All second grade students at Redland Oaks have been following the history and news briefs of the Iditarod race between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. Students have mapped the many checkpoints along the 1150-mile race through some of the roughest, most beautiful landscape on the globe. The geography of mountain ranges, a frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and unsheltered coast was the backdrop for lessons about temperatures, visibility, hazards, long hours of darkness and other treacherous conditions. Students also read about the profiles of many of the ninety-three racers, including the number of times they have participated in the Iditarod. They cheered for Lance Mackey when he won the race on the morning of Mar. 12, 2008.

During the course of the race, students learned about the history of the Iditarod Race, which is ­an annual honoring of heroes of the first race from Anchorage to Nome. The Iditarod Trail was once a mail and supply route, through the White Mountains, to Nome. Essentially, mail and supplies traveled into Nome, and gold traveled back to Anchorage. However, in 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became an emergency route when an epidemic of Diphtheria gripped Nome. It was faithful sled dogs and dog mushers who delivered life-saving serum to the people in Nome.

Unique to this year’s race was the GPS plotting of the racers’ progress. Referring daily to the internet’s live tracking of the racers, students were able to follow their maps. The progress of racers was charted, distances were marked and totaled, and each racer’s layovers were noted. Math calculations during the nine-day race included the collection of data through the internet and the analysis of class data. Students also estimated who would be the winner and defended their reasons, based on their data. It was with eagerness that students accessed the internet for news releases that kept their record current.