Quilts for Alaska......

Jane (Sister) this is for you.........

Here are our quilts from Tn. This is one of my classes with me , my mother and my oldest daughter as she is a part of the class. Mother brought them because she and my aunt sewed them for us.

My kids were really proud of "their" quilt. We are going to hang them in the school for everyone to see them and then send them to Alaska when the time comes.

Hope you can see the quilts.

Tee

About 90 Days!

About 90 days from now, the 2008 Iditarod mushers will be on the trail. Can you believe it?

Reading the blog, I know that each of you are well underway in planning your units and many of you have begun your activities! PLEASE supply updates to the blog to tell us about your teaching adventures. We want to read all about it!

Send me articles about your rookie musher, your lessons/activities, and your teaching adventures. I'd appreciate being able to share them at our website or with others. As you communicate with your rookie, let us know what is going on! As you have guest speakers or your students complete projects, tell us about them. Take digitals! Send them, too!

I hope by now each of you has signed up for the FREE Iditarod Eductor's Newsletter. If not, go right now to www.iditarod.com and click For Teachers. Then, click Education Newsletter. Subscribe and you'll be on the list for our next newsletter which will be out in early December. TELL ALL OF YOUR TEACHER FRIENDS to sign up, too. We want you to be in the Idita-know--- so don't forget to do this!

I'd also like you to read Zuma's Paw Prints. Zuma has been updated to a blog format and we hope to provide more stories, articles, and better communications with our readers. Check out Zuma's Paw Prints.

Have you looked at the NOAA curriculum at For Teachers or read the recent articles we've posted? So much to do--- and about 90 days until we are racing to Nome!

I spent about a week in Anchorage in October and presented at the state math and science conference. I had a great time! It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with Alaska teachers and see some of our friends, like Sara, Gail, and Sally!

One final 'thing', if you have extra time on your hands and would like some 'volunteer' projects from now until the race, let me know. I have a few tasks I'm happy to provide to anyone interested. You can email me if you are interested. Thanks!

I hope this finds you having a great school year and excited about your classroom activities.

Enjoy!

Diane

Books and Authors!!!

We just had Scholastic's bookfair at school and there is a new Jan Brett book, The Three Snow Bears which is an Inuit version of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. My bookshelf is bursting with all the books I brought home this summer, but of course there is always room for one more (well, 2 - I had to have "Knut" which is a true story of a polar bear cub).

My school district has booked Teri Sloat for a visit in early March - actually during the race!!!(author of Berry Magic, an Inuit tale of how the berries came to be in Alaska - and the book I used to motivate the students for our reading challenge last year - with the principal eating the agutaq - Eskimo ice cream - recipe is in the book - when they met the challenge. I'm so excited - Teri spent time living in the villages of Alaska and has written several books. I think she will even be staying with me for one night. The connections we make.....how incredible!

If I didn't send you the bibliography I put together, let me know and I'll get it to you. Have a great holiday season. Debbie

Happy Thanksgiving

First let me start by wishing everyone who view are blog a very blessed Thanksgiving.
I hope each enjoy their time with family and friends..

Now the other reason I am posting is I found a great website (my kids did) while researching the Iditarod for a class project. It is http://www.ultimateiditarod.com/ . There are all kinds of things on this website that can be helpful to those of us who are beginning to introduce the Iditarod in our classes. So having completed task 2 I am again wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving from Tennessee.