Montana: Stories of the Land

Educator Resources

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

• Information is available online about the Hungry Horse Dam and power plant, the Yellowtail Dam, and the Libby Dam.

• Pitwatch.org provides detailed information on the Berkeley Pit.

• "Creating a New Community in the North: Mexican Americans of the Yellowstone Valley," by Laurie Mercier (in Stories from an Open Country: Essays on the Yellowstone River Valley, University of Washington Press, 1995) is the best source for more information on Mexican Americans in Montana.

• The Montana Historical Society has been busy digitizing newspapers, including for the postwar era. Titles include The Char-Koosta News, the newspaper of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, 1956-1961 and 1971-1988, and the Eyapi Oaye (1963-66), published by the Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board. Use this online resource to research tribal views on issues of the period or to find reporting on local issues from Baker to Thompson Falls.

• Mining Childhood, Growing Up in Butte, Montana, 1900-1960 Classroom Resources offers lesson plans and excerpts of the book Mining Childhood: Growing Up in Butte, Montana, 1900-1960 (Lexile Level 1120L). Published by the Montana Historical Society Press, the book provides a child’s eye view of “the Richest Hill on Earth.

• The National Archives' Teaching with Primary Documents project also includes several lessons relevant to the Cold War and the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam:

  • "Telegram from Senator Joseph McCarthy to President Harry S. Truman"
  • "The United States Enters the Korean Conflict"
  • "Photographs and Pamphlet About Nuclear Fallout"
  • "Memorandum of a Conference with President Eisenhower after Sputnik"

  • "The War in Vietnam: A Story in Photographs"

• The Daily Yonder published the article "Indian Relocation: Sending Roots under Pavement," about the Indian community in Chicago and their experience with the federal Relocation program.

Videos or DVDs

• Chapter 5, "Ethnic Migration," (20 minutes), Chapter 6, "Federal Indian Policy" (19 minutes), and Chapter 7, "Montana's Resource Driven Economy" (17 minutes), from Montana Mosaic: 20th Century People and Events. (Check your library. OPI donated a copy of this DVD to every public school in Montana. The DVD is also available as streaming video.) Find User Guides with discussion questions here.

Possible Fieldtrips: View the Map

• Berkeley Pit, Butte

• Libby Dam, Libby

• Yellowtail Dam Visitor Center, Fort Smith

Alignment to ELA Common Core Standards

Alignment to Content Standards and Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians (EU)

Tests and Answer Keys