Well, it looks like I have a finished product for the CAL project. One of the things I needed to do was take some pictures of details and insert them into the project. I know I like a visual and figure there has to be a teacher or two out there who are fans as well. Below is the final project. Let me know what you think!
Iditarod Math Race Starter Kit
So, I have spent some time watching the new Red Sox season and worked on my other sport that I follow, Iditarod!!! A great combination if you ask me.
My project has taken several twists and turns and up dates since it started in December. I am really liking where it is going. I am finding ways to make it grow here and there. I have been able to add one of my favorite parts of our math race, our husky glyphs.
I am going to attach the latest version below and would love any constructive comments. I know there are a few pieces that need to be added which means I need to take pictures of some artifacts. I am also hoping to eventually add some word problem ideas for grades 3 and 4.
Thank you in advance!!!!!!!!
So this has been a busy year! I decided to take my Iditarod ideas and put the to paper and hopefully help other teachers get started following this great race. Each year my students eagerly follow the race. We race using our math problems and get to know our mushers. It continues to be my favorite three weeks of the year, hands down.
This year I joined a group of teacher leaders who are creating materials to help other teachers who work with English Language Learners. Iditarod has its own set of vocabulary all of its own. So I set out to create some work to help make the race more accessible for these students. I have put together a list of links to helpful websites and videos to help make things more clear. I also included some information about the math race we do in fifth grade. I look at it as a started kit.
Iditarod Math Race Starter Kit
This is not the final project, but it is a good chunk of it. If you want to take a look and let me know some feedback, that would be great!
Wow! It has been a while since I posted anything. Let’s see if I can change that!
We are 37 ish days out from the Ceremonial Start in Anchorage, Alaska. The official facebook page for the race is buzzing with news. The Idita-Rider auction is in full swing. Many of the racers have their riders set. There have been several posts about the mushers and their careers. It is all very exciting!
But before the Iditarod there are a few other races going on. There was the Copper Basin, Knik 200, the Northern Lights 300 and the upcoming Yukon Quest.
Some mushers are using the smaller races to qualify for future Iditarods. They will have their report cards filled out by race officials and veterinarians to prove that they have the necessary skills to race the Iditarod. The rookie mushers and hopefuls attended the rookie meeting in December to help prepare them for the race. This is a great time for the veterans to share some stories and helpful hints. Mushers need to have a strategy and a plan so that they can pack their drop bags ahead of time. Mushers need to know the timelines for things like vet checks for the dogs, drop off for drop bags, the banquet tickets and all of the other things that need to be done ahead of time.
You can bet that veteran mushers are looking at their calendars and thinking and planning too.
Here at school, we are doing some planning and thinking too. Many of the word problems my students have done recently have been centered around the Iditarod. I am trying to weave to tidbits of information into the problems along with the math. It is an art form. 🙂 Going forward we will be making a data wall with husky glyphs to show gender, nationality, veteran or rookie status. I will post pictures I promise! In addition to this we will have the Idita- Math-Rod down here in fifth grade. Each class will race against each other to Nome and each class will have a musher to follow as well. (I live out at the bulletin board during the race.) My classes will each follow a musher and take notes on the daily status of their musher and cheer them on!
Hopefully, there will be an addition to my “kennel”, sooner rather than later. G.E.M.S. and Ruler have been willing to help when I need some assistance and are looking forward to sharing the load with a new brother or sister.
Stay tuned for more as we get closer to the race!!!!
This year CC Kennel would like to introduce Area (pronounced aaa-RE-a). She is a grey and white Siberian husky. She looks like her big brother G.E.M.S. She is a sweet pup. She does like to play and gets along well with her other siblings.
Oh my goodness! I had so much fun creating this blog and then it got put on the back burner. Well, with Iditarod 2015 underway, I am back.
I found a few posts that got tucked into drafts and never got published. So I am hitting publish. The dog blankets were made last January. It seems that they had a ton of them because I did not see anything about doing them this year. I am kind of disappointed about this, as I figured out how to better mail them..space bags! Maybe next year.
I also saw one about Math journals. I did not do so well with those last year, but this year I have a system. Every fifth warm up is a journal entry. It works well and the kids and I are into a routine.
So, what have I been up to this year with Iditarod? A little more fun. This year we made husky glyphs to show a bit of information about the mushers. We colored the booties according to where the musher is from ( Alaska, the Lower 48, or another country), the harness tells whether the musher is a rookie or veteran and the eyes male or female. I have roped a number of new folks into my craziness. This year the assistant principal and SPSCA have teamed up to do some math and follow a musher and our Math Coach is also following a musher. The fifth grades classes each have a musher to follow and we will be racing each other to Nome by completing a few math problems, Iditarod themed of course. This year I am also hoping to add some prizes to the classes who reach the different points along the trail that have awards for the mushers. Fingers crossed that I can keep myself that organized!
In addition to this my Social Studies class did a little more work learning about Alaska and completed a mini project to learn about the different Native Alaskan cultures.
I am hoping to get some pictures up of our glyphs and the bulletin board up once they are completed.
