2025-2026 NHD MT Elementary Teacher Training Program

 There's another great opportunity on tap from National History Day in Montana, this time for fourth and fifth grade teachers!

Thanks to funding from the Montana 250 Commission, National History Day in Montana is recruiting Montana teachers of grades 4-5 to join a cohort that will receive training in historical research & argumentation, primary source analysis, and the National History Day project model. Participating teachers are expected to have their students complete National History Day projects by the end of the 2025-26 school year. Apply here by December 1.

Requirements:

1. Complete Bi-Monthly PD Series (10 renewal units)
   • 1 hour each
   • Attend live or watch recording (2 weeks to watch the recording)
   • Successful applicants will receive recordings for sessions that have already happened.
2. Meet for 1 individual coaching session with NHD Elementary Teacher Mentor Hali Richmond, 4th Grade Teacher in Sunburst.
   • Followup coaching available on-demand. (1 renewal unit)
3. Have students complete History Day posters by the end of the 25-26 school year.
   • Posters must focus on topics in Montana history and relate to the 2026 NHD Theme, "Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.”
4. Select 2 winning posters and submit 2 winning posters to NHD MT co-coordinator, Melissa Hibbard (nationalhistorydaymt@gmail.com) by the end of the school year.
   • Winning posters will be exhibited at the 2026 Montana History Conference in Billings, Montana, where a grand prize winner will be selected.
5. Exhibit winning posters at a community institution
   • This could be your public library, community center, or local museum, etc.
6. Submit 1 elementary teaching resource for the NHD Teacher Portal.

Learn more about the Elementary Division Contest here. 

Benefits:

• $250 stipend upon completion of all requirements
• 11 renewal units
• Access to NHD Teacher Resource Portal
• Ongoing mentorship from NHD coordinators, NHD Teacher Mentors, and fellow NHD teachers.

Best of, High School Edition

 In earlier posts, I sent information about your colleagues' favorite elementary and middle school lessons. Here are your high school colleagues' answers (with notes from me in brackets) to the same prompt:

• "Describe the best Montana history or IEFA lesson or project or resource you taught this year--the one you will make time for next year no matter what" and
• "Describe a great teaching strategy that you'll be incorporating into next year's classes."

Mary Zuchowski from Frazer recommends material from the Digital Inquiry Group. [I concur! They have great lessons that engage students in historical inquiry and others that teach students how to evaluate online information. They have posters you can download for your classroom on sourcing, corroboration, and contextualization and an area of their site devoted to assessments that gauge students' ability to interpret historical evidence. And it’s free if you register.]

Sage Schuett from Yellowstone County wrote: "I liked using this OPI lesson [Comparing Use of Land by Different Groups] when introducing how different peoples settled in different regions in world history this year." She also said that she opens each class with a "daily question, sometimes a riddle, most times a recollection question from a lesson in the unit to help with recall and understanding big ideas. Students answer on the same paper for 2 weeks then turn it in. It is extra credit that makes it easy for them to get some small points across the semester that add up. And students that don’t write down the questions and answers are still part of the discussion when students share their answers!"

Vicky Nytes from Superior taught parts of the Montana Women's Legal History Lesson Plan: "I adapted the lesson and mainly focused on creating a timeline. While we didn't spend as much time on this as intended it led to great conversations and my students were quite surprised about some of the answers. It was a great review for my Dual Enrollment 11th graders."

She also recommends Silent Conversations for less talkative classes. "Students create a question or talking point on a piece of paper based on an assigned source. They pass them around the room. Students have to respond to the question/comment in front of them and add their own. This continues for a certain length of time or until everyone has responded to all comments. It allows students who don't typically like to share an opportunity to share their thoughts on the assigned materials."

Michelle Meyer from Victor provided a link to a lesson that she created as part of an "Educating for American Democracy" seminar: "Hellgate Treaty of 1855: Introduction to the Removal of the Salish from the Bitterroot Valley."

