Students sit on the floor listening to a Ranger Program in the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center

Education Programs

We are excited to welcome your class to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument – or to bring the monument to you! Our Interpretive Center staff proudly offer free, custom educational programs for area schools, homeschool groups, and youth organizations.

Classroom Programs

Designed for grades 2-5, these programs fit into a 50-minute ranger visit to your classroom:

  • Meet the Missouri: Paddles up! Take a virtual float trip down remote stretches of the Upper Missouri River – places normally seen only on multi‑day expeditions.
  • All About Animals: Discover the animals that call the monument home, how they survive in this environment, and the signs they leave behind.
  • Adaptational Artistry: Investigate bird adaptations – how their bodies and skulls help them thrive – and use your new knowledge to design a bird of your own.
  • Sum of the Parts: Create a fictional riverfront property along the Missouri and explore how human actions shape the natural world.

School Field Trips

Based at the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center, our field trips are two hours long and designed for grades 2-5. They can be expanded with optional activities such as a ranger‑guided hike, a scavenger hunt in the exhibit hall, or teacher‑led lessons. Groups are welcome to bring a picnic lunch.

  • We can accommodate up to 75 students per visit. Larger groups should submit multiple registration requests.
  • Please, plan to bring one adult chaperone per ten students. Chaperones serve as active facilitators during breakout activities and help ensure a positive learning experience for all.

Field Trip programs

  • Fire on the Monument: Explore how forest and grassland fires shape ecosystems in the monument and across Montana, and how fire specialists work to manage them.
  • Let’s Get Batty: Discover what makes bats unique among mammals and learn how disease threatens their populations.
  • Migration Headache: Spread your wings and examine the natural and human‑made hazards birds encounter during migration.
  • Must Cultures Collide?: Compare the lifeways of the Nez Perce Tribe and Euro‑American homesteaders and soldiers in the 1800s. Briefly investigate the causes and impacts of the Nez Perce War within the monument’s boundaries.

How to Request a Program

To request a classroom program or school field trip, please send us an email with:

  • Teacher name, email, and phone number
  • School name
  • Group size (students and adults) and student age range
  • First, second, and third choice dates and preferred start times
  • Preferred program title
  • (Field Trips Only) Transportation method(s)

Curricular Standards

Our programs support Montana State standards including, but not limited to: SS.H.3.1, 4‑LS1‑1, 4‑ESS1‑1, and SS.G.4.2.