EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH RESOURCES
Montana is blessed with a rich and vibrant history. Below are some helpful links to resources for teaching Montana history, as prepared by the Montana Historical Society, many of which are approachable for the casual learner as well:
Montana: A History of Our Home Student Book and Online Teacher's Guide
Designed to meet the needs of Montana teachers and students in grades 4-6, this accurate, inclusive, engaging, and up-to-date textbook offers a quick tour through 13,000 years of Montana history. To accompany the student textbook, Montana: A History of Our Home Teacher’s Guide offers engaging lessons on Montana history, geography, civics and government, and economics. These activity-based lessons integrate readings from the student textbook, introduce students to primary sources, and align with Montana content standards and the Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians.
Our middle school offerings are organized around the Montana: Stories of the Land textbook and the Montana: Stories of the Land Companion Website and Teacher’s Guide. The twenty-two-chapter book covers Montana geography and history from the pre-contact period to 2008. The website includes skills-based worksheets, tests, Teaching with Historical Document units, and related lesson plans organized by chapter.
Designed for grade 4 but used by K-12, these traveling trunks allow teachers to bring reproductions of clothing, tools, everyday objects, maps, photographs, documents to their classroom. User Guides with lesson plans and standards alignment accompany each footlocker, which cover twenty different topics, including Indigenous culture and history, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Montana’s state symbols, homesteading, the Progressive Era, and World War II.
Montana Mosaic: 20th Century People and Events
Twelve short videos, designed for use in 7-12 classrooms, address major topics in Montana’s twentieth-century history, from copper mining and homesteading to federal Indian policy and the 1972 Constitution.
Interdisciplinary, Primary-Source based Lesson Plans and Units
MTHS has created numerous interdisciplinary lesson plans. See the Educator Resources website to explore.