Learning About Glaciers

This is a picture of Bryan Lane who visited us today to teach us about glaciers. Do you remember what a crevasse is? Do you remember what a terminal morraine is? Do you remember what snow blindness is? See pictures of glaciers and learn more by clicking on the title above.

The Purse

What in the world is an article about a purse doing on a website about the Iditarod? Do mushers have to bring a purse on the trail? NO! The purse is the prize money! To get people to enter the race, the organizers promise to give the mushers money for winning or doing well in the race. Click the title above and read the article to find out who gets money and how much money they get when the Iditarod is over.

Golden Harness awards by Jack S

John Baker's dogs are very very talented but 2 of his dogs really stepped up through that 1,000 mile race. The dogs are named Snickers and Velvet. Snickers just did it for Mrs. Anderson. Snickers and Velvet lead the team this year and also last year's race . If I was one of those dogs I'd be super duper excited.

Who had the fastest time from Safety to Nome? by Jack S

Lance Mackey had the fastest time from Safety to Nome with 2 hours and 25 min. Even if he finished with 9 dogs it was pretty cool he had the record. It was the fastest time this year. Still Ramey and Cim Smith still hold the record and now Lance and Rick Mackey have the record too.

It's Not Over for Mrs. A.'s Third Graders

The 2011 Iditarod officially ended at 10:45 Sunday, March 20 (Alaska Time) when Ellen Halverson (Bib #26), made her way under the Burled Arch in Nome with 9 dogs on her team. But it's not over for us. Students will be starting work on a variety of enrichment projects this week. We'll track their progress in this blog. Stay tuned!

How Much Snow do They Need to Start the iditarod?

What Mushers Bring on the Trail

Ed Stielstra Is Coming to Wealthy Elementary

Our class musher is planning a visit to our school to tell about this year's Iditarod and teach us all about TEAMWORK. Mark your calendar for April 14th! If you click on the title, you can find out all about his kennel, his team, and his school programs.

Ed Stielstra Shows Sportsmanship

Click on the title and find out how Ed Stielstra, our class musher, showed sportsmanship during the iditarod.

When Lance Mackey had Cancer by CJ

It started when Lance Mackey got his tooth taken care of. He was in the middle of the Iditarod race and a bump the size of a pea turned into the size of a softball on his neck. When he got to the checkpoint he said all he wanted to do was go to the hospital and get it checked out. The doctor told him he had cancer. He was shocked and upset. The dogs knew that something was wrong and he was sick. His wife sneaked a dog or two to the hospital. He missed them. He cried the first time he saw them. Having cancer was an emotional roller coaster for him. That's how he got his cancer.

Trent Herbst Video

Hi it's Jack. This is a video about Trent Herbst. He is a 4th grade teacher in Ketchum, Idaho. This video shows him teaching the kids how to make snowshoes, sleds, harnesses, and booties and all sorts of Iditarod stuff. Once the sled is done, the kids ride them. The kids even went to the Iditarod and they hold the dogs at the start and count 5 4 3 2 1 GO!!!!! and Trent went off to Nome. Other than doing Iditarod stuff he does science and math. It would be fun in his class!!

JOHN BAKER WON! By Ben

John Baker (bib#53) won the Iditarod on Tuesday March 15, 2011 at 9:46 am with 10 dogs on his team waiting to celebrate. It took John 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds to finish. John Baker was the first native Alaskan to get in first place since 1976. He even shattered the previous record. Last of all Ramey Smith (bib#30) and Hans Gatt (bib#23) tried to catch up to Baker but did not. JOHN BAKER ROCKS!

Ramey's Strategy by DREW T

My musher Ramey Smyth has a great strategy for the homestretch of the race. He literally runs from Safetey to Nome. He won the fastest time from Safetey to Nome 7 times.

Just Wondering

There are many parts of the Iditarod that we haven't learned about in class. I am hoping some of my students can do some research about some of them. Here are just a few of the things we haven't talked about:
Iditarod Airforce, Where the Dropped Dogs Go, Awards, Athabaskans and Inupiaqs, Tundra, Boreal Forest, GPS, Drop Bags, etc.

