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From Homelands to the Present

3-5th Grade Social Studies

Content Topics

  • Culture
  • Montana's First Peoples
  • Artifacts
  • Archeology
  • Mapping
  • Research

Duration 1.5 hours

Objective: 

Students will view a presentation on searching for artifacts outdoors. Students will participate in a mock archeological dig. Students will conclude which tribe is represented in the dig. Students will read the Narrative about tribes that called our area home from the past to the present. Students will explore and map local teepee rings, buffalo jumps etc.

Overview and Purpose:

Montana has long been home to many Indigenous groups throughout history and continues to today. Throughout history, these tribes have relied on the environment to provide food, resources, shelter, and water. As Montana developed, tribes were pushed into spaces across the state. As we look at the historical locations of tribes and how that environment shaped their culture, we can see how our region provided all that they needed. We can find evidence of teepees, spaces where buffalo were harvested, and artifacts that allow us to understand how they survived and lived on the Great Plains right in our back yard.

Guiding Questions: 

  • Where do we find historical evidence of Montana's First Peoples in our county?
  • How did the geography of our space allow tribes to thrive in the past and tie specific cultural aspects to our region?
  • How do artifacts give us insight to the historic living of tribes in our area?

Education Standards:

  • 4.7  Students will: explain the history, culture, and current status of the American Indian tribes in Montana and the United States.
  • 3.2  Students will: locate on a map or globe physical features (e.g., continents, oceans, mountain ranges, land forms) natural features (e.g., flora, fauna) and human features (e.g., cities, states, national borders) and explain their relationships within the ecosystem.
  • 3.5  Students will: use appropriate geographic resources to interpret and generate information explaining the interaction of physical and human systems (e.g., estimate distance, calculate scale, identify dominant patterns of climate and land use, compute population density).
  • SS.G.3.1 Examine maps and other representations to identify historical and contemporary political and cultural patterns in the Americas
  • 3.2  Students will: locate on a map or globe physical features (e.g., continents, oceans, mountain ranges, land forms) natural features (e.g., flora, fauna) and human features (e.g., cities, states, national borders).
  • SS.G.5.1  Identify and label US regions, territories, states and their capitals/major cities
  • 3.5  Students will: use appropriate geographic resources (e.g., atlases, databases, charts, grid systems, technology, graphs, maps) to gather information about local communities, reservations, Montana, the United States, and the world.
  • 3.1 Students will: analyze and use various representations of the Earth (e.g., physical, topographical, political maps; globes; geographic information systems; aerial photographs; satellite images) to gather and compare information about a place.
  • 4.4  Students will: identify and describe famous people, important democratic values (e.g., democracy, freedom, justice) symbols (e.g., Montana and U.S. flags, state flower) and holidays, in the history of Montana, American Indian tribes, and the United States.

Materials and Resources:

Local Resources: