Yukon Quest
Reading Challenge
Yukon Quest Reading Challenge
May Gudmundson, Golden Horn School
Whitehorse, Yukon
Purpose of the Club:
The objective of this reading game is for the students to challenge a Yukon Quest team to the finish line. A team of students must read faster than the musher and his dogs can travel down the trail. For Grade 3 purposes, a minute of reading is the equivalent to a kilometre (or mile) of travel.This may be easily adapted for other grade levels.
Materials needed:
1. List of Yukon Quest mushers (See 1998 Quest Teams link)
2. Map showing the route of the Yukon Quest (See Quest Map link)
3. List of distances between checkpoints (See Checkpoints link)
4. Teams of children The number depends on reading ability of the children. This should be a challenge for the children as it is a challenge for the Yukon Quest mushers! For Grade 3, I use teams of four students. At least one of the students on each team should be able to collate the daily results of the team's reading minutes. Team sizes may differ depending upon the grade level involved.
5. Parent or other responsible adult to verify reading times each day. (See tickets below!)
6. Arrow shaped pieces of tag board with the names of the Yukon Quest mushers being challenged.
7. Arrow shaped pieces of tag board, in a contrasting colour, with the names of the team leaders.
8. Tickets for the adults to confirm reading times. (See below)
****A NOTE ABOUT THE TICKETS
Use bright coloured paper so the tickets are easily identified.
Have the student write in his/her own name on each ticket.
Tickets are turned into team collator each morning, tabulated, then given to the teacher for confirmation.
HOW IT WORKS:
- Students read at home, parents verify and initial amount of time read.
- Students bring tickets to their team leader(musher)each morning to tabulate their team's progress.
- Teacher confirms total.
- Musher, team and teacher together move the tag board arrows for their reading team, as well as their Yukon Quest team for the corresponding day. This requires information from the radio, Yukon Quest Office or Internet(See Quest Updates link) This activity has them listening to the morning news or accessing information from the Net each day.)
- If possible, students also collect newspaper articles and photos of their musher to be posted around the outside of the map.
***** Encourage students to pick their Yukon Quest team well in advance of the start of the Race. Encourage children to go to the start of the Race on February 8 to watch their chosen musher leave. (We hope to have a movie clip ready for the homepage!)
**** On alternate years, students are keen to go to the finish line as they know a lot about their particular Yukon Quest team by this time.
Who will make it to Fairbanks, Alaska first - the Quest Musher or the Quest Reading Challenge Team?
Adapted from suggestions supplied by:
Yukon Literacy Council
Reading Tickets
The tickets should be filled out with the student's name, team number and minutes read for the day.
On February 8_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 9_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 10_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 11_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 12_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 13_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 14_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 15_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 16_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 17_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 18_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 19_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 20_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 21_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 22_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 23_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 24_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 25_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
On February 26_____________________ Team ______minutes________
Verification
___________________________________________________________________________
Back to Yukon Quest Students' Homepage