Croton-Harmon Students Race to Read Alongside the Iditarod

From Croton-Harmon School District: Third-graders at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School in Croton-on-Hudson are currently invested in more than one race. As they have in years past, the entire grade is following the Iditarod Great Sled Race, and each student used a formula to select a musher to support leading up to the race start on March 4.

Students follow the progress of the race each day as the mushers reach checkpoints on their journeys from Fairbanks to Nome, Alaska, a 949-mile distance.

“All the while, students are learning about ‘The Last Great Race’ and a big part of American history as well as Alaska’s culture,” said third-grade teacher Linda Reich.

New this year, students are participating in their own race at school, the “Idita-READ.”

“This is a simulation where children match minutes to miles and read the distance of the Iditarod,” said Reich. “As children add up and keep track of the minutes, they move their sled dogs the same number of miles on our race course.”

Students decorated their own sled dogs that are currently moving rapidly around the walls of the third-grade wing as they continue to rack up reading minutes.

Photos courtesy of Croton-Harmon Schools: Third-grade students at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School in Croton-on-Hudson are following along the Iditarod and participating in an “Idita-READ” to match minutes to miles during the race.