Lea Whitford, an Instructional Coach in Browning, wrote: "I enjoyed sharing the Women's History Month resources provided. It inspired me to create a similar resource specific to our area and Tribe. As I shared this out it was interesting to see how the classroom teachers added to and adjusted it even more for their classrooms." [I'm pretty sure she shared Resilience: Stories of Montana Indian Women. This booklet collects essays originally written for the Montana Women's History website. It is a useful companion to the lesson Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things. You can find all MTHS women's history lessons here.] 

Anonymous answers included: 

The PBS documentary on the late Malia Kipp [Native Ball: The Legacy of a Trailblazer] has teacher resources that helped open up discussion about contemporary indigenous issues. Will definitely show the doc again!

I highly recommend making the time for the Native Filmmaker Initiative Film Club offered by Big Sky Documentary. This is a powerful engaging resource for all students at all grade levels.

In-depth, ongoing PD for teachers grades 6-12

Want to engage your class with student-driven research projects using primary sources? Want to promote more historical thinking and critical analysis? Want to engage your students in standards-based learning?  

National History Day in Montana and the Montana 250 Commission are looking for 15 Montana teachers to join an exciting professional development cohort that will begin in April 2026 and continue through April 2027. 

Participants will attend all-expenses paid workshops in April, August and October 2026, and participate in ongoing virtual trainings. By the end of the program, they will have earned a $1,000 stipend and $500 in classroom materials, 39 renewal units, and gained access to excellent FREE professional development.

Introduction to National History Day

Bozeman, April 24-25, 2026  

• Learn the ins and outs of NHD and serve as a judge at the Montana state NHD contest.
• Participants will be reimbursed for mileage and hotel. Instructions for booking will be provided. 
• Substitute reimbursement will be provided. 
• Earn 12 renewal units.

Historical Thinking through Student-Driven Research

August 11-12, 2026, Great Falls

• Learn how to introduce your students to historical thinking, research and argumentation.
• Participants will be reimbursed for mileage and hotel.
• Earn 12 renewal units

Ongoing Virtual Support and Trainings

• Attend optional monthly (virtual) mentorship check-ins to provide updates on progress and receive support during the 2026/2027 academic year.
• Attend at least three webinars from NHD’s Revolutionary Ideals webinar series. Webinars can be joined live or watched via video.
• Earn 3 renewal units

Argumentation, Reasoning, and Evidence: Constructing a Historical Argument

October 15-16, 2026, Billings

Now that teachers have launched the National History Day research projects with their students, this workshop dives deeper into  historical argumentation, developing thesis statements, and organizing historical arguments. Teachers will also discuss the importance of revision and model best practices for effective feedback.

• Participants will be reimbursed for mileage and hotel.
• Earn 12 renewal units.

Participant Expectations

• Complete all post-program surveys to provide feedback to the program.
• Engage students in the National History Day process during the 2026/2027 academic year. Teachers may engage students through an academic course, an extracurricular activity, or an academic advisory. Students will complete projects and attend an entry-level regional contest in spring 2027.
• Respond to inquiries in a timely manner and communicate any challenges to the program staff.
• Allow the use of their name and image (photographed or videotaped) in materials (printed brochures, social media, short-form videos) and press releases shared by NHD, its affiliate programs, and/or the Montana 250 Commission.

Participant Benefits

• A stipend of $1,000. This will be payable in two installments. The first half ($500.00) will be paid after the workshop in August 2026, and the second half ($500.00) will be paid after the teacher brings students to compete in an NHD contest in spring 2027 and completes the final feedback survey. 
• A classroom supply budget of $500.00 (teachers will select the items they wish to purchase for their classroom). The request process will be coordinated in fall 2026.
• Mentorship in the form of assistance from team members from the NHD National Office and the NHD in Montana program to answer questions, review materials, and provide advice.
• Thirty-nine renewal units.

Questions? Please contact Melissa Hibbard at melissa.hibbard@mt.gov or 406-444-4741.

Apply here by January 9. 

Creating Historical Documentaries

Have you heard about National History Day--the standards-aligned academic program for grades 6-12 that engages students in research topics related to an annual theme? If you are curious about the program, you can learn more from their website, or contact NHD co-coordinator Melissa Hibbard, who will be happy to answer any questions. 

