North Dakota State Report Kit
Everything a student needs to research and write a report on North Dakota: the reading, the maps and the pages to fill in. Nothing else to look up.
- 3 reading pages: North Dakota fun facts, History, and Land and Work
- 5 maps: landmarks, cities, county, outline, and rivers and lakes
- An 8-page My State Report booklet, from fast facts to a trip plan and a license plate to design
- A pennant to cut out and hang, two map skills sheets and a 10-question reading quiz
- Answer keys for the quiz, the fast facts and the map sheets
- One print-ready PDF, 23 pages, black and white, US Letter
Teaching all 50 states? Get every kit for $39.
Look inside
Read it, map it, write it.
The reading pages and maps hold every answer the booklet asks for. About one third of the booklet is looking things up. The rest asks students to choose, plan and explain.
What is in the North Dakota kit
To read and study
- North Dakota fun facts: six short true stories, By the Numbers and Did You Know
- History: the state’s story in order, with a timeline, people to know and words to know
- Land and Work: the land and climate, what the state grows, makes and mines, and how one leads to the other
- Five maps, including a rivers, lakes and neighbors map with a letter key
To fill in and make
- My State Report booklet: cover, Fast Facts, My Map, State Symbols, My Trip, Think Like a Geographer, Design a License Plate and Dig Deeper
- A pennant with the state’s name and outline, to color, cut out and hang
- Name the Cities and Name the Rivers and Lakes sheets, each with a word bank
- A 10-question reading quiz, with answer keys for everything that has one right answer
Free: the North Dakota History reading page
One page on the history of North Dakota for grades 3 to 5, free to print in color or black and white. It is the second reading page in the kit.
The First Peoples
People have lived in North Dakota for more than 10,000 years. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara built villages of round earth lodges along the Missouri River. They grew corn, beans, squash and sunflowers. Their villages were busy trading centers. The Lakota and Dakota hunted bison on the plains. The Chippewa hunted and trapped in the northeast.
Traders and Explorers
In 1738, a French trader named La Verendrye visited the Mandan villages. Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804 nearby. Fort Union opened in 1828 near where the Yellowstone River meets the Missouri. Native hunters brought bison robes and furs there to trade for cloth, tools and guns. In 1837, smallpox killed most of the Mandan. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara later joined together in one village.
Dakota Territory and War
Congress made Dakota Territory in 1861. After a war in Minnesota in 1862, the Army chased Dakota bands west. In 1864, General Alfred Sully’s soldiers attacked a large Lakota and Dakota camp at Killdeer Mountain and drove the people out. That fall, Lakota warriors attacked a wagon train headed for the gold fields and killed several men. In treaties, the nations kept reservations and gave up other land. In 1876, George Custer led soldiers out of Fort Abraham Lincoln to fight the Lakota in Montana, and he was killed there. The Lakota leader Sitting Bull surrendered at Fort Buford in 1881. Four Native nations have their governments