In school, all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders (aka the Intermediate Academy) has been doing a mini-unit on the Iditarod, The Last Great Race...Of course I had my animal rights concerns at the thought of having dogs pull you through ice and snow over a 1,150 mile route in a matter of two weeks, more or less. But, I did my research and even contacted my friend in Alaska for the real scoop on these dogs and it felt okay for me to go ahead with the unit. Anyway, rather than boring you with those details I just need to say, Go, Lance Mackey!!! 
See, each class had to pick a musher and we made our whole hallway at school represent the trail and show all the "checkpoints" that the mushers have to stop at, rest if needed, sleep, get their dogs checked by vets, etc. Anyway, I picked one of the top 10 from last year, reluctantly, since I didn't know anything about the Iditarod and how I was going to use it to facilitate learning in the classroom. Well let me tell you how AWESOME this project has been! I'm just as bad as the kids checking in on http://www.iditarod.com/ to see what the latest standings are...Lance Mackey has been rockin' the house! It's all competitive and strategic now which makes me all anxious because Paul is right on his tail and they're in the home stretch...I just want my guy to win!!! Go Lance!! The other cool thing that we've done with this is that each of the kids in each class have also picked their own musher to follow and track the progress. They come in to school either asking what happened over night or else so eager to report what they already found out at home on the Internet. It's so great to see the kids so enthusiastic about something, especially to counterbalance the stress and annoyance of having to take the Connecticut Mastery Tests. Lance is expected to finish tonight!!!!...wish us luck...not to be mean to anyone else that might want to win or anything, but I just thing that Lance should be this years winner...
See, each class had to pick a musher and we made our whole hallway at school represent the trail and show all the "checkpoints" that the mushers have to stop at, rest if needed, sleep, get their dogs checked by vets, etc. Anyway, I picked one of the top 10 from last year, reluctantly, since I didn't know anything about the Iditarod and how I was going to use it to facilitate learning in the classroom. Well let me tell you how AWESOME this project has been! I'm just as bad as the kids checking in on http://www.iditarod.com/ to see what the latest standings are...Lance Mackey has been rockin' the house! It's all competitive and strategic now which makes me all anxious because Paul is right on his tail and they're in the home stretch...I just want my guy to win!!! Go Lance!! The other cool thing that we've done with this is that each of the kids in each class have also picked their own musher to follow and track the progress. They come in to school either asking what happened over night or else so eager to report what they already found out at home on the Internet. It's so great to see the kids so enthusiastic about something, especially to counterbalance the stress and annoyance of having to take the Connecticut Mastery Tests. Lance is expected to finish tonight!!!!...wish us luck...not to be mean to anyone else that might want to win or anything, but I just thing that Lance should be this years winner...
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