The Montana Watercourse Trunks
There is a rental fee from Montana State University
Ground Water Flow Model; Liquid History Treasure; Stream Ecology; Pond; Enviroscope Model; Water Literature; River of Words.
Museum of the Rockies Traveling Teaching Trunks (Grades K-8)
$25/week plus shipping
Archaeology, Dinosaur, Homesteading, Paper-making, Planets, Songbird, Space Odyssey, Telescope, Traditional Native American Games.
(Grades K-8)
Over a dozen hands-on history footlockers! Footlockers contain reproduction artifacts, photographs, cassette tapes or videos, clothing, and tools related to the topic. User Guides contain: historical narratives; a bibliography; compliance with Montana Standards for Social Studies; and lessons.
Montana Natural History Center Nature Discovery Traveling Trunks
$25 for a week, $35 for two weeks, $45 for three weeks
Over 20 available trunks!
ART AND INDIAN EDUCATION
From Plains To Plateau: Artistic Traditions of Northwest Montana Tribes (Grades K-12)
free for Hockaday Museum of Art Member Schools, $25 for others
406-755-5268 or education@hockadaymuseum.org
Blackfeet and other artists from the Northern Plains share their culture through traditional, historic, and contemporary art. Items in this trunk include both one and two piece moccasins, jewelry, a Blackfeet doll, games, parfleche, CD's, photographs, art prints, posters, a touch and feel box of raw material samples, and a teacher's trunk guide.
Home on the Plains: Artistry of Montana Indian Tribes (Grades K-12)
free for Hockaday Museum of Art Member Schools, $25 for others
406-755-5268 or education@hockadaymuseum.org
The focus of this trunk is the culture and art associated with historical home life of Plains Indian Tribes. Blackfeet tipi prints, a model lodge, an envelope parfleche, games, books, art prints, paintings, and raw material samples fill this trunk. The accompanying trunk guide includes artist biographies, reference materials, and an assortment of art projects.
Traveling Medicine Show (Grades K-12)
from the Hockaday Museum of Art
406-755-5268 or education@hockadaymuseum.org
Indian Education for All, Youth Book Club Trunk, Gift of the Bitterroot and Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (Grades Elementary to Middle School)
free from Flathead Audubon Chapter
NW MT Educational Coop Office at 406-752-3302
Flathead Audubon, Flathead National Forest and the Northwest Montana Educational Cooperative teamed up to develop this trunk. Includes a class set of the book Gift of the Bitterroot, class set of study chapters from the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem Profile, a notebook of activities on ways to use the books in the classroom and reference books. Linked to Essential Understandings Regarding Montana Indians.
BIRDS
Flathead Audobon Society offers 9 different trunks (Grades PreK-12)
audoboneducator@gmail.com
www.flatheadaudobon.org
FORESTRY
From the Tree 2 You!
Women in Timber
www.womenintimber.org
406-892-4141
Collection of reference materials, suggested activities and hands-on tools for learning about forests, forest products and tree species.
Forest Stewardship Education Trunk (Grades 5-12)
free from Swan Ecosystem Center
www.swanecosystemcenter.org
$25/2 weeks or $35/3 weeks from Montana Natural History Center
This trunk guides students through a variable plot timber cruise with the use of professional foresters' tools. The cruise not only surveys the timber on a particular piece of land but also the shrubs and plants present and wildlife use on the land. Besides a teachers' guide and a set of lesson plans, the trunk includes six completely outfitted loggers' vests, reference materials, a CD-Rom called Montana Forests Forever, created by the Montana Logging Association, six stereoscopes for reading aerial photographs and a set of six plant and tree identification guides. The complete curriculum will enable students to write a management plan for the property surveyed. However, there are many components of the trunk that can be used without completing the curriculum. One of the most popular pieces is a tree's biography and another is using tree cookies to see the relationship between circumference and diameter.
WATER
Flood Awareness Education Notebook (Grades 6-9)
free from the Flathead Conservation District
Outreach and Watershed Coordinator, 406-752-4220 or fcd3@centurytel.net
Contains background information for teachers, background articles and activities for students in science, social studies, math, and art. Materials supplied include coloring sheets, local Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM maps), CD containing local flood photographs from 1964 on, data sheets, answers to math worksheets and a list of other teacher's resources.
