SNOHOMISH — While dog mushers are sledding through Alaska’s snowy terrain, kids all over the nation will do a different kind of race.
The kids will be counting how much time they spend reading.
This past weekend marked the start of Idita-Read, a nationwide program to motivate school children to read from March 5 to April 22.
Classrooms register the number of minutes students read, with each minute representing a mile. The goal is to reach the same distance sled dogs teams have to travel from Anchorage to Nome during the Iditarod.
According to its website, there are 160 teams registered for this year’s Idita-Read. They include the classrooms at Cascade View Elementary School in Snohomish, which are participating for a second year.
On Friday, children came dressed as dog mushers, and some classes saw videos about the Iditarod. There were signs in the hallways reminding students to read any time they can.
“The purpose is to read. I don’t care if they read on the iPad, the iPhone or the Internet,” sixth grade teacher Dan Guthrie said.
Classes are planning to reserve about half an hour to read. Kindergartners will have teachers read to them.
Third grader Dane Patton, 9, aims to read more books than last year. In 2011, he read 40 books. Now, he hopes to read 60 chapter books including the Narnia and Harry Potter book series.
“It pushes kids to read,” Dane said about the Idita-Read.
Second grader Rachel Hall, 9, was planning to read Bible chapter books during this competition.
“I have to read for half an hour until the end,” Rachel said. She already has read seven Dr. Seuss’ books, but she has another favorite subject.
“I like to read a lot about dogs,” she said.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.
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