I've been thinking of doing this too
I got the idea this summer when I was in Alaska and visited a "dog camp". The teams I saw actually participate in the Yukon Quest - a sister race across Canada, in March. I met one of the mushers and his lead dog, have pictures ... I was thinking of doing a compare/contrast type of project .... following a mush team from each race; reading literature; writing; etc. There are web sites for both races. I googled the topic and there are a lot of books out there at various levels - Akiak & Stone Fox were mentioned, and Gary Paulson has a few too. I'm seeing an opportunity for some great classroom collaboration here
My problem is I traditionally do a huge falcon project every year that runs about the same time - and it is "expected" I will do it again ... I don't know if I should try and do both ... Too many ideas, too little time

There is a great story called Akiak. We read it every year. Our school really gets into the Iditarod. Every class chooses a musher to follow. The results - the lead team and the "Red Lantern" team (last place) - are announced at the end of everyday. The winning classes (winner and red lantern) get an ice cream (or Eskimo Pie) party at the end. The kids get really into this - getting to know their musher and his or her dogs.

Thank you for your ideas. I will look into Silver. I will look for some websites so we can track a musher. I would love more ideas...please keep them coming.
T.

I don't have any of my materials here, as we are having a snow day, but there are some great websites where you can track the mushers. My students each "adopted" a musher and tracked their progress on a large wall map. I have also heard of entire schools doing this, with each class picking a musher, and tracking them on the map.

Another story that has to do with dog racing, not particularly the Iditarod, is Silver. Great story!!! If you have a Reading A-Z subscription, there are a couple of guided reading books about the Iditarod and the Jr. Iditarod.

When I pull my info. out, I'll post more.

I was thinking of doing a unit on the Iditarod. I wanted to read Stone Fox and Balto and I would love to incoporate any activities, webquests or interactive SmartBoard activities to go along with the Iditarod topic. I checked out the official website of Iditarod. I was looking for an interactive way to keep track of the mushers during the race. Any ideas out there? Are there any other Iditarod books out there?