Iditarod- The Last Great Race on Earth

Back in 1925 people Nome, Alaska, fell sick with diphtheria. The medicine that they needed was about 1,000 miles away in Anchorage. Since travel was very limited, they had to deliver the medicine by a dog sled team relay. The mushers weathered severe wind and snowstorms risking their own lives. The medicine reached the sick people in time to save the town.

In 1975 Joe Redington proposed to have a commemorative dog sled race that would follow along much of the same trail, called the Iditarod mail route. Thus the Iditarod Race was born. Mushers race over 1,000 miles with a team of up to 16 dogs. They must stop at checkpoints along the way. So our class is doing "The Great Reading Race." We follow the same route as the mushers on a map that is outside of our classroom. For each book that the children read and complete a race sheet, they get to move to a new checkpoint. They must reach the town of Iditarod by March 23. We will have an Iditarod party and all who reach Iditarod will be able to participate.

#commoncorereading #comprehension #handsonlearning