Bark River Racing believes that learning is a life long pursuit and that our sport provides a unique tool for educators to use. Young and old alike find the connection of dogs, man, and nature fascinating and when there is a fascination, learning becomes easy and fun. Fields of study such as geography, math, reading and writing can all be enriched by a mushing connection. But the connection offers far more than that.
Being a part of the Bark River Racing Team doesn't cost the student anything and provides each student with the opportunity to be a part of the team and a sense of being a part of something special. We let them know that their support and encouragement are very important elements to a successful team. Since our 2007 Iditarod run, Bark River Racing has included 100's of students, from dozens of classrooms all around the nation, as part of the team.
The BRR journal page, The Daily Scoop, is written so that everyone can understand and enjoy it. Many classrooms read the articles together on a weekly basis helping to reinforce the students connection to the team. We encourage teachers to use Bark River Racing as a teaching tool in many ways, such as:
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Letter writing - BRR team members will answer all letters that we receive! Just be certain that a return address is included.
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Joining the team - Send a class photo and a brief letter of introduction and we will post it on the web site! Students love to see themselves on the world wide web, not to mention the fun they have sharing the link with friends and family. We will have a page dedicated to our Classroom Team Members similiar to that for the Dogs and Mushers!
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Classroom Study - Where are the races being held? Find the locations of the check points on a map and then discuss things such as, topography and distance, and how those factors may impact the outcome of the race. What is the weather like? What is the wind chill factor during the race? How many teams are entered in each race? Take that information and determine just how many dogs will be competing, or better yet, how many booties will it take to complete the race?? (Hint, we get approximately 100 miles on a set of four booties.)
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Tracking your musher - During the races, track the team's progress. Print out maps (found on the race websites, just follow this link to the sites Mushing Links), and flag the communities/areas that the team passes through.
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Booties - We will send an Iditarod/John Beargrease Marathon dog bootie to each of your students. These are used booties from the races and we are told that they are treasured keepsakes to many of our students.
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Adopt a Sled Dog - Select one of the 4 legged team members for your classroom to adopt and we will send you their photo and bio. Allow your classroom to visit the BRR Sled Dog page and select a team member to follow throughout the season. Every sled dog in the kennel tries out for the race team, maybe your sled dog will make it to the finish line!!
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Field trips - Coming to see a race start is a wonderful way to tie everything together. This will give your students an opportunity to meet the entire team (those with 4 legs and those with 2!) and also to see all the teams in action. Also, BRR has used a Pirate Theme for the past several years, flying a pirate flag at the races and handing out eye patches to students who come to see us.
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Classroom visits - BRR team members enjoy sharing our sport. Sharing information, equipment, and tales from the trail with you and your students is the best way for us to end our season. Sorry, but we can only offer visits after the race season is over, Mid-March to May. Also, we must limit our No Charge Classroom visits to those classrooms in the Northland area. Please reserve your date early as our available times do fill up quickly. We do make visits to classrooms further away, however travel expenses will apply.
Teachers from around the world are using mushing, specifically the Iditarod and John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, as a teaching tool. The following links are just a small portion of the resources available to interested teachers:
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