Even if you aren't having your students participate in National History Day, you might be interested in this two-hour online training, designed to teach educators how to help students create historical documentaries. 

Here's the scoop, taken mostly from the press release: 

NHD is partnering with KQED and PBS Learning Media to help educators understand and use short-form video and video editing software to assist students in creating historical documentaries and student-created video content to bring the past to life and help make sense of complex historical topics. 

To coincide with the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the release of Ken Burns' new upcoming documentary, The American Revolution, educators are invited to a training to explore how student-created history documentaries can help your students share their voice, knowledge, skills, and creativity in coordination with the PBS Learning Media Youth Challenge on the American Revolution.

What educators will do during this workshop:

• Explore ready-to-use curriculum using National History Day’s 2026 theme of Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History and the Revolutionary Era as a case study
• Practice video pre-production strategies
• Start a sample mini-documentary you can use as a model with students

What educators will leave the workshop with:

• Guidance to assist students on their National History Day documentary projects
• Modifiable curriculum and resources in English and Spanish for PBS LearningMedia’s The American Revolution Youth Media Challenge (hosted by KQED)
• No-cost access to web-based video editing tools
• A copy of the presentation deck to modify and use with students
• A PDF letter of attendance–verifying 2 hours of attendance. Submit this to Melissa and she'll get you an OPI Renewal Unit certificate. Or submit it directly to your administration. 
• Ongoing facilitator support for technical and classroom implementation questions, as needed

This workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, December 9, 2025, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Here is the link to the information page with the link to register for the workshop.

 P.S. If you teach American history, do make sure to check out the PBS Learning Media Youth Challenge on the American Revolution--whether or not you attend this training or have any interest in National History Day. It sounds really cool.

P.P.S. Check out some of the videos Montana students made last year for National History Day!  

Funds for Field Trips

 As many of you know, we are on the verge of opening the new Montana Heritage Center, with twice the exhibit space and entirely new exhibits. The museum opens to the public on December 3, we begin offering tours on January 2, and we've started scheduling field trips. 

Even better, we've started awarding travel grants to schools! Through a generous grant from Montana Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Montana Historical Society (MTHS) kicked off the first round of the History and Travel Grant to fund forty-six applicants across twenty-two counties.

These funds offset travel costs to Helena for public, private, and homeschool collectives from across the state. Funding is awarded to schools who will travel more than fifty miles (one way) to Helena and is based on a formula that includes:

• distance to Helena
• number of students
• type of transportation

The second wave of funding is open, and MTHS is currently accepting applications until Monday, January 4 at 5 PM.

Award letters, invoices and tax information will be send to teachers and business office staff by Friday, January 16. Grant awards will be sent as checks to your school business office by Friday, February 13.

If you don’t require grant funding to travel, and you would like to reserve a date to visit the Montana Capitol, Original Governor’s Mansion, Homeland and Charlie Russell Gallery, our staff can book your fieldtrip today.

To apply for the grant, or to schedule fieldtrips, please complete this form. 

If you have any questions or comments regarding the Montana History and Civics Grant, or general fieldtrips, please call Darby Bramble at 406-444-2412 or email Darby.Bramble2@mt.gov.

Free Book Kits

Chanukah Book Kit Application 2025

The Montana Jewish Project is once again giving away book kits focusing on the anchor text, Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate. The picture book is based on a 1993 episode in Billings. After members of a hate group threw a rock through a Jewish family's window during Chanukah, the community organized in opposition. Over 10,000 Billings residents displayed pictures of menorahs in their windows as an expression of solidarity with their Jewish neighbors. The event sparked a larger movement called Not in Our Town.

We included the book and a lesson plan in our hands-on history footlocker Coming to Montana: Immigrants from Around the World. (Information on ordering the footlocker can be found here.)

The Montana Jewish Project adapted our lesson plan for their book kits, which also include a copy of the picture book, a menorah, candles, gelt (chocolate coins), and dreidels (special tops that Jewish children play with at Hanukkah). And unlike the MTHS footlocker, these kits are yours to keep. They did this last year too, and the teachers who got them loved them. 

