6th Grade Iditarod Activities
Launch the media gallery 1 playerThe sixth grade students have been studying about the Iditarod, the last great race. The Iditarod is a sled dog race that takes place in Alaska and covers over 1,100 miles.
Tracking Mushers
Each student drew a musher’s name out of a hat and kept track of the musher’s success throughout the race. The students who were tracking the first, second, and third place mushers received prizes as well as the student whose musher came in last place and received the red lantern award.
Black Star, Bright Dawn
During reading class, students read the novel Black Star, Bright Dawn, written by Scott O’Dell. This fictional story is about an Alaskan girl that has the opportunity to run in the Iditarod. Students compare events and happenings in the book to the actual Iditarod race.
“Iditaread” Teams
Students were put into groups of five and formed “Iditaread” teams. Our Iditaread was based on the Iditarod race. There are 26 checkpoints in the Iditarod. Therefore, our Iditaread had 26 checkpoints as well. In the Iditaread teams the students worked to earn “checkpoints”. When a checkpoint is earned, that group gets to move their sled to the next checkpoint. The goal: to move your sled past all 26 checkpoints that are named the same as the checkpoints in the Iditarod. The team to reach Nome first wins the Iditaread. Checkpoints are earned by reading books and completing book summaries, completing math problems that relate to the Iditarod, and other various enrichment activities.
Musher’s Banquet
The musher’s banquet is a culminating activity that represents the actual musher’s banquet at the completion of the Iditarod. At the musher’s banquet, students sample musher stew, receive any prizes earned during the Iditaread, and watch a movie about sled dog racing.