Cross Curricular Integration

Back in February, I shared Bill Moe's strategy for getting students to explore Charlie Russell's paintings. Carrie Sorenson took Bill's idea a step further and conducted an actual auction and images from the PowerPoint of the Russell images we created as part of our Teaching Montana's Charlie Russell materials.

She said: "I  used fake money, and picked 5 of his pieces from the Powerpoint, and actually ran an auction with auction numbers and everything.  They LOVED IT!  And asked me to print out the painting they purchased in color so they could take them home.  I had 4 boys negotiate a cooperation so they could go together and buy one of them." She's thinking of framing some post cards next year.

Charlie Russell's paintings are a great way to integrate art and social studies. In March, Big Fork Teacher and Teacher Leader in Montana History Cynthia Wilondek shared other ideas for integrating Montana history into other curriculums at our final online PD of the season.

Because it was Women's History Month, she suggested

• Biographical Poems (ELA)
• Having students create comic books based on Girl from the Gulches (Art/ELA) [More Girl from the Gulches lesson plans here.]
• Women in Sports (Math) [If you are in middle school, you should ABSOLUTELY do this lesson.]
• Plateau Women’s Art (Art) [Find materials by grade level on the MTHS Integrating Art and History page.]

Since I think Women's History Month is EVERY month, I'm including her plug in this post.

Cynthia also pointed attendees to OPI's website, which lists IEFA lessons by disciplines and grade levels.

She suggested that science classes could examine the environmental impact of mining, pointing to this PPT for background. (Fourth-grade teachers will want to look Part 3, Lesson 3, Mining Today, in the Montana: A History of Our Home curriculum for lessons.) 

She suggested using the digitized Montana newspapers to teach American history (why not use examples from Montana). She also spent some time on Structured Academic Controversy (an alternative to debate) that attendees found particularly valuable.  

All and all, it was a very valuable session and hopefully these links can inspire you even without listening to Cynthia's enthusiastic delivery. Want more? Check out our Interdisciplinary Lesson Plans page. 

 Apply to Become a Teacher Leader

Middle school teachers! If you love Montana history and want to share your passion with colleagues, consider applying to become a Teacher Leader in Montana History. Find out more here. Applications are due April 23.