Racing to READ!

As Lee Intermediate students followed the Iditarod mushers and their dog teams over 1150 miles of some of the roughest, most beautiful terrain in the world via the Internet, they read and quizzed on AR books to read a Word Count of at least 1150 words. The reading challenge, "Join the IditaREAD," was sponsored by LMS Elaine Blount during the month of March.

In weekly library classes and computer lab classes, the third through fifth graders learned about "The Last Greatest Race on Earth," the Iditarod of Alaska, via the official website (http://www.iditarod.com/). Students were also challenged to use the website to "problem solve" using race charts and graphs, and to use the Alabama Virtual Library's Kidbits database (http://www.avl.lib.al.us/) to locate information to "compare and contrast" the states of Alaska and Alabama.

Fifty-two mushers and dog teams finished the 1150 miles of the Iditarod. Over 330 students completed the IditaREAD Challenge and read OVER 9,600,000 words in just three weeks!