Recently my family took a road trip through Western North Dakota. Since I was working on a cross curriculum planning aid, I decided to put it to work and make my own cross curriculum lessons.

I ended up putting together American Indian-themed, cross curriculum lessons that contain two art projects and math and reading worksheets. All together the lessons cover science, math, reading, history, and art. Each is ready to print, use, and share right now!

Why Did I Create These Lessons?

One of the great parks near ND’s capital is Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. Aside from hiking and camping, the park also has several historic structures, which include an army post from the late-nineteenth century and rebuilt earth lodges from the Mandan Indians. The entire park is beautifully serene, with great views of the Missouri River.

Approaching the earth lodges at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park

The earth lodges themselves are wonderful places to teach; some are set up to show what daily life was like, while others have displays discussing different parts of Mandan culture. They are a wonderfully immersive environment. One of our favorites was the display about the incredible role of the buffalo in Mandan life.

The trip sparked lots of questions from my little one, and it was this visit that ended up inspiring most of our cross curriculum lessons. Also, since my husband can’t go anywhere without making it a road trip, I decided to combine our efforts and use the trip to reinforce some concepts. The lessons were designed around an American Indian theme, because of the amazing historic, cultural, and wildlife parks on our trip. More importantly though, American Indians are an important part of ND’s heritage, and it’s a topic that I wanted my little one to become more familiar with.

Before we hit the road I did some brainstorming on the cross curriculum planner, which really helped me get organized. We also did two art projects: we used food to make a 3-D map of different landforms and we made a buffalo collage. We chose to do the art projects before departing to take full advantage of a full kitchen to contain the mess.

It also worked that we could reinforce the art project concepts during the trip. For example, the landforms packet comes with vocabulary cards that can be attached with a metal ring. As we drove through the various landscapes on the trip, my little one would call out the name of the landform and say, “I got that one,” as she flipped to the card. It was also wonderful that she had an art project to relate to when we saw real buffalo up close in Theodore Roosevelt National Park a few days later.

More to follow about these art projects in the next post.

Where Did We Go?

Day 1: Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site

The first day of our trip, we were up and out early. The highlight of the day was a stop at the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, a wonderfully reconstructed trading fort from the early 19th century and one of the country's first national historic sites.

Our little one’s favorite was the blacksmith, who took the time to make a metal arrowhead from scratch (the same way the traders did in the 1800’s). Another favorite was the replica buffalo clothing in the visitor center. Nothing is better than a spontaneous game of dress-up on the prairie. Between the fort, the teepees, the arrowhead, and the furs we were able to pull together examples of who the people were, what they were trading, and why it was important. Fort Union Historic Site is an important part of the frontier story, and a great place to truly experience history.

The great part about Fort Union is that, although it’s in a remote part of the state, it has several other interesting sites nearby. That day we also made stops at Fort Buford State Historic Site and the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. If you have the time, these are also great examples of historic life on the prairie.

Day 2: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

The second day of our trip we drove down to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This stop was less about the frontier life and more about the landforms and wildlife. Theodore Roosevelt NP offers the chance to see the amazing landscape of the Badlands, camp along the Missouri River, hike though painted canyons, and see lots of wildlife up close, such as buffaloes and (my personal favorite) prairie dogs. You can also visit Elkhorn Ranch, President Roosevelt’s “home ranch” from the late 1800’s. This park is another strong reason to take a trip through Western ND. One other thing, the NP website has a few good activities for kids, including bingo cards of common items in the park.