Close-ups

Go Teams!

Mrs. Hathaway's class is first to the burled archway by one dog-length! It looks like Mrs. Bowman's class will get the Red Lantern Award this year. You finished - you're both winners!

This is the Iditarod mural our two classes created with poster paint life-sized huskies. Parent volunteers hung it on the back of the stage and connected the dogs together with poster paint ropes! I will include some close-up photos in my next post. Seven of our students, led by our principal, Mrs. Sparks, created a docent recording for the rest of the school to listen and hear about the history and details of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Musher Karen Land Visits Our School

Three-time Iditarod competitor (2002-2004) Karen Land, from Montana, paid a visit to Barbara Bush Elementary third graders on Monday. What a way to kick-off Iditarod Week! Karen was accompanied by her incredibly tame and loveable seven year- old husky, Borage. She told us such funny stories about Borage and his difficulties learning how to run as part of a team. His early attempts mostly included Borage flipped upside- down skidding along on his back! Later he "decided" he would like to be a lead dog, because the lead dogs got their hot dog snacks first in the long line of his teammates.

Saving Balto, Part 2

The city of Cleveland went into action. Schoolkids collected coins, factory workers passed a hat, and community members donated whatever they could manage. The Balto Fund raised the needed money in just ten days! Balto was saved!

On March 19, 1927, Balto and six other hero sled dogs were transported to the Cleveland zoo from California to live out their days in comfort. 15,000 visitors came to see them their first day. Balto lived almost six more years and died at the age of 14. His body is preserved and on exhibit at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Except for a five month visit to the Anchorage Museum of History and Art in 1998, Balto's mount has remained in Ohio.

Saving Balto

Saving Balto, Part 1

In the early morning hours of February 2, 1925, Balto led Gunnar Kaasen's sled dog team into Nome with lifesaving diphtheria serum. The people of Nome were rescued from this horrifying disease. Balto and his canine teammates became instant celebrities around the world. Soon Balto and friends were traveling across the United States making appearances in towns and carnivals as the "Heroes of Alaska." (My information for this post comes from a brochure called, "Balto and the Hero Dogs of Alaska" that my family received on a visit to the Cleveland Museum of Natual History.)

By the time 1927 rolled around, the dogs began to lose popularity. A Cleveland businessman named George Kimball found the dogs in Los Angeles, ill and mistreated in a "dime" museum.
He mounted a campaign to raise $2000 to bring Balto and his buddies to Cleveland in order to have the dogs live the rest of their lives in a comfortable home, the Brookside Zoo (now the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.)

Balto and Togo

Many young people have heard or seen the story of Balto, the heroic sled dog who led Gunnar Kasson's final relay team into Nome carrying life-saving diphtheria serum to rescue the children of Nome, Alaska. In my third grade class we begin by enjoying the visual images created by hearing Margaret Davidson's Balto: the Dog Who Saved Nome read aloud. There are two other books I can recommend that children read: Natalie Standiford's The Bravest Dog Ever: the True Story of Balto and Elizabeth Cody Kimmel's Balto and the Great Race.

The Nome story cannot be considered complete without reading of another heroic lead dog, Togo! Do not miss Togo by Robert J. Blake. This book was so popular with Texas children, that it won the Texas Bluebonnet Award in 2005 (voted as #1 by elementary kids.)

My students will also hear me read The Great Serum Race: Blazing the Iditarod Trail and Arctic Light, Arctic Nights by Debbie S Miller, from Fairbanks, Alaska. The illustrations by Jon Van Zyle are not to be missed in these two books. As I am reading the first book, I love to add excerpts from the book for older readers by Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury called The Cruelest Miles: the Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic. On my trip to Alaska, I will attend an author presentation by Gay Salisbury, so I will have to remember to bring my copy along to get her autograph!

As the stories of Balto and Togo come to life, my students are surprised to find out that the bodies of these heroic canines have been preserved - stuffed and mounted! Balto is preserved at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Ohio, and Togo can be found at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters building in Wasilla, Alaska. Togo's "home" in Wasilla is understandable, because Wasilla is where the "official" Iditarod race begins. However, why would Balto be in Cleveland, Ohio? That will be a story for another day!

Texan ready for Alaska?

Am I ready? Today I tried on my outer layer Alaska gear: wind-proof, insulated parka, -40 waterproof boots with thermal liners, wool socks with sock liners, gloves with liners, fleece scarf, and Iditarod hat. I just couldn't bear to put on my thermal underwear. I will just have to test them under actual conditions. My adventure to Anchorage will begin in a little more than two weeks! My third graders will be busy this week painting their life-size huskies for our Iditarod mural. Needless to say, we are all getting excited for the 2007 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race!