The Latest on Lance Mackey by Jane

As you know, Lance Mackey is a four-time back-to-back winner of the Iditarod. His interests include sport fishing, collecting old stuff of any kind and gold. Last year his lead dog Maple won the Golden Harness award. This award goes to the best dog in the Iditarod and all of the mushers vote on the best dog. This year his lead dog Munch is only 3years old, but is still tough. Lance Mackey is in his 40s. He thought this year he would be a five-time champion, but this year wasn't his year. He's not sad about it. He said that he's would be the first person to congratulate the winner.

See Your Musher Finish

When you see that your musher is almost to Nome on the GPS tracker, just click on the title of this post-"See Your Musher Finish." It will connect to a webcam of the finish line in Nome. The webcam takes a new picture every 30 seconds.

Scruggs Hates Booties! by CJ

I am CJ and Allen Moore's dog Scruggs does not like to wear booties. Every time he is at a checkpoint he tries to take them off. Allen says they come off in seconds. Scruggs is running well for a 2 year old in this Iditarod.

Lance Mackey in Unelakleet by Jack S

Jack S here. Well first, the camera man thought Lance ordered a pizza but he did. Then Lance was talking about he was a 4 time champ when he said that even though he is in 11th place he is still a champion no matter what. After that he talked about his dogs about how they're doing, if they feel good or not. He was talking about his new lead dog Wilson when its Wilson's first year and he ran through this big lake and lead through the way to Nome. So about Lance he said he might have done better this year if he would of stayed at Yetna for longer than 30 min. There was a lot of heat on the way Lance said.

James Bardoner scratched? By Jack

March 13, 2011
James Bardoner scratched at 9:00 pm Alaska time on Sunday, March 13. He was Bib 57. He said his teams ability is really bad and he wanted to get back home because he is a rookie.

Iditarod History by Ben

Did you know that the first race was held in 1967 and it was shorter than now? In 1968 the race was canceled because of a lack of snow. In 1969 only 12 mushers did the race. In 1973 was the first similar race to now. Plus there has been NO race canceled since 1973.

Weather on the Trail

Click on the title to see the temperature at the different checkpoints. When I wrote this, it was -18 degrees in Kaltag! The windchill was -28 degrees! Brrrrrr...

Ramey Smyth Crashes in Anvik by Drew T.

Ramey was the 8th musher to Anvik, and he hit a huge bump as he was trying to park the sled. He had to hang on for dear life when he went over the bump. Even though he crashed, he was able to get back up and now he's good to go!

Natural Disasters in Alaska

Alaska is known to have earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Many of them have been famous, but have they ever effected the race? Has the Iditarod ever been cancelled or postponed? If you find out, let us know.

Hugh Neff First to Anvik

Anvik is located on the banks of Alaska's longest river, the Yukon. The first musher to arrive here gets a special prize. Can any of you Third Graders find out what prize Hugh received and tell us about it in this blog?

What Mushers Do at the Checkpoints by Lucy

Hi! my name is Lucy! Mushers at checkpoints feed their dogs,massage their dogs feet and legs,take a 24 hour rest,,sometimes fix their sleds,make food for their dogs,check to see if their are any injuries on the dogs,make a fire, sometimes go and drop a dog or two that has kennel cough or if they have a injury,and some times even only stay their for only 5 minutes. Mushers run at night because it is cooler for the dogs and not so hot in the middle of the day!! That is what mushers do at checkpoints!!!!!!!!!!

Iditarod on Animal Planet by Auden

Dee Dee J. dropped her dog named Slidder. It was a female dog. She had a hurt right front shoulder. I saw this on tv last night when I watched the Iditarod on Animal Planet channel.

What Mushers Do at Checkpoints by Lucy

Hi! My name is Lucy! Mushers at checkpoints feed their dogs,massage their dogs feet and legs,take a 24 hour rest,sometimes fix their sleds,make food for their dogs,check to see if there are any injuries on the dogs,make a fire, sometimes go and drop a dog or two that has kennel cough or if they have a injury,and sometimes even only stay there for only 5 minutes. Mushers run at night because it is cooler for the dogs and not so hot in the middle of the day!! That is what mushers do at checkpoints!!!!!!!!!!

Facts About Skunk

Facts About Skunk

By Drew T.

