)
Post reading results in the form of a percentage on your race “thermometer” (I’ll give one to you) on your board as often as possible. It would be great to do this daily, if you can.
The race will be completed by some mushers in 9 or 10 days. Others will take longer.
If you would like to incorporate more Iditarod activities into your classroom curriculum you may come check out books on Alaska and the Iditarod for use in your classroom for a day or so at a time from the staff room after 2/21. (Books of lesson ideas and activities are available, too, and there are more activities online at sites like Iditarod.com. These activities tie into so many of our standards!)
Sometime the week of the kickoff (week of 2/28) you and your class should watch the copy of the Iditaread video I will give to your grade level (to share). Introduce your classroom musher to your class and talk about student reading goals. You will receive paw print pencils to pass out to all participants.
Students reaching their reading goal will get an Iditaread dog tag for their chains!
You can see videos and live events at: … Our school User ID is and the password is ‘sleddog’. We can use this at school or at home.
See me with any questions – Mush on!