Field Trip Season Is Fast Approaching

Despite the masses of snow on the ground, we can tell by the number of phone calls we are receiving to schedule tours that field trip season is almost upon us.

Especially during legislative sessions, many schools like to come to the capital city to watch democracy in action. Sadly, because of last year's budget cuts, we are no longer providing tours of the capitol this legislative session. We are hoping that we will be able to re-institute them soon (we'll see after the legislature finalizes this year's budget.) For now all groups are on their own when arriving to the Capitol, though you may wish to get in touch with a legislator from your district to see if he or she can accommodate your group while you are at the Capitol.  

To make your job as tour leader easier, we have produced a special interactive guide for you to download. It is aimed at high school students, but adaptable for other grades. There are also self-guiding tour booklets (a great resource for teacher led tours) and a scavenger hunt  for kids led by Lewis and Clark’s intrepid Newfoundland, Seaman, that are available to pick up at the information desk on the first floor of the Capitol. We hope you and your students enjoy these resources.

Although we are not providing guided tours of the capitol, we are still offering tours at the Original Governor's Mansion and Montana's Museum, including special tours of the Mackay Gallery of Russell Art led by none other than Nancy Russell herself (as played by Mary Jane Bradbury). A full list of our museum tours is here; and here is more information about booking an Original Governor's Mansion tour. All school tours are provided free of charge.

Finally, last spring, I shared ideas for making your field trips more than a day out. They included having students create before and after concept maps to demonstrate learning, as well as specific pre- and post-field trip ideas for sites curated by the Montana Historical Society (including the capitol, the Original Governor's Mansion and the Museum). Find them here.