Here are some facts about Sebastian Schnuelles dog, Skunk. Skunk is 7 years old, and Skunk is a girl. She also is the lead dog for Schnuell. The reason Skunk is named Skunk is because she has a stripe right down her back, and she looks just like a skunk. Skunk used to mush with Lance Mackey until Mackey sold Skunk to Schnelle in 2006.

Iditarod Comes to Nikolai

Can you imagine what it would be like if our school was an Iditarod Checkpoint? Click the title above and find out what happens at the school in Nikolai during the Iditarod.

The Life of Togo by Jack S.

Togo wasn't as famous as Balto but his life was very important. In 1925 there was a disease outbreak and a serum needed to get to the children. First, Togo was the first sled dog out of Nenana. His musher was Leohnard Seppala. Balto had some problems after the race but Togo didn't because he still made it with 50-below-zero degrees. Also, at one point the musher lost the serum in the blizzard but Togo barked really loud and it was found. Also there was such a blizzard and white mist that the musher could not see the trail but Togo led the way. Otherwise they would have died. After the race Togo lived until December 5, 1929. By Jack Schultze.

Ophir check point by Oliver

In Ophir early that morning Mitch Seavey was cutting hay for his dogs when he cut his fingers on his hand. Nordman determined that the injury was severe enough to warrant the decision . The decision was made at 4:11 am not to continue the race . Seavey was in 5th position when the incident occurred.

Seavey was flown out of Ophir at first light. He expected to continue on to Anchorage

Passing a person in the Iditarod by Oliver

Hi my name is Oliver for the iditarod during the race if you want to pass a person that person that you want to pass has to slow down. Before you pass them

The entry fee for the iditarod By Oliver

Hi my name is Oliver for the Iditarod the entry fee is 4,000 dollars.

Zoya DeNure by Halley

Zoya DeNure scratched. She thought one of her dogs had a heart attack. She was driving to Rohn when one of her dogs just dropped. She thought it had a heart attack. Zoya put the dog into her sled bag and went back to Rainy Pass. When she got to Rainy Pass, the dog was staring up at her. She scratched because she didn't want this to happen to the dog again or to any of her other dogs.

Gerald Sousa and his Dog

Finally-a video of Gerald Sousa. He is introducing Pepper, one of his dogs.

Meet the Sled Dogs: Jerry & Pepper from Kyle Hopkins on Vimeo.

Why did Willomitzer scratch? by Jack S.

I'm Jack Schultze here. I just heard that Gerry Willomitzer scratched at 11:58 am Alaska time. He scratched in McGrath. He scratched because he only had 12 dogs and he doesn't want any more dogs to get hurt. I told you, breaking news -- Jack Schultze.

Our Mail Cache

I just got word that our mail cache is in Cim Smyth's sled bag. I hope it makes it all the way to Nome, don't you? Do you know why mushers carry these mail packages? Click on the title of this to find out.

Meet Some of the Dogs!

Click above to see if one of your musher's dogs is in the news.

Fastest Winning Time

Click the title to find out who holds the record for the fastest winning time. Leave a comment to tell me who it is, when it happened, and what the time was.

Is the Trail the Same for Everyone?

Click on the question to read about the trail so far. You can also find out what happened to DeeDee Jonrowe at Finger Lake.

How to Log on to Iditarod Insider

To get onto Iditarod Insider, use Mrs. Perl's email address, sperl@egrps.org and the password: wealthy

Musher Bib Drawing Banquet

Iditarod Trail Song by Alaskas Hobo Jim

Watch Your Musher Start this Weekend

You can watch your musher's Ceremonial Start on Saturday and his/her Official Restart on Sunday.
Follow these directions.
1. Double your musher's bib number.
2. For the Saturday Ceremonial Start, add that number of minutes to 2:00 PM. For the Official Restart on Sunday, add that many minutes to 6:00 PM.
3. Get on your computer a few minutes ahead.
4. Go to Iditarodinsider.com and log in with our school's username and password.
You can watch any of the mushers start if you log in between 2:00 PM and 4:15 PM on Saturday, and between 6:00 PM and 8:15 PM on Sunday. Last year, the announcers on Saturday were super interesting and told all kinds of interesting facts about each musher.