The 1996 edition of the Classroom Information Packet for teachers will be bigger and better than ever. The packet is for teacher use and as reference material for older students. There are over 125 pages of information and activities for your use.

The Packet is divided into several sections:

• Introduction to Iditarod - history of the race, the 1925 serum run to Nome and more...
• The Trail - describes the trail between the checkpoints.
• The Checkpoints - latitude. & longitude, pronunciation where needed and descriptions of the checkpoints.
• The Rules & Policies - complete 1996 official rules and policies. Nothing is left out.
• The Statistics - statistic since the first race in 1973, those who finished and those who didn’t.
• Special Awards - what they are and who receives them.
• Student Activities - activities submitted by teachers for sharing with other classrooms.
• The Mushers - short biography on each of the musher, list of their addresses and their sponsors.

ATTENTION: This year, for the first time, the packet will be sent in two separate parts. The general information and activities part of the packet will be mailed sometime in late November or early December along with the other items in the kit that you have ordered. The musher biographies and addresses will be mailed in January.

There are three kits available:

Kit # 1 - $ 14.95

• Packet
• Color Wall Map of Alaska and the trail

  Kit # 2 - $27.95
  

• Packet
• Color Wall Map of Alaska and the trail
• A Bootie like those used by mushers
• 1 Cachet (trail mail, carried by a musher in a previous Iditarod race )
• A deed to 1 square inch of Iditarod Trail

  Kit # 3 - $49.95
  

• Packet
• Color Wall Map of Alaska and the trail
• Bootie
• 1 Cachet
• Deed
• 1995 Iditarod Race Video

Puppy Membership $5.00

Iditarod’s Junior Membership
Youngsters receives a certificate and a membership patch designed just for them. When submitting these memberships, please be sure to include a list of the students’ names for their certificates.

Attention Teachers: If your entire class (fifteen or more students) become members, we will award the class a one year subscription to the Iditarod Runner, our bi-monthly magazine which contains lots of good stories and pictures. Subscriptions will not be sent for a single $5.00 membership. (Order must be submitted at one time.)

Fax Program

For schools that do not have computer connections to the InterNet, we offer a daily fax program. In 1995 we limited this to 200 schools. We plan to increase this to 400 schools this year. We charge $35.00 for this service to cover the phone costs. The school will receive one fax per day with an update on every musher in the race. This update lists each musher’s position in the race and shows, the date and time the musher arrived and departed from the last checkpoint, number of dogs, status, and layover taken or not. There is a page of “color” about the race as well as what is going on at headquarters while the mushers make their way to Nome. Orders for the fax program can be made on the attached order blank and you must include the following information:

• Fax # including area code.
• Name of person who will act as a contact during the race in case of problems.
• Phone # to contact this person.
• DEADLINE for FAX sign up JAN 15, 1996

There will be information available on a regular basis about what is happening in the mushing world, how much snow we got last week, the temperature and more as we prepare for the race. This will be information that the teacher can use to get the students ready for what is going to happen when they study the Iditarod and Alaska in March. During the race, there will be daily updates.

It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and it has won worldwide acclaim and interest. It’s not just a dog sled race...it’s an event in which unique men and woman compete. Mushers come from all walks of life. Fisherman, lawyers, doctors, miners, artists, natives, Canadians, Swiss, French, and others; men and women each with their own story, each with their own reasons for going the distance.

You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world. A race over 1150 miles of some of the most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer.

The Iditarod Trail was used to carry mail to interior Alaska, nuns and priests, ministers, circuit judges and gold from the interior back to civilization for sale.

In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a life saving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened and serum had to be brought in, again by intrepid dog mushers and their faithful, hard driving dogs.

The Iditarod is a commemoration of those yesterdays, a not-so-distant past that Alaskans honor and are proud of.

You and your students can travel along with the mushers as they make their way from Anchorage to Nome in March 1996. The excitement of the students will make going to your classroom each morning fun.

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