Balto, The Bravest Dog in the World

During our reading theme about Animals some of the children read the book called Balto, The Bravest Dog Ever. This is a story that led to the Iditarod Dog Sled Race. The story takes place in 1925 and is about getting medicine to Nome to save the people of Nome from an outbreak of diphtheria. When the train was blocked because of deep snow the suggestion was made to have a dog sled relay carry the medicine. After five and a half days Balto and his driver, Gunnar were successful in delivering the needed medicine.

After doing research on the Internet  the children discovered the names of all the towns that the sled dogs passed through. They also learned the names of all the drivers. They tracked the course that the drivers took on a large map mounted on the wall.

Web sites we used:

PBS Nature Making of a Sled Dog
PBS Nature - Balto
Scholastic Iditarad Race Across Alaska
If Sculptures Could Talk

The children learned about the annual Iditarod Race from researching various books—

• "The Iditarod is a sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome."
• "The race is held in March each year."
• "There are 12-16 dogs for each sled."
• "The race can go from 9 to 17 days."
• "Some of the checkpoints that they go through are ghost towns."
• "We have the Iditarod because of the sled dog relay that brought medicine to the sick children in Nome."
• "The musher is the dog sled driver."
• "The race is about 1100 miles."

They also learned the things a musher has to have in his sled. In each sled they have to have 8 booties for each dog, an ax, a compass, a first aid kit, a cooker with a 3 gallon pot, a pair of snowshoes, a cooler, dog food, a harness, a sleeping bag, and food for the musher.

The children made a replica of a sled and the dogs. They filled the sled with the supplies needed to run the race.

The true story of Balto helps us learn new reading skills while treking across the arctic with the sled dogs.