Hello!! March is finally here, and we are only a few weeks away from Spring Break! How crazy is that?  

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Every year in 5th grade I do a novel unit during the Iditarod, which is the Alaskan dog sled race that takes place each year in Nome Alaska. We spend some time learning about the race, the dogs, and mushers. The kids get familiar with the Iditarod website and research a musher that they want to track throughout the Iditarod! Normally we woiuld be reading a novel throughout the duration of the Iditarod called Woodsong.  It is an autobiography written by the well known author, Gary Paulsen. This is a wonderful non-fiction book about his experiences in the outdoors, and in nature hunting and fishing.  The last portion of the book is his accounts of when he ran in the Iditarod. However, due to the timing of when the Iditarod starts, my intern's full time teach and testing, we will be holding off on the novel until May.

 

This is always a favorite of all my 5th graders every year! This year each student will pick a musher to track during the Iditarod, but we will hold off on reading the novel until May. I hate it has to work out that way, but this is the best possible solution.  If a 5th grader picks a musher that actually wins, we will have a movie party and watch the movie "Togo"  that just came out after we finish our novel in May. We will spend some time building background on the Iditarod,  and the kids will do their own research and pick a musher to start tracking next week!  I will create a bulletin board, and each kid will move their sled through the checkpoints on my bulletin board as they track the progress their musher is making each day. It becomes very addicting, even for me, and I find myself checking the website multiple times a day to see the progress the mushers are making as they enter and exit each checkpoint!

 

This year the Iditarod starts on March 6th, which is a Saturday. They will televise the ceremonial start, so if you think about it this Saturday, have them watch if they can!! I wish we could coincide this with the novel like I normally do, but this will just be a front-loading experience until we get to our novel! 

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I think that is everything for this week! Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Coffman

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