by Linda Coviello

For a fun winter Library Lesson, nothing beats the Iditarod. And at the Lt. Job Lane Elementary School, we do it up big! On the first Saturday in March, scores of mushers and their dog teams take off from Anchorage, Alaska each hoping to be the first team into Nome, over 1,000 miles northwest. There are so many connections that can be made from this one topic: the history of the original 1925 Serum Run, the dogs like Togo and Balto, the sport of sled dog racing that almost died out with the development of more modern transportation, the rugged beauty and geography of the Alaskan wilderness, the cultural aspect of the native Alaskans, and the strength and endurance the mushers must have to complete the race. 

There are a multitude of books and activities that can be introduced for all of these topics and more. At Lane, we begin prepping a couple of weeks prior to the start of the race. I might read The Great Serum Race Blazing the Iditarod Trail by Debbie Miller. We explore the extensive website www.iditarod.com for some facts and information. Then, we divide the mushers up equally among the classes. These teams will represent their class during the race. We track the race’s progress on our bulletin board.

For the room’s musher that arrives in Nome first or receives the Red Lantern award (finishes last), the entire class is treated to an ice cream party! In addition, we run an Idita-READ contest. We challenge the entire school to read one book for each mile of the Iditarod (on even years, that’s 1112, and 1131 in odd years). While some students seem intimidated, I encourage them to think of the school as a team; with a population of 550 students, if each student reads just two books during the race, that’s already 1100!

For each book read, the students fill out a paw print with the book title, their name and room number. We keep a classroom tally and tape them up all over the school so that the paw prints resemble a trail. If we reach our goal before the race is over, the school gets a trophy to proudly display in the Idita-READ winner’s classroom. This year, an amazing total of 1,759 books were read during the race and the winning 3rd grade class read 289. They were also treated to an ice cream party and received Idita-READ book bags.

I would highly recommend exploring the www.iditarod.com website…there’s a tab at the top “For Teachers” with a wide variety of lesson plans and links for further study.

Linda Coviello is the Library Teacher at the Lt. Job Lane Elementary School in Bedford, MA