Year in the Life of the Mountain Men:

Like most of our on-grounds programs, this field trip includes an engaging educational lesson, hands-on biofact / artifact interaction, and time for open exploration of the museum. Read below to learn more about each of these; remember, your program can be shortened to fit your time constraints.

"Introduction to the Mountain Men" Field Trip (Optional): 60 Minutes

This program was designed as a follow up to the "Introduction to the Mountain Men" field trip. We will be diving into a game / simulation to discuss what it was like to be a mountain man during the 1830s. We will not cover any of the information in the first mountain program, like who the mountain men were, why they were trapping beavers, and how they trapped beavers.

It is highly recommended to book that program first (it's wonderful as a Virtual Field Trip), before you book this one. However, it is not required. We do request that your students have the applicable knowledge from that field trip before you book this one. Otherwise, some of the more advanced concepts of this program may not make sense. Reach out to our Curator of Education if you have any questions. 

In-School Pre-Work (Mandatory): 30 Minutes

Before your field trip with the museum, your students need to complete the "Making Your Mountain Man" activity. You can find it in the documents box below, listed as "Section 4". With this activity, your students will be able to make their own mountain man! They'll choose the nation he's from, how old he is, and what his name is. Then, they'll decide on one attribute he's really good at, either extra strong, extra tough, extra fast, extra smart, or extra friendly. Finally, they'll pick eight skills for their mountain man from a big list.

We'll use these worksheets when they go through their "Year in the Life of a Mountain Man" field trip. This activity must be completed before your field trip.

In-School Pre-Work (Optional): 30-60 Minutes

In addition to the mandatory pre-work above, the museum has also created an activity that you are more than welcome to complete before your field trip, but it is not required. In the same "Section 4" document you downloaded for the "Making Your Mountain Man" activity, you'll find the "Dressing Your Mountain Man" activity. This allows you to walk students through what their mountain men would have worn during their first year in the mountains. The men would have worn store-bought clothing when they left St. Louis, which quickly deteriorated in the mountains. During your field trip, we'll discuss the leather clothing that the mountain men would have created... but this activity allows you to teach your students about the clothes they brought with them to the mountains.

If you download the "Complete Teacher Book" from the file box below, you'll find a TON of info about mountain man clothing... so you can be perfectly prepared to discuss it with your students. The information on clothing is in the "Supplemental Information: Mountain Man Clothing" section, starting on page 73. 

Museum Education Program: 60 Minutes

Once your Virtual Field Trip starts, we will play a game / simulation to learn about what it was like to be a mountain during the 1830s! We'll look at up to twenty-two different situations (both good and bad) that happened to mountain men during this time period. These might be simple things like bison hunting and lice outbreaks, to more disastrous ones like drowning and being buried alive.

For each situation, we'll examine a real-life quote from a mountain man journal (great for discussions of primary sources) and see a ton of applicable artifacts! The mountain man they each created will determine what happens to them for each situation. If they are the unlucky mountain man that gets attacked by a grizzly, I hope they took "gun shooting" as a skill! 

All of these situations and quotes can also be found in the downloadable teacher cards in "Section 5" of the documents box. So, if you prefer, you can run this game for your students. 

In-School Post-Work (Optional): 60 Minutes

When you get back to school, the learning isn't over! In the document box, you can download "Section 6". This activity lets your students go through a rendezvous trading activity using math skills! They add up how many beavers they trapped during the game, then do math to determine how much money their skins were worth in 1830's dollars and in today's dollars. Afterwards, they have to pick out what they are going to buy from the list of goods sold at the rendezvous; they'll also see how exorbitant the prices were! 

Mountain Man Education Trunks (Optional)

In addition to this field trip, the museum has an amazing mountain man Education Trunk. This trunk is offered as a physical trunk that you can borrow from us, for free! We have also taken 360-degree scans of every item in the trunk, and offer these as a Virtual Education Trunk to any school in the world! You can find more information about these on our Education Trunk and Virtual Education Trunk pages. 

Extra Mountain Man Classroom Activities

The museum created a world-class curriculum to go along with our mountain man Education Trunk. We've already discussed how to use some of these activities, alongside this field trip. But, all of the activities are listed below. They may be inserted into your own curriculum, within your classroom. The first document (Complete Teacher Book) will walk you through all the activities, or you can download individual activities below that. A couple of these activities require the mountain man education trunk, but most can be used in your class with or without the trunk.  

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