• Preview the lesson plan. 
• Hear the book read on YouTube.
• Apply to receive one of these book kits here. Applications are due by November 16.
• Learn more about the Montana Jewish Project.

P.S. Billings social studies teacher Bruce Wendt had his students work with the Western Heritage Center to create an exhibit on the twentieth anniversary of the incident. You can read about the project here. That student-created exhibit is now a traveling exhibit that your school can borrow from the WHC. Contact Bruce Wendt for more information.  

Best of, Middle School Edition

Two weeks ago, I shared elementary teachers' favorite lessons and strategies--collected during Teaching Montana History's annual year-end survey. Here are your middle school colleagues' answers to the request:

• "Describe the best Montana history or IEFA lesson or project or resource you taught this year--the one you will make time for next year no matter what" and
• "Describe a great teaching strategy that you'll be incorporating into next year's classes."

Also find notes from me in brackets.

Dylan Huisken of Bonner wrote: "Blood on the Marias Lesson by MTHS. It requires students to do research, consider the importance of perspective, identify themes, and consider narrative/audience. There is also a deeply human aspect to this lesson, it requires students sit up a little and pay close attention and acknowledging the gravity of the lesson and their duty as historians.

Dylan also shared this strategy: For many MTHS primary sources, or any primary source, I use gallery walks. This works great with the Charles Russell lesson plan where I can display his art, but also with quotes or images about a Montana topic. For example, for homesteading I can have quotes from Hattie Big Sky, pictures of Montana farms/homesteaders, natural disaster descriptions, and other primary sources about the homesteading experience. Each different source is printed on a single sheet of paper with a number. Students rotate to different stations with a partner and a clip board and analyze a question that goes with the source, or come up with questions on their own. This is a great strategy when I want to teach the abolitionist movement because there are SO many authors I want my students to read but can't cram them all in a month. I can also break up the texts/quotes with images, and this makes it easy to differentiate for students on IEPS. So if you want students to get snippets of major works, themes, or authors, this is a good strategy.

Charlie Brown of Fairfield wrote: "I love the Atlatl project. It is fun watching the kids try and throw the dart." [See our Making an Atlatl lesson.]

Jim Martin wrote that next year he'll be incorporating Socratic Seminars and that he'd like to have a Socratic Seminar debating Frank Little and the IWW's actions. 

Michelle Meyer from Victor wrote: "I have found that I am using more stop and jots to prompt thinking. These are helpful for those that want to answer questions but need a few seconds to compose their thoughts. This small step has made discussions so much more valuable and rich." 

Mary Zuchowski from Frazer teaches Christmas Menorahs:How a Town Fought Hate, [The picture book is based on a 1993 episode in Billings. After members of a hate group threw a rock through a Jewish family's window during Hanukkah, the community organized in opposition. Over 10,000 Billings residents displayed pictures of menorahs in their windows as an expression of solidarity with their Jewish neighbors. The event sparked a larger movement called Not in Our Town.] Mary got the book and lesson from the Montana Jewish Project, who will be giving books away again this year. She says: "It was a great way to go into Christmas break as well as incorporating some Montana history into all of my classes."

These teachers shared anonymously:

Hands on gold panning [Lesson 3 of our mining footlocker has instructions for doing this in your classroom]. 

I made a digital escape room that included the montanaplacenames.org site [now on the Montana History Portal] and information on all the tribes in our state. It was very in depth and took hours for students to complete in multiple chunks.

Native Knowledge 360 continues to be a fantastic resource. I love all of the online lessons because of the interactive multimodal learning design. Some of the lessons that stand out to me are "The Fish Wars" & "Why do the foods we eat matter?". These lessons state for grades 9-12; however, I have used them in my K-8 one-room classroom. As well, this is such a powerful short video from NPR that I use every year in the classroom and make sure I watch is several times a year, too: Why Treaties Matter. 

"Poems for Two Voices". I turned the worksheets into a manipulative PowerPoint and then had them record themselves reading their poems with a partner. Kids remembered it and referenced throughout the year (using vocab from the EUs!.) It was great.