Text type: Nonfiction / Report
Word Count: 1,916
Page Count: 24

Text Summary
In 1925, a sled-dog team made a heroic trip across the frozen winter landscape of Alaska to carry much-needed medicine to the town of Nome. In order to commemorate this event, the Iditarod race from Anchorage to Nome was established. Each year men and women compete for $68,000 in prize money and the chance to take on the rugged and wild terrain of Alaska. 

About the Lesson 

Objectives

• Distinguish fact and opinion
• Past perfect tense
• Distinguish types of context clues 

Vocabulary

• ceremonial, diphtheria, grueling, incentive, insulate, mandatory, musher, serum, tundra 

Materials

• Book - The Last Great Race (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or chart paper
• Worksheets 1 and 2 

Before Reading 

Building Background

• Ask students what they know about Alaska, sled dog racing, and the Iditarod. Where have they heard about the Iditarod and sled dog racing? What do they imagine sled dog racing across most of Alaska in the dead of winter would be like?
• Ask students if they have read other books about sporting events. What kind of information did they find in those books? Were there charts of scores or winners? Did they read about the history of the event or sport? 

Previewing the Book

• Hand out copies of the book and have students look at the front and back covers. Then, have students turn to the title page and look at the picture. What do the pictures tell them about the Iditarod? Using the pictures, how do they imagine the Iditarod?
• Turn to the map on page 10. Cross-reference the map with a world or U.S. map to give students a sense of scale.
• Have students turn to the winners' time chart on page 15. Guide students on how to read and understand the chart. 

Introducing the Comprehension    Strategy: Distinguishing fact and opinion

• Model: Write the sentences, The Iditarod is the longest sled-dog race in the world. and The Iditarod is the best sled dog race in the world. on the board.
• Explain that there are two kinds of statements: facts and opinions. Facts are things we can look up and check. They don't vary depending on someone's tastes. Opinions are statements of how people feel. We can't check them independently.
• Explain that the first statement is a fact. We can check whether or not the Iditarod is the longest sled-dog race, because we can measure the distance and compare it to other distances. The distance doesn't change based on how someone feels.
• The second statement is an opinion. Provide an example of someone who would prefer a shorter, more leisurely sled-dog race. To him or her, the Iditarod would not be the world's best sled-dog race. 

Set the Purpose
Instruct students that they should pay close attention to the kinds of statements they read. After they finish, you will go over the differences between the facts and the opinions in the book 

Word-Attack Strategies
Remind students to use any or all of the following strategies when they come to unfamiliar words:

• Reread the sentence
• Look for known prefixes, suffixes and roots in the word
• Use context clues to help them understand word meanings
• Keep reading and think about what might make sense 

During Reading 

Student Reading
Allow students to read silently at their own paces. Monitor the student reading and provide prompts if it appears that a student is having difficulty. For example, if a student seems stuck on a word, suggest he or she try to sound out the word or use structural analysis skills such as knowledge of base words. Tell the student to think about whether the word he or she came up with makes sense.

After Reading 

Reflect on Reading Strategies
Discuss with students any words they had difficulty with or questions they had about the content. Ask whether they made use of the glossary and how context clues helped them work out words they didn’t know. 

Applying the Comprehension    Skill: Distinguishing fact and opinion

• Guided Practice: Have students turn to page 4 and reread the first sentence. Is it fact or opinion? Ensure that students don't stumble over opinions that they happen to agree with.
• Use think-aloud strategies to guide the students: It does seem hard to imagine someone going across Alaska in the middle of winter. But what if the person was one of the racers in the Iditarod? Would he or she find it hard to imagine? The statement changes depending on the person saying it, so it must be an opinion.
• Have students read on to the sentence beginning Yet every year… Ask students if this is fact or opinion. Can we look this up? Does the number of participants in the Last Great Race change depending on who says it?
• Independent Practice: Hand out worksheet 1. Instruct students to read the sentences very carefully and decide whether they are fact or opinion. If they are fact, students should "prove it" by writing the page number in the book where they could look it up. If it is opinion, students should "prove it" by describing someone who would not share that opinion.

Building Skills

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Past perfect tense

• At this reading level, you may not choose to use the term "past perfect tense;" students may gain more understanding from the words "helping verbs." In either case, students should know that in some past tense verbs, a helping verb, usually either a form of "have" or "to be," distinguishes simple past from "past of the past."
• Write some simple past tense statements on the board, such as He passed the test. They went swimming the day before. She gave me the homework assignment. Ask students to orally convert them into the past perfect (He had passed the test. They had gone swimming the day before. She had given me the homework assignment.)

Vocabulary: Distinguish types of context clues

• Review different types of context clues. In the first, definition, the definition of the word is provided within the sentence, often cued by the words which is, this is, called, or or with commas; compare or contrast where the word is compared to a familiar word, often cued by the words like, unlike, similar to; and finally reading around the word where it is necessary to read the whole sentence or even several sentences or paragraphs to get the meaning.
• Give students worksheet 2. Explain that it shows several bold-faced words from the text. The students are to find the words in the book. In the second column, they should name the type of context clue provided. They should then write definitions of the words (from the context) in the third column. 

Building Fluency 

Reading Independently

• Allow students to read the book independently or with partners. Partners can take turns reading in the book. 

Home Connection

• Have students take their books home. They can read them to parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Expand the Reading 

Writing
Have students write a first-person account of the race. Encourage them to use their imagination, their background knowledge, and what they learned from reading the text. They may feel free to include both facts and opinions.

Math Connection
Have students graph the winning times since 1973 in line graph and bar graph form.

Assessment 

• Review students' completed fact/opinion worksheets to evaluate how well they distinguish between the two. Ensure that students understand the difference between an independently verifiable fact and an opinion they happen to share.
• Monitor the discussion of past perfect tense to assess how well students can form past perfect verbs.
• Review completed context clues worksheets to assess both how well students can classify context clues and how well they can gain meaning from those clues.