MONROE - Chantee "Caribou" Lamp had her sled ready, her dogs collected for the race and her directional commands memorized - hike, gee, haw, whoa!
The 9-year-old musher's "dogs" were other fourth-graders at Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy, where on Friday, Feb. 17, more than 40 of them participated in an "Ikidarod," inspired by the 1000-mile dog sled race across Alaska that kicks off March 3 and lasts 10 to 17 days.
For the real race, the Iditarod, mushers train their teams of dogs for months and prepare all year long for the snowy trek.
Abe's fourth-graders had three weeks to prepare for the modified race planned by their teachers, Nikki Lutzke and Linda Moser. Each team of five built a sled entirely out of recycled or found junk: scrap plywood, milk jugs, hammock netting, PVC pipe, string and pop cans.
A few sleds were held together by screws, but in most cases, the fourth-graders simply mummified each joint in duct tape for maximum hold.
"They're big fans of duct tape. I think they got three rolls in there just in case," said engineer Don Wickstrum of Quest Industrial, gesturing to a nearby sled. He and two of his employees volunteered their time to help guide the children through the sled-building process. An Orchid International engineer also led a team.
In the classroom, the fourth-graders studied the Iditarod in all subjects, from the angle of history, math, social studies and reading. The Ben Stamm family of Argyle that raises sled dogs stopped by to talk about how to handle the animals, and a school nurse taught cold-weather survival tactics.
"We paired them up with as many smart, local people as possible," Lutzke said.
Larry Brown, district administrator, welcomed the opportunity to lead a sled-building group.
"As a superintendent, I don't get to spend as much time with the kids," he said. His approach was hands-off: He let the students develop a plan on their own and stepped in only to "help them refine their ideas."
Brown also donated part of their makeshift sled. As a hobby, he makes chairs out of used skis and hockey sticks. He had a pair of old skis "too ugly to be on somebody's chair," so he gave it to the kids along with some PVC pipe he had lying around his barn.
Each musher had a nickname - Caribou, Wolf, Arctic Hare, Killer Whale - and kept snacks for their "dogs" (including "puppy chow," of course) to eat during the short, bumpy race around the snow-barren schoolyard Friday afternoon.
An expanse of frost-bitten grass, it turns out, is no less fun to race on. The lack of snow also didn't stop a throng of kindergartners from lining up along the sidelines to squeal in excitement and cheer on the older kids.
Lutzke and Moser still have more to teach before the unit on the Iditarod wraps up, including finishing a book. When the time comes, Lutzke said, the children will be watching some of the real race via live-streaming video on iditarod.com.
The 9-year-old musher's "dogs" were other fourth-graders at Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy, where on Friday, Feb. 17, more than 40 of them participated in an "Ikidarod," inspired by the 1000-mile dog sled race across Alaska that kicks off March 3 and lasts 10 to 17 days.
For the real race, the Iditarod, mushers train their teams of dogs for months and prepare all year long for the snowy trek.
Abe's fourth-graders had three weeks to prepare for the modified race planned by their teachers, Nikki Lutzke and Linda Moser. Each team of five built a sled entirely out of recycled or found junk: scrap plywood, milk jugs, hammock netting, PVC pipe, string and pop cans.
A few sleds were held together by screws, but in most cases, the fourth-graders simply mummified each joint in duct tape for maximum hold.
"They're big fans of duct tape. I think they got three rolls in there just in case," said engineer Don Wickstrum of Quest Industrial, gesturing to a nearby sled. He and two of his employees volunteered their time to help guide the children through the sled-building process. An Orchid International engineer also led a team.
In the classroom, the fourth-graders studied the Iditarod in all subjects, from the angle of history, math, social studies and reading. The Ben Stamm family of Argyle that raises sled dogs stopped by to talk about how to handle the animals, and a school nurse taught cold-weather survival tactics.
"We paired them up with as many smart, local people as possible," Lutzke said.
Larry Brown, district administrator, welcomed the opportunity to lead a sled-building group.
"As a superintendent, I don't get to spend as much time with the kids," he said. His approach was hands-off: He let the students develop a plan on their own and stepped in only to "help them refine their ideas."
Brown also donated part of their makeshift sled. As a hobby, he makes chairs out of used skis and hockey sticks. He had a pair of old skis "too ugly to be on somebody's chair," so he gave it to the kids along with some PVC pipe he had lying around his barn.
Each musher had a nickname - Caribou, Wolf, Arctic Hare, Killer Whale - and kept snacks for their "dogs" (including "puppy chow," of course) to eat during the short, bumpy race around the snow-barren schoolyard Friday afternoon.
An expanse of frost-bitten grass, it turns out, is no less fun to race on. The lack of snow also didn't stop a throng of kindergartners from lining up along the sidelines to squeal in excitement and cheer on the older kids.
Lutzke and Moser still have more to teach before the unit on the Iditarod wraps up, including finishing a book. When the time comes, Lutzke said, the children will be watching some of the real race via live-streaming video on iditarod.com.