Access the 2021 Montana Content Standards for Social Studies (Official PDF).

Access the 2021 Montana Content Standards for Social Studies (Excel).

Access the 2021 Montana Content Standards for Social Studies (PDF).

Webinar: New Standards for 2021: Overview and Planning for Implementation (February 8, 2021)

• View Slides
• View Recording (48:14)

Model curriculum guides, professional development, and resources will be added throughout 2021.

• Montana Content Standards for Social Studies (2000)

Upcoming Opportunities:

June 16-18, 2022:  The Silk Road, Old and New: Stanford CSET: Center to Support Excellence in Teaching, Registration is now open.

 

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Check the OPI Professional Learning Opportunities Portal for courses and workshops.

Social Studies Resources

All K-12 Grade Levels:

• Aldrin Family Foundation Map Package Grant Application Aldrin Family Foundation has worked with donors to make Giant Mars and Moon Map packages available for distribution to individual schools, school districts, and informal education organizations throughout the country in areas where we believe they can do the most good, especially in under-served communities.

• Right Question Institute This is a method for teaching students to ask and develop questions--can be used in K-12 classrooms.
• TPS [Teaching with Primary Sources] Teachers Network (A place where teachers share with one another; free but registration is required. Teachers share ideas for K-12 primary source integration).
• Social Studies Central (A great aggregated list of sites by Martha Kohl's favorite social studies education blogger Glenn Wiebe--has material for K-12 but it’s not organized by grade level).
• Edsitement: The Best of the Humanities on the Web (National Endowment for the Humanities) K-12 lesson plans are searchable by grade level.
• National Geographic K-12 lesson plans are searchable by grade level.
• Indian Land Tenure Association Lessons of Our Land (K-12 lesson plans searchable by grade level. Free but requires registration).
• OPI Indian Education Social Studies Resources K-12 lesson plans are searchable by grade level.
  • Social Studies Standards (2021) Indian Education for All Connections
• Montana Historical Society Education and Events Mostly 4-12 lesson plans, although there are a few offerings suitable for K-3 as well.
• Native Knowledge 360 - Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian  K-12 lesson plans searchable by grade level.

3-12 Grade Levels:

• National Archives Educator Resources Lower elementary through high school

• History Labs  (“History Labs are research and investigative learning experiences that provide teachers with the necessary information, resources, and procedures to teach a full range of historical thinking skills by taking students through a process that is methodologically similar to that employed by historians.” The site includes a template for creating your own and History Labs made by other teachers--upper elementary through high school).

Elementary

• TeachingHistory.org National History Educational Clearinghouse

  • Elementary School

Middle School

• TeachingHistory.org National History Educational Clearinghouse

  • Middle School

• iCivics Free but requires registration--for middle and high school to teach civics.

• GeoQuest - free interactive project for MT middle and high school students.

Jr. High - High School

• For High School, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) offers free, innovative classroom products. These online learning resources form the foundation of a global civics curriculum, empowering young people with the essential knowledge, skills, and perspective to be responsible citizens, take on the challenges of global competition, and steer through partisan rhetoric and disinformation.  Review their resources that could be used in a science classroom.  For more information contact Lori Matza, lmatza@cfr.org.

  • World101: An award-winning collection of multimedia explainers for students with little or no background knowledge of international relations and foreign policy. With accessible, jargon-free language and instructor-designed teaching resources, lessons on the World101 platform are non-partisan and developed in partnership with CFR experts.
    • *We are soliciting applications for our CFR Education Ambassador 2022-2023 program. A great opportunity for middle school and high school social studies teachers.  
  • Model Diplomacy: The Model Diplomacy simulation program invites high-school students to step into the shoes of decision-makers on the National Security Council or United Nations Security Council to debate the world’s most pressing issues with dozens of full-length case studies, an expanding library of short-form scenarios covering current and historical events, and exclusive video content featuring commentary from foreign policy experts.
  • Convene the Council: Developed in partnership with iCivics, one of the nation’s leading providers of educational games, Convene the Council empowers students to understand the basics of how U.S. foreign policy gets made and the ways in which countries and international organizations can influence foreign policy priorities. Twenty gameplay scenarios reveal how foreign and domestic policy are intertwined, and how decisions made in one corner of the world can affect us all. Spanish version available. 

 

• Stanford History Education Group (material is free but you must create an account to access some of it)
  • Reading Like a Historian History Lessons (includes both US history and world history for grades 7-12)
  • Beyond the Bubble History Assessments (includes both US history and world history for grades 7-12)
  • Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum (includes both US history and world history for grades 7-12)

High School

• TeachingHistory.org National History Educational Clearinghouse

  • High School

• iCivics Free but requires registration--for middle and high school to teach civics.

• U.S. Citizenship Naturalization Test high school government.

• GeoQuest - free interactive project for MT middle and high school students.

Councils

• Montana Council for History and Civics Education

• National Council for the Social Studies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured Hub Courses

Looking for free, online professional learning? Need more renewal units?  Take a look at the Teacher Learning Hub for a wide variety of learning opportunities.

• New Standards for 2021: Overview and Planning for Implementation (3)

• Supporting Readers with Informational Text (5 hrs)

• Using Writing to Teach Critical Thinking (1hr)

• Write From the Start, K-2 Writing Strategies (6 hrs)

• Writing to Learn, 3-6 Writing Strategies (6 hrs)

• Writing Across The Disciplines in Middle School (6 hrs)

• Writing Across The Disciplines in High School (6 hrs)