Hello All,
I wanted to share a neat thing that some of my kids did today. We made fleece blankets to send to Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska. This is part of a project headed up by another Iditarod-Teacher Enthusiast. The blankets are simply three foot square pieces of fleece cut and decorated by the children. The children were able to write some words of encouragement and draw pictures. It was a quick project. I loved how some of the girls turned “text speak” into ” dog speak”. LOL ( laugh out loud) became LOLD (laugh out loud dog). It just warmed my heart.
The blankets will be used by the dropped dogs as they await their plane ride to their final destination. The goal is to have a total of 300 blankets spread through out the different check point along the trail.
Yesterday was the BIG day! The Ceremonial Start in Anchorage was yesterday. I have been, rather obsessively, following the posts of many mushers and kennels on Facebook. There is so mush excitement. One of the teachers who was at Summer Camp with us is a finalist for 2015 Exxon Mobile Teacher on the Trail. I am cheering for you, Erin! I am seeing this year’s Exxon Mobile Teacher on the Trail, Jennifer Reiter, living a dream. It is all so exciting.
The excitement has not only been in Anchorage, it is also pretty exciting at Memorial MIddle School, in the fifth grade wing. In late January some of the after-school students help decorate blankets to send off to Iditarod Headquarters. The blankets are part of a project to have extra blankets at the check points for dropped dogs. These are dogs that are left at a checkpoint for a variety of reasons and then they get to hop a ride on a bush plane to one of the hubs, Anchorage, McGrath or Nome. There is paperwork that helps get the dogs to the right spot. There is medical care at the checkpoints to care for any dogs that are sick or injured. these blankets are an extra layer of comfort for the dogs. We have picked our mushers to follow, to the croonings of Hobo Jim. On Thursday and Friday we were able to get on the computers to do a little research on our mushers and become familiar with the official Iditarod website. We will head to the computer lab a few more times to check in on our mushers and learn a little more about dog sled racing by exploring the websites of some of the mushers.
Beyond tracking mushers we will also be having a little friendly competition in the fifth grade. We are having a “I-did-Math-a-Rod in grade five. Each Math class will be racing to Nome. there are really two races going on here. Each class will try to get to Nome first by solving different problems and depending on the percentage of students who get the correct answers they will move 1, 2, or 3 check points along the trail. The other race is against a musher. Each class is also racing a musher to Nome. It is all very exciting!
Stay tuned to what happens next!
Make sure to give a howl out to your favorite musher!!
It seems I have a kennel of sorts. It is named “Callahan’s Classroom Kennel” a.k.a. CC Kennel. So far there are two dogs in my kennel. As I learned from Vern Halter this summer and have seen on some of the different kennel sites, litters are names thematically. So my first “litter” are the Math litter. Students wrote math words in a hat and we drew names. Both dogs have their collars with tags. I don’t want anyone to get lost. Taking ideas from the different kennels we had glamor shots today. So with all that said, I would like to introduce the first two dogs in my kennel, G.E.M.S ( new acronym for the order of operations) and Ruler. Further additions to the kennel with have names related to Math.
Just a quick update SP Kennel’s Allen Moore won the Copper Basin 300 this weekend! Congratulations to you!!!
This is just a quick update..Dog Sled Racing season is up and running. A few races early on were cancelled due to lack of snow. In Alaska? Really? Apparently this does happen. Last weekend was the Knik 100/200 in Knik, Alaska and this weekend was the Copper Basin 300 and Eagle River Classic. Our Rookie Musher, Pam Aviza, is running the Eagle River Classic. Some of the folks running the Copper Basin are Aily Zirkle, Allen Moore and Meghan ( whose name I do not know) from SP Kennel, Nick Petit (I met him at the musher sign up BBQ. He has the handsome dog named “Ugly”.) There are 43 mushers at the Copper Basin.
I have been following the Copper Basin on facebook. One of the great things I have seen is the updates coming from SP Kennel. The updates have included dropped dogs and why they have been dropped and how the mushers feel. Dogs are dropped for a number of reasons, injury, illness, too tired, just not themselves and strategy ( I still don’t quite understand this part.) Vets are talked to and then decisions are made. The dogs are picked up by various handlers and then given the care they need.
Last year I was hooked on the Iditarod, now I am watching several races to see who is winning, who is racing, and what is happening. As soon, I hear I will update you how Pam did on her race.
On the classroom front, we have learned about how Alaskan Huskies are born to run. Running with a sled to them is like having a Golden Retriever fetch a stick or Australian Shepherds herd sheep. It is what they are born to do. We have done some math problems to help us learn about the history of Alaska and a few about what types of food they eat. Soon we will be picking our mushers and racing them to Nome as we participate in our own I-Math-A-Rod.
Mush on!!!
 | paviza on Another training picture |
 | Kayla on And the count down begins… |
 | Mily and Nakeyra Ort… on Introducing CC Kennel |
 | Glenn Hartzell on Another training picture |
 | jenreiter on The Iditarod is alive and well… |
