PCMS students studying Iditarod race

Students have also created biographies of their favorite mushers in the 2016 Iditarod, are monitoring and recording weather conditions and calculating distances traveled each day. They’ve also interacted with people from around the world through live classroom feeds.

Perry County Middle Schoolers are spending some time in Alaska this month — virtually, that is.

Fifth graders in the classes of Mrs. Amanda Huber, Mrs. Mary Catherine Fetterhoff and Mrs. Michael-Ann Buchheit are following the 2016 Iditarod with live streams this month.

The Iditarod is a 1,149-mile dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome, held each March in Alaska. The first race was run in 1973 and commemorates the “Great Race of Mercy,” when in 1925 teams of dogsleds rushed medicine to critically-ill children in Nome, where a diphtheria outbreak was killing children, including Inuits who had never been exposed to the disease and therefore had no immunity. Twenty teams of dogsleds and mushers raced the medicine 674 miles from Nenana to Nome in about 5 and half days.

“We are continuing our Iditarod unit this week,” said Huber. “The kids got to check in on their mushers and start tracking the progress. Students have individual mushers that they have chosen to follow and complete a biography about. Students will be tracking their musher daily and recording their progress along the trail which includes their actual positions at each checkpoint, time in and out of each checkpoint and the weather along the way.”

Fifth graders in Mrs. Amanda Huber’s class have selected “Fantasy Iditarod” teams, and are logging progress of the 1,149 mile race on a class map.

The children have also read the novel "Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardiner, which is related to the unit. They have also formed teams for the "Fantasy Iditarod" which will be another element for them to track and earn points for the team.

“My class was able to watch the live stream (http://iditarod.com/) from one of the checkpoints,” Huber said. “I signed up for an account and was able to send a message of ‘Hello from Perryville, MO: 5th graders are excited to watch for their mushers,’ and we got several responses from people all around the world saying ‘Hi’ to us and welcoming us.”

Huber said the students are incredibly excited about the unit. “They are having a really great time learning about the race,” she said.

If you’d like to follow the Iditarod at home, visit http://iditarod.com/.