After hoping for a wintry blast of snow, once again our altitude only got a paltry two inches of the quickly meltable variety, so we are packing the snowshoes away and heading instead for vicarious snow thrills by studying the history of the Iditarod dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome. The aspect that kids ask about first usually has to do with the brave dog Balto; you'll have to scroll a little more than halfway down for his inspiring story.Studying the Iditarod is a good way in to: geography of Alaska, history of the gold rush, and methods of dealing with disease outbreaks--such as diptheria--in the early part of the century. Here is a helpful list of terminology related to the grueling 1,150 mile race. We also enjoy canine blogger Zuma's reports from the trail. And, also from the official Iditarod site is a list of children's and other books about the race.
If you are interested in lesson plans from a teacher on the trail, click here. I'm specifying the links because these are the least ad-infested ones we could find from the main site.
To track progress of the mushers, go to the main site and click on current standings. Go DeeDee!
