Balto, the Dog Who Saved Nome By Margaret Davidson

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Balto, the Dog Who Saved NomeBy Margaret Davidson

• Companion WebQuest
• By Jon Moss

To Supplement the Harcourt (Gr. 3) Trophies
Reading Series Theme 2, What a Team!
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Introduction

• Now that youve learned about Balto and Gunnar
  Kassons adventure as they brought the diphtheria
  medicine to Nome, youll have the opportunity to
  learn more about the journey from Anchorage to
  Nome.

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Tasks
As you know, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is
held each year. This year, youve been selected
to participate in the Iditarod. (How exciting!)
First, youre going to go on a practice run.
Youll learn about many different parts of Alaska
along the way! Are you ready? Click Go on to
begin!
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Getting Ready to Race
All good mushers need to be familiar with the
area where they are racing. Click on the picture
and read about Alaska. Then, answer the question
at the bottom of this page.
Time to warm up! How cold can the temperature
get? (Click on the correct answer!)
-150 degrees
-60 degrees
-25 degrees
32 degrees
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WRONG!
Go back and try again!
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CORRECT!
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Planning Your Route
Do you know where to go? As the musher, you need
to lead your dogs. Click on the picture to
review the route. When the webpage loads, click
on the Start box. Then, click on the red dots
to learn about the different checkpoints. Read
about at least one checkpoint from each of the
three sections.
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Anchorage
Although it isnt the capital of Alaska,
Anchorage is home to about half of all the people
that live in Alaska. Lets see what makes
Anchorage stand out as a great city!

• Alaska Zoo
• Alaska Botanical Gardens
• Local wildlife
• Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights)

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Portage Glacier
You cant leave Anchorage without checking out
the Portage Glacier! It may be hard to spot, at
times. Thats because most of the glacier is
under water. But if you know where to look,
there is still a lot to see! Click on the
picture to look at some more photos of the
glacier. Then come back to this page.
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Snowed Out?
Most people in Alaska dont travel by dog sled.
In fact, many people rely on the trains. But
what happens when it snows too much? Click on
the snowflake to find out!
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Midnight Sun?
Because Alaska is so far north, some parts of the
state have sun shining for 24 hours a day during
the summer, and have no sun at all 24 hours a day
during the winter. Lets take a detour to
Fairbanks and see how they enjoy the summer
midnight sun!
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Midnight Sun Game
Do you like baseball? How about a game where the
first pitch gets thrown at midnight? For over
100 years, people in Fairbanks have held the
annual Midnight Sun Game. No electrical lighting
is used here! Only the sun lights the field!
Click on the picture to watch a brief video.)
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Run, Fairbanks, Run!
Each year, the people in Fairbanks also have a 10
kilometer run at midnight. It may by 1200am,
but its still sunny! Click on the advertisement
to see a few photos.
About how many people were rumored to have been
at the 2004 Midnight Sun Run?
1,250 people
3,500 people
5,900 people
?Click one answer!?
10,000 people
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WRONG!
Go back and try again!
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CORRECT!
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Alaskan Natives
Alaska has a very large Native American
population. In fact, natives make up about 18
of Alaskas population. There are many different
groups of Natives in Alaska, as you can see on the
map. Click on the map to learn how to say some
words in the Inuktitut language.
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Native Artistry
Many groups of Natives in the northwest carve
totem poles as a way of keeping history and
sharing their own experiences. Click on the
picture (above) and take an eField Trip to
learn about Totem Poles in Alaska. You will need
to type a trip password. The password is
totems (but without the quotation marks). It
may take a while to complete the whole field
trip, but its well worth it! (Please be patient
as the tour loads. It may take a minute or two.)
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Nome

• Welcome to the city of Nome, Alaska! The
  Iditarod trail ends here. Before heading back to
  Anchorage, take a few moments to check out this
  amazing city!
• Webcam of Norton Sound (updated each minute!)
• Lots of fishing
• A gold rush once happened in Nome.
• Many native crafts, including ivory carvings.

Did you look at the Nome webcam? How is the
weather in Nome right now?
Sunny
Cloudy
Rainy
Partly Cloudy
Snowy
Dark
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All ready?
Congratulations! Youve practiced your route to
race through the Iditarod! Hop on an Alaska
Airlines flight and head back to Anchorage!
(Click on the picture to continue.)
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On your mark Get set
Now youre ready! Click on the picture. When
the web page loads, click on start on the trail
to begin the race. Make choices in order to
reach the end of the Iditarod trail. Then, come
back to this page.
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WELL DONE!
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Process
You made it through the Iditarod! Bravo! Now I
want you to show what you learned throughout your
journey. Read all of these directions before
beginning the next task. Open a Microsoft Word
document. Write a brief story that shares some
of your experiences on the Iditarod, just like
how the Balto story shared Gunnar Kassons
experiences. Be sure to mention some of the
sights you saw along the way. (Dont just focus
on mushing the sled dogs through the ice and
snow!) Look at the next page to see how your
story will be evaluated.
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Evaluation
Beginning Developing (GOAL) Secure
Detail You should go back and add some more detail about what you saw and experienced along your journey. You have given good detail about your experiences along the Iditarod journey. Youve included some of the things you learned about during this WebQuest. You have included terrific detail in your story. Many parts of the WebQuest are included, and you have clearly shown what you learned.
Accuracy Many of the facts you shared were incorrect. Please check over your work. Most of your facts were correct. There were some errors, however. All of your facts were correct. Well done!
G.U.M. Check your work over to make sure you are using proper punctuation, grammar, and capital letters. Appropriate punctuation, grammar, and capital letters were used in nearly all cases. A few errors were found. You used excellent grammar, usage, and mechanics! Way to go! You may have challenged yourself to use advanced G.U.M. skills.
Technical Make sure you have appropriately used WORD to write your narrative. In general, you correctly used WORD. There may have been a few spelling or spacing errors. Excellent use of WORD. You correctly used spell check, spacing, and other features. Congratulations!
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Conclusion
Well done! You seem to have become quite an
expert on Alaska. Throughout this WebQuest, you
have learned about the Iditarod, Anchorage, the
Northern Lights, the Portage Glacier, the
Midnight Sun activities, the native population in
Alaska, the city of Nome, and much more! This
spring, when the new Iditarod race is held, be
sure to follow the different teams progress
since youre now familiar with the area, and what
they might experience.
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Other Recommended Websites

• Interactive Iditarod Map (Advanced)
• Learn about the Junior Iditarod for kids
• Virtual Totem Pole Tour (Advanced)
• Alaska Video Library Online
• View the Northern Lights from space!

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For Teachers

• Introduction
• This WebQuest is designed to supplement the
  Harcourt Trophies Grade 3 reading series
  selection of Balto, the Dog Who Saved Nome.
• Some tasks in this WebQuest are more challenging
  than others. This is intentional, so that
  students on different learning levels can enjoy
  the activity and feel appropriately challenged.
• Skills Addressed
• Reading for information, narrative writing,
  Alaskan culture and history, PowerPoint
  navigation, web site usage, general computer
  skills.
• Recommendations
• Because of the length of this WebQuest, students
  are expected to require multiple sessions in
  which to complete the project.
• Consider reviewing rules and restrictions
  regarding internet usage. Many of the sites to
  which I have linked have ad bars and could derail
  an improperly-trained students progress.
• Acknowledgments
• All images were obtained from the websites to
  which I have linked, or from Google Images.
• Special thanks to J. Brian Szender and Cheryl
  Pierce-Szender.

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Revision 1.0, Created on June 16, 2007, by Jon
Moss