IEFA-Related Links and America's Field Trip

 

IEFA Related Links

Here are a few interesting, and hopefully useful, links for you!

OPI has created an updated Powwow Guide: Your Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Pow Wows (updated 2025)

Register for "We Are All Related: Planting the Seeds of Knowledge, Growing our Montana Story," the 2026 Indian Education for All Best Practices conference, March 23 – 24, in Helena and East Helena. While most of the conference will be held at the East Helena High School, the conference will move to the new Montana Heritage Center on Monday, from 2:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m., where experts will walk participants through the Montana Homeland gallery, an exhibit that covers Montana history from the Ice Age to the modern day. 

MTHS Historian Melissa Hibbard has shared two interesting IEFA-related links and lessons: 

The Invasion of America is a time lapse map project created by Claudio Saunt. 

Lesson Plan | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center is a website that provides digitized student records, images, documents, and teaching resources. Note: I have not previewed the lesson plans for quality, but they look interesting, and the student records are fascinating! Of course, you and your students will need to analyze them carefully, using such historical thinking questions as: 

• Who wrote this?
• What is the author’s perspective?
• Why was it written?
• What was the context in which it was written? 
• What can (and what can't) these records tell us about students, their perspectives, and their experiences? 

America's Field Trip

America’s Field Trip is a nationwide contest that invites students across the country in grades 3–12 to be part of our nation’s 250th anniversary by sharing their perspectives on what America means to them — with the chance to earn an unforgettable field trip experience at some of the nation’s most iconic historic and cultural landmarks.

Students are asked to submit writing or original artwork in response to the contest’s prompt: “What does America mean to you?”

In honor of America’s 250th anniversary, America’s Field Trip is expanding with more exciting field trips, and more opportunities for students to win. A total of 250 students will be awarded a special behind-the-scenes field trip experience this summer or a cash prize.

Learn more about the criteria for submission and submit entries here.