For Teachers

The Museum hosts field trips for schools, home schools, day programs, and scout groups throughout the year... and admission for these groups is FREE!

In addition to the following tours, the Museum also offers special school tours during Native American Week, which occurs around Native American Awareness Day, traditionally the fourth Friday in September. The Museum offers tours, programs, and events that highlight the Native American cultures, and supplement the school curriculum.

Field Trip Focus Areas:

Meet C.M. Russell
Montana History
Images of American Indians
Current Exhibitions
Special 5th Grade Tours

Meet C.M. Russell: This is an introductory museum experience for students that lasts between 60 and 90 minutes and is appropriate for children in 2nd through 12th grades. Typically, this Docent-led program includes in-depth looking and discussion with original Russell oils, watercolors, sculptures and letters; a visit to the artist's Log Studio; and hands-on time in the Russell's West Discovery Gallery. For younger children, we usually recommend more time in the Discovery Gallery with Docent-led group activities.

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Montana History: How can art help us understand history? In many ways, especially since the artwork has been created by people living at a particular place and time. Montana History is not the expected visual history lecture. Instead, the program leads students through the entire Museum, using the broad range of artists and collections as an information base. Docent and staff-led programs encourage students to transfer and apply information absorbed through the classroom in a different setting with different objects. Montana History encourages students to ask what history really is by understanding who is telling the story. The theme of the program focuses on what aspects of Montana's history have remained the same, and what aspects have changed by looking at images of weather, landscape, wildlife, transportation and people. The program lasts a minimum of 60 minutes, and offers a challenging complement to 4th and 7th grade Montana History Curriculum Units. It is recommended for 4th grade and higher.

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Images of American Indians: This program highlights images in the Museum's collection of American Indians, and members of Plains Indian tribes specifically. How do portraits of people shape the ways we understand them? These and other questions will form the basis of this inquiry-based discovery program. Images of American Indians is designed to focus on a small number of works while encouraging detailed examination and discussion. Specific biographical information is included about the artists, subjects, and special methods or techniques. Artists usually discussed include: Winold Reiss, J.H. Sharp, E.E. Heikka, Gary Schildt, and Kevin Red Star. This program is best suited to students in 3rd grade and higher, and lasts approximately 45 minutes.

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Current Exhibitions: We offer focused field trip programs for a variety of ages in conjunction with current exhibitions at the Museum. For more information on current exhibitions, visit the Museum Calendar or contact Kim Kapalka, Education Coordinator at (406) 727-8787 x347.

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Special 5th Grade Tours: In addition to our other field trips, the Museum offers a special program specifically geared toward 5th grade students in the Great Falls Public Schools, Home Schools, Private Schools, and Cascade County schools. The goals of the program are to introduce students to the Museum as a community resource and to Charlie Russell as a unique artist of Montana and the West, and to discover how we can learn more about history and culture through art. These field trips to the Museum last approximately 90 minutes. During the visit, students rotate to several different stations at the Museum, including Russell's Log Studio, galleries containing original Russell oils, sculpture, watercolors and letters, and the hands-on Russell's West Discovery Gallery.

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