• Are you a principal with a heavy work load?

• Are you experiencing budget cuts?

• Are you concerned about the well being of your students and their education?

• Are you interested in encouraging educators in your building to inspire academic success from the students

they teach?

Calling All Principals

Iditarod is a ‘trail’ to enhancing

education! It is a Trail you’ve been waiting to follow!

About Our

ProgramOnce a supply a route for medicine during a Diphtheria epidemic in the 1900s, part of the Iditarod trail is now used for the “Last Great Race on Earth®.”

The Iditarod is an annual sled dog race. Teams of dogs and their mushers race across the icy terrains of Anchorage, Alaska, all the way to Nome.

 

What is the Iditarod?

Iditarod is more than a “Last Great Race®”. It is also the “Last Great Teaching Tool’ to improving education for studnets in any grade level.

So what can the Iditarod do for you, your

students and teachers?

The Iditarod Education Department brings the race to within the walls of the classroom as students and teachers ‘join the race’ in real time, experiential learning adventures!

Let’s Talk More About Iditarod in the Classroom!

How can Iditarod lessons help?

The lessons can provide a number of creative ways for teachers to get students of any grade more

interested in learning.

“We followed the Iditarod here in the second grade at Pembroke Primary in Western New York.  What an engaging unit, even the parents followed along.  We had a local dog musher come to give us a demonstration.  Thanks for all of the ideas!”  Claire Pfalzer

One second grade class in Western New York enjoys race lessons.

Lesson Plans Can Include:

• Iditarod Race Learning Stations (3rd-4th grade)Students are introduced to the Alaskan Iditarod Race and then they visit ten stations/checkpoints in the gym where they perform various physical activities based on the race.

• Iditarod Picture Dictionary (Pre-K-1st grade)Students read stories about the Iditarod and create a vocabulary book about the Iditarod. In this Iditarod lesson plan, students draw pictures and write captions illustrating important words about the Iditarod but also learn literacy skills along the ‘trail’.

Teachers Use Iditarod for Learning Experiences

Visit the “For Teachers” section on our website to find FREE lesson plans waiting for you!

http://iditarodblogs.com/teachers

Iditarod is a solution to concerns

you may have at your school because Iditarod enhances

learning by engaging students in

real time experiential learning

that focuses on content and instruction.

Iditarod Lessons Help Develop your School’s Personal Reputation in the

CommunityBy using the Iditarod in your school, you can:

• Become an innovative leader in education

• Improve the educational learning environment

• Focus on state standards and develop 21st century skills

• Become a recognized, innovative school that puts the students first and on the ‘trail’ to academic and personal success!

Iditarod Lessons Contain Educational Benefits to Improve

School PerformanceStudents learn life long skills in content areas:• Math• Writing• Reading and Literacy• Science• Social Studies• Fine Arts• Every area!

School performance will improve while making your school more innovative and competitive. Parents will recognize the enthusiasm about learning through their children’s success!

Classroom Concerns are Addressed in Iditarod Education and Students Succeed!

“Learning about the Iditarod is perfect for us because the race takes place during our standardized testing.  The race actually keeps the students excited about coming to school. ” Joan Schriner, IL, Grade 6 Educator. 

• new ways to learn

• Fun, hands on lesson plans

• Scientific experiments.

Iditarod Education Takes Classrooms on Virtual Field Trips!

Feel the ‘cold’ of Alaska, from the warmth of the classroom, while observing students beg for more school work! Really! It happens!

Trek across the icy terrains of Alaska from Anchorage to Nome without leaving the classroom via the Internet and electronic communications!

Iditarod in the Classroom

Works! This is Why~

Experiential Learning Theory states that learning happens through one of four stages:

• Concrete Experience• Reflective Observation• Abstract conceptualization• Active experimentation

Experience plays the “central role” in the learning process of each stage, and Iditarod lessons contain these elements.

Experiential Learning

Adventure Learning

This type of learning connects “activities that occur in the classroom with learners’ lives beyond the classroom walls.” The race allows students to do just that.

Adventure Learning has been proven to have a positive effect on student motivation and on the interaction between students and teachers. THAT leads to academic success for all!

Simulation and Games

Iditarod lessons also provide various simulations and games that stimulate brain development and teach:

• Strategies

• Teamwork

• Conflict resolution.Kolb and Kolb’s research has shown that play in a positive learning space can promote deep intellectual learning.

TechnologyWith the Iditarod GPS tracker students can track the entire race and find out the distance between teams and checkpoints, temperatures, and the speed at which teams are traveling.

Results show that mobile technologies are effective in improving knowledge during experiential learning.

These results come from an experiment that tested the benefits of technology on 2 fifth grade classes with one using personal digital assistants and the other working without them.

Iditarod Works with Students

and With Teachers!

“We’re always on the lookout for ‘something more,’ something that will capture students’ interest and give them another tool to learn and practice the standards’ skills.”

– Martha Dobson, Target® 2011 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™

Do not delay! Get the students in your school on

the right trail towards academic success and 21st

century learning!

An Iditarod Insider Subscription Can Enhance

Iditarod Lessons Even More!

Teachers will have access to lesson plans on our website at no cost, but a subscription to Iditarod Insider can:

• Provide more educational opportunities through video coverage and GPS Tracking during the race

Subscriptions Include:

• IDITAROD Insider Video on Demand:

Class $39.95 School $99.95

• IDITAROD Insider GPS Tracker:

Class $39.95 School $99.95

• ULTIMATE Insider Video + GPS = 100% Awesome-

Class $67.95 School $169.95.

Hmmm…Figure out the pricing per pupil and I’m sure you’ll agree, this is educational value for an affordable

price!

Visit and Subscribe:http://iditarod.com/insider-educational-packages

/

The Change Begins With You!

Visit www.iditarod.com

and click: For Teachers to begin an adventure learning project that leads your students to

academic success!