Heroes and Animals in the Nursery: The Story of Balto
By Marisa Campbell and Celia Cruz, Nursery Teachers
We returned from winter break to a cold and snowy Miquon, and children were revisiting and reinventing the narratives of stories they had explored before break. We thought the learners would be interested in the story of Balto, a sled dog who helped during the famed 1925 sled-dog relay serum run to Nome, Alaska. The first thing the learners noticed was “Balto is almost like Baltic” the dog from Little Dog Lost. As we began The Incredible Life of Balto by Meghan McCarthy, we noticed the map of Alaska in the end pages with a line drawn for the arctic circle. The learners wanted to know more about this, and Theo suggested that we look at it on the globe. There was some debate about exactly where in the circle Santa might live, and that it must be very cold up there. Additionally, they were fascinated by the name Gunnar, which we learned means “brave.” In the story Balto is called a hero, and we wondered if the learners agreed with this idea.
Read more about the special learning that’s happening in the Miquon Nursery.
