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Social studies activity

North Dakota's Story: Sacagawea, Standing Rock & the Great Plains

Sacagawea was only 16 years old when she joined the biggest expedition in American history — and she was a brand-new mom! She gave birth to her son Jean Baptiste during the journey, then carried him on her back while guiding explorers through the Rocky Mountains. Let's build the wide, flat Great Plains where their journey began!

Hands OnAbout 25 minutesScreen-freeParent help expected

Materials and setup

How this changes by age

Pre-K (ages 3–4)

Sacagawea was only 16 years old when she joined the biggest expedition in American history — and she was a brand-new mom! She gave birth to her son Jean Baptiste during the journey, then carried him on her back while guiding explorers through the Rocky Mountains. Let's build the wide, flat Great Plains where their journey began!

Difficulty 1 of 3

Steps

  1. Spread a large piece of blue-green paper flat — that is the Great Plains, wide as far as you can see.
  2. Cut out or draw a tiny figure of Sacagawea carrying a baby on her back.
  3. Add a winding blue river (the Missouri River) across the paper.
  4. Place a small paper boat on the river for the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  5. Ask: 'Can you imagine carrying a baby all the way across the mountains? What would that be like?'

Learning objectives

  • Wonder at the fact that Sacagawea was 16 and a new mother during the expedition
  • Notice the geography of the Great Plains — flat, wide, enormous
  • Ask what it would feel like to be a guide for strangers in your homeland

Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

Sacagawea was a Shoshone woman, 16 years old and a brand-new mother, when Lewis and Clark met her at Fort Mandan in North Dakota in the winter of 1804. She had just had her baby son Jean Baptiste in February 1805 — and then, weeks later, she strapped him to her back and set off into the Rocky Mountains. She wasn't just a guide. She was also a diplomat: when Native nations saw a woman traveling with a baby alongside the expedition, they knew it was a peaceful mission. Did you know North Dakota also has the International Peace Garden on its border with Canada — a garden that has symbolized friendship between the two countries since 1932? Draw the scene at Fort Mandan!

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Draw the wide, flat Great Plains of North Dakota with the Missouri River winding across.
  2. Draw Fort Mandan — a wooden fort where Lewis and Clark spent the cold winter of 1804.
  3. Draw Sacagawea inside or near the fort, holding baby Jean Baptiste. Add Lewis and Clark nearby with their journals.
  4. Add snow and a frozen river — it was a very cold North Dakota winter!
  5. Write or dictate: 'Sacagawea was 16 years old and carried her baby on her back all the way to the Pacific Ocean.'

Learning objectives

  • Retell that Sacagawea was 16, a new mother, and served as both guide AND diplomat
  • Identify Fort Mandan as where Lewis and Clark met Sacagawea in North Dakota
  • Explain that Native peoples' knowledge and presence made the expedition possible and peaceful

Early elementary (ages 6–8)

When Lewis and Clark met Sacagawea at Fort Mandan, North Dakota in winter 1804, they couldn't have known how much they needed her. She spoke Shoshone — the language of the people who had the horses they desperately needed to cross the Rockies. She also recognized her own homeland as the expedition traveled west. And when a boat capsized and precious journals and instruments were about to be lost, she calmly rescued them while others panicked. North Dakota is also home to the world's largest working farm — Emerald Grain, over 120,000 acres! Map the expedition and analyze Sacagawea's contributions.

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Draw North Dakota and label the Missouri River, Bismarck (capital), and Fort Mandan (where Sacagawea joined the expedition).
  2. Mark the Mandan and Hidatsa villages near Fort Mandan — these were thriving trade centers long before Lewis and Clark arrived.
  3. Create a cause-and-effect chart: What problem did Lewis and Clark face? → How did Sacagawea help? Do this for at least three situations (language, horses, capsized boat).
  4. Draw two scenes side by side: the Great Plains in 1804 (tall grass, bison herds, Mandan villages) and in 1904 (wheat fields, railroad tracks, fenced farmland).
  5. Write 2–3 sentences: What changed on the Great Plains in 100 years? Who was most affected by those changes?

Learning objectives

  • Identify at least three specific contributions Sacagawea made to the expedition beyond 'being a guide'
  • Locate Fort Mandan and the Mandan/Hidatsa villages on a North Dakota map
  • Analyze cause-and-effect relationships between problems the expedition faced and Sacagawea's solutions
  • Compare the Great Plains before and after settler farming and explain who bore the cost of that change

Upper elementary (ages 8–10)

Here's a contradiction worth investigating: Sacagawea is on the US dollar coin — one of the most honored figures in American history. Yet the Shoshone and Hidatsa peoples (her nations) had their lands reduced and their children forcibly sent to boarding schools within 70 years of her extraordinary contribution to the Lewis and Clark expedition. The Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, where the Standing Rock protests occurred in 2016, is in the same North Dakota where Sacagawea guided explorers in 1805. The International Peace Garden on the North Dakota/Manitoba border has symbolized friendship since 1932 — yet the same region's history involves major broken promises with Native nations. What does it mean to honor a person while failing her people?

Difficulty 3 of 3

Steps

  1. Research Sacagawea's actual biography: she was Shoshone, separated from her family as a child, and was 16 when she joined the expedition. Find two specific moments where her contributions were decisive.
  2. Research what happened to Indigenous peoples in North Dakota after Lewis and Clark: the Fort Laramie Treaties (1851, 1868), the shrinking of reservation territories, the Dawes Act of 1887, and forced assimilation policies.
  3. Research the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation today: its size compared to the original 1868 treaty territory, its location relative to Fort Mandan.
  4. Draw a labeled map: the 1868 Great Sioux Reservation (original treaty boundary) vs. the current Standing Rock Reservation boundaries. Calculate approximately what percentage of the original land remains.
  5. Write a 4-paragraph essay: paragraph 1 describes Sacagawea and why she is honored, paragraph 2 describes what happened to her peoples' land and sovereignty within decades of her expedition, paragraph 3 examines the contradiction, paragraph 4 argues: what does genuine honoring of someone look like — versus symbolic honoring?
  6. Dilemma question: If you were a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, how would you feel about Sacagawea's image on an American coin?
  7. North Dakota leads the US in spring wheat. One acre produces about 45 bushels, and wheat recently sold for about $7/bushel (estimate). Calculate the gross revenue on a 500-acre farm. Then subtract estimated costs of $250/acre for seed, fuel, and equipment. Is farming profitable, and what would you do with the leftover money?
  8. Plains windmills pumped well water for cattle. Build a paper or cardboard pinwheel windmill with at least 4 blades and test it with a fan. Count how many spins in 10 seconds, then change the blade angle and test again. Record which angle spun fastest and explain why.

Learning objectives

  • Research Sacagawea's biography and identify specific decisive contributions to the expedition
  • Trace the reduction of Indigenous land in North Dakota from the 1868 treaty to the present reservation system
  • Analyze the contradiction between honoring an individual and failing their people
  • Construct a persuasive essay distinguishing between symbolic recognition and substantive justice

Safety and evidence note

Read the full activity before beginning. An adult should supervise tools, heat, food, outdoor work, movement, and experiments as appropriate. Completion records that the activity was done; the child’s explanation, work sample, photo, or demonstration is stronger evidence of learning than a completion check alone.

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