Use these free printable worksheets to go with Houghton Mifflin’s Iditarod Dream in your 5th grade class.

In reading class, we are using Houghton Mifflin’s text book, level 5. Right now, we are in theme two – Expeditions and we are reading Iditarod Dream by Ted Wood. The worksheets we use in class are posted below.

The worksheet collection is a series of Word documents, so you can tweak it a little (or a lot) to suit your particular needs. Basically, I’ve just taken some of the questions from the teacher’s manual (and added a few little zingers of my own.)

Iditarod Dream Vocabulary – Before we actually start reading the story we always do a vocabulary activity. Usually, I do some sort of foldable booklet. This is the PPT I put together to go with the vocabulary activity.

Iditarod Dream p. 230B-230C – This worksheet includes a comparison and contrast Venn diagram where the students have to compare the Junior Iditarod to the Annual Adult Iditarod and answer a prediction question. (I did additional research on the adult Iditarod and presented to the class, as background information.)

Iditarod Dream p. 230D - This worksheet requires the students to identify if they think Dusty is a good musher or not. They must provide two examples from the story to support their conclusion.  Also, it asks the students to list descriptive words and phrases that the author uses to create a frantic mood during the sled team’s accident.

Itditarod Dream p. 230F-230G – On this worksheet,  students must identify fact from opinion and list three dog chores that Dusty must do in order to keep his dogs healthy and comfortable during the race.

Iditarod Dreams p. 230H – On this worksheet, the students must give two reasons why Dusty decides not to sleep while at Yenta Station and fill in a timeline outlining Dusty’s dog chores.

Iditarod Dream p. 230I- On this worksheet, the students must tell how they think Noah and Andy will feel about Dusty’s victory.  They must use information and details from the story to support what they think was Dusty’s most important racing decision.