Did you know the Iditarod is just about to start. March 5, 2011 is the start of the race!
You can follow the race at Iditarod.com
Here is a e-book that I found at The Old Schoolhouse store.
I know that my dog happy kids will be thrilled with following this race in real time. I plan on printing off maps of Alaska. Having them mark out the trail. Then we can check the times of the leaders each day. Depending on how interested the kids get we may even look up wildlife, dangers on the trail, cold weather…. This is how you use current events to spin off an entire study.
Your study can cover geography (Alaska state and terrain), social studies (current events and history of the Iditarod), math (charting,times, temperatures), science (weather, animals, properties of ice), reading (news articles, books, the official web site), and finally language arts (writing a journal of the events, creative writing what would you do if you were a racer, compile a report of the entire race and present to their father or grandparent.
Great idea! When I asked my kids today what animal races in the Iditarod, one guessed bunnies and the other guessed kangaroos. Apparently we need to learn more about it! 🙂