Bring your clasroom alive in the gray days of Winter through this exciting real-time project!
Consider these tasks by intelligence:

Verbal Share quality children's literature about dogs, dogsledding and survival Learn musher vocabulary Correspond with mushers Research Alaskan history, cultures, traditions and geography Read human interest stories on teams during the race Logical Develop a strategy for your dog team that includes the number of dogs and provisions you will need and when you will take layovers Conduct experiments which teach concepts of climate, temperature and insulation Measure trail distances and figure elapsed time between checkpoints Complete problem solving tasks at virtual checkpoints during the race Analyze how weather conditions impact race progress Visual Compare scale of a small trail map with your wall map and the actual trail View images of Alaska, the trail, the dogs and mushers, and the aurora borealis Survey and study Inuit arts and crafts Compare and contrast native Alaskan dwellings with other homes View video clips and podcasts of the race Kinesthetic Create a wall-sized map of the Iditarod trail Carve animal figures out of soap Build igloos out of sugar cubes Craft dogsleds out of popsicle sticks Have students form teams and practice moving as a dog team Musical Find patterns in musher data Identify trends in how each team is moving along the trail Sing and dance to Iditarod songs, poems and cheers Compose prose and poetry about the race Move to various rhythms that simulate pacing of the race Intrapersonal Research how animals are cared for during the race Select a musher to follow during the race Follow your musher's dogteam throughout the race Discuss the characteristics needed to pursue a dream against all odds Share heroes who have made a difference by overcoming a difficult challenge Interpersonal Work cooperatively in following your class's musher selection Use the project blog and wiki to participate in the project community Share interests and ideas with other classes via the project mailing list Send an email to your class musher at each project checkpoint as he or she progresses in the race Invite a musher to visit your class and share his/her knowledge and experience Naturalist Sort musher data in order to determine which musher to follow in the race Categorize mushers by home state Create a hierarchy of mushers based on race finishes since 1971 Rank mushers by bib number, race order and time on the trail Track your musher's progress on the class wall map of the trail Existential Study the Great Serum Run of 1925; the tradition behind this race Compare dogledding with other forms of transportation used in Alaska Study the Bering Strait and how ancient ancestors used it to come to Alaska Research the totems of the native peoples of the northwest Communicate with students who attend school along the Iditarod trail