Chapter 1 - Educator Resources

Note: This would be a good chapter to use for a multidisciplinary unit with science. It is also a good chapter to "make local." Roadside Geology of Montana, by David Alt and Donald Hyndman (Missoula: Mountain Press, 1986) is an excellent resource for studying the geology of your area.

Educational Trunks

Montana State Symbols from the Montana Historical Society. This footlocker provides students the opportunity to view our state's symbols and their meanings through objects and activities.
Paleontology Trunks from the Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman. These educational trunks contains real dinosaur fossils, lesson plans, resource books, videos and posters. Trunks on other topics are also available.

Takeaways

Inspired by reading specialist Tammy Elser, who was in turn inspired by SKC graduate Taylor Crawford, we've created a "Takeaway" bookmark for every chapter of Montana: Stories of the Land. Before starting a chapter, print and cut out these bookmarks and distribute them to your students. Ask them to use the Takeaway to summarize the GIST of what they learn from reading assigned sections of the chapter. Remind them that they don't have much room, so they'll need to think before they write down the most important idea they want to take away from the section. Learn a little more about the GIST strategy.

Even though we've created Takeaways for every chapter, we don't recommend you have your students complete a Takeaway for every section of every chapter they read. That would be exceedingly tedious. However, used appropriately, they can be a useful tool for encouraging reflection and teaching students how to summarize information.

Websites and Online Lesson Plans

The Montana Historical Society has created a Montana county crossword puzzle. Students can research the answers at the Montana Place Name Website. Answers are also posted under the Chapter 1 answer keys in the password protected area of this site.
US Geological Survey education site is a huge website with many lesson plans relating to geology and geography.
Plentywood Middle School teacher Denise Heppner created these town name riddles. The answer key is posted under the Chapter 1 answer keys in the password protected area of this site.
The Montana Historical Society has created a lesson plan that has students mapping a route across Montana, while collecting information about the places along their route. The lesson uses the book, Montana Place Names from Zortman to Alzada, or the free, Montana Place Name Website to learn more about the state while improving their map-reading skills.
The Montana Today: A Geographical Study Lesson Plan asks students to create maps that show population by Montana counties, and then to interpret those maps to explore how cultural and environmental characteristics influence population distribution. Adapted from a unit by the same name that was designed for grades 4-6, this lesson plan has been modified for upper grades. The worksheets included in the lesson plan are also available as Google Docs here.
Ask students to analyze and redesign the Montana state flag in this lesson, excerpted from the Montana State Symbols footlocker.
Read Montana Territory Turns 152: Five Montanas that Could Have Been, a Great Falls Tribune article that imagines (and maps) different borders for the State of Montana.