Mushing Along with the Iditarod!

I have wanted to have an Iditarod unit for the past three years but always remembered about it only a few days before the start of the race, the first Saturday in March. Well.Not.This.Year!  I was all over it in early February. Of course, my first stops were to TPT and Pinterest. Loads of info and great ideas but I wanted it to be just right. I bought a package on TPT and then proceded to change most of it but borrowed a few of the ideas- mainly the Reading Our Way to Nome as the header for the bulletin board.

Reading Our Way to Nome. Our class looooves to read and we loooove to brag about it to anyone who will listen! The class broke into teams and all met their goal of reading 1049 pages before the end of the race. FYI - the race is 1049 miles of snow sledding thru 23 checkpoints with a team of dogs.

This teacher knew the class would like the unit but they were overwhelmed with excitement! We read about Iditarod, tracked our mushers (each student pulled 3 mushers to track and root for), I made loads of math activities using Iditarod facts and figures, we watched endless video clips of the teams while they were on the trail, and they wrote about what it takes to be a champion, how to overcome challenges, and why we strive to be the best we can be.

If you are anything like me, a big unit like this requires a big bulletin board to set the tone of the coming weeks. There is concern within my family about my need to have a new bulletin board a bit too often. Luckily, my teen daughters are well trained to put up new paper in a matter of minutes and they can weld a straight-edge paper cutter like a pro.  Take a peek at a snap of the hallway bulletin board that told the world (well, the school) that Room 217 was Iditarod bound!