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FOREST LEAVES - March 9, 2005

Students run in annual sled race

BY CHRIS LAFORTUNE
STAFF WRITER

Seventh grade students at Roosevelt Middle School ran the school's annual sled run around the building Friday as part of their study on the Alaskan Iditarod dog sled race.

One hundred and seventy students in 24 teams competed in the sixth annual sled event, Roosevelt English teacher Dan Courtney said Friday.

The sled run started as a project in Courtney's class.

"We read 'Call of the Wild' and I asked the kids to come up with an idea for a project to do at an end," Courtney said. "We raced sleds in one class the first year."

Students raced the sleds, which they began building Feb. 28, around the building, stopping at different stations along the way to answer questions about "Call of the Wild" or the Iditarod, Courtney said. At one station, they sang a team fight song they wrote themselves.

Once the race around the school was over, students participated in two other events, a figure eight race and a backward Y to test for maneuverability.

Seventh grade student Joe Zyer said his team, White Ice, finished the Y turn in 12 seconds and the figure eight in 36.9 seconds. He did not know how long the race around the school was, though the team believed it was in third place overall when the competition ended Friday.

Zyer said he planned on taking home the team's sled following Friday's race.

"I'm going to race it around Priory Park," he said.

The project helped students to learn how to work together as a team, seventh grade student Christina Timme said.

"You have to struggle together," teammate Shannon O'Connell said. "Now we're all brothers and sisters."

Students built the sleds over a week during class time, Courtney said. The project was part of the school's interdisciplinary unit, integrating skills in math, science, social studies and English.

Chris LaFortune can be reached at clafortune@pioneerlocal.com.