Rolling Rivers Trailer (Grades 3-12)
free from Flathead County Conservation District
Outreach and Watershed Coordinator, 406-752-4220 or fcd3@centurytel.net
Several types of river systems can be modeled using this large sandbox, plastic houses, vegetation, and, of course, water! Through this interactive display students learn how waterways and citizens can coexist. A certified trainer will accompany the trailer's visit to your school as a guest speaker who can lead activities.
Wetland and Riparian Studies Trunk (Grades 4-8)
free from Flathead Audubon Society
audoboneducator@gmail.com
www.flatheadaudobon.org
free from Flathead County Conservation District
Outreach and Watershed Coordinator, 406-752-4220 fcd3@centurytel.net
Developed in partnership with Flathead Audubon and the Flathead Conservation District for educating on the importance of wetland and riparian areas for protecting or improving water quality from nonpoint source pollution, and their importance for wildlife and habitat. Contains a variety of hands-on activities that are correlated to National Science Education Standards for K-12. Includes a developed a unit of study, with recommended activities.
WILDERNESS
Wilderness and Land Ethic Box and Curriculum (Grades K-8)
free from Flathead National Forest, Forest Supervisor's Office 406-758-5204
Interactive resource to promote awareness and appreciation of the cultural, environmental and experimental values of our natural resources. Activities and lessons in the curriculum are tied to a collection of teaching tools including animal skulls and skins, puppets, books, video and audio tapes, maps and more. For more information and to download the curriculum visit the Wilderness website.
WILDLIFE
Amphibian and Reptile Trunk (Grades K-6)
free from Flathead National Forest, Forest Supervisor's Office 406-758-5204
Check out this trunk to discover what makes amphibians and reptiles so special. Videos, books, resource guides and a notebook full of suggested classroom activities make learning about the adaptations, conservation, and identification of Montana species fun! Trunk includes six junior size nets.
Aquatic Box, Cat Box, Elk Trunk, Furbearer Box, &Canine/Ungulate Box
free from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks
406-752-5501
Five trunks circulate locally and contain skulls, pelts, brochures, books and other materials.
Bat Box (Grades K-6)
free from Flathead National Forest, Forest Supervisor's Office 406-758-5204
Sleep all Day, Play all Night. What kids wouldn't like bats? Trunk contains bat puppets, books, posters and lots more to explore the life and history of bats.
Loon Trunk (Grades pre-K-12)
free from Montana Loon Society
Meet Lottie‖ the Loon, who plays a true loon wail, learn how to identify a loon by dressing up a student, participate in games to learn how pollution is harmful to loons through the process of bioaccumulation; examine topographic maps to determine what lakes would make a good territory for a pair of nesting loons. This box contains a wealth of fun, hands-on items including a loon egg replica, puppets, scripts, videos, posters and much more to learn about Montana Loons. A three-ring notebook is full of lesson and activity ideas that meet Montana Content and Performance Standards for science, math, social studies, art, and language arts.
Mosquito Trunk (Elementary to adult)
free from NW Montana Educational Cooperative
NW MT Educational Coop Office at 406-752-3302
Want to learn about mosquitos and how Flathead County controls the flying arthropods? Check out the mosquito trunk. The box contains informational PowerPoint slide shows, jeopardy game on PowerPoint, word search, and sample dipping cup, coloring sheets, puppets that display the different stages of the mosquito life cycle and several copies of the book, The Summer the Town Bit Back.
Ready 2 Read Goes Wild! (PreK to Elementary)
from Montana State Library (MSL) and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks
An opportunity to share language, literacy, learning, and nature with some of Montana's youngest citizens.
Sally Snag (Grade PreK to Elementary
free from Flathead National Forest, 406-758-5204
Bring a dead tree into your classroom, with Sally Snag! Sally shows kids how wildlife benefits from dead trees. Sally is easily set up with a fabric piece, tent poles, and hoola-hoops. Sally comes in a suitcase with an assortment of wildlife puppets and script. Sally can also become Sammy Snag depending on who is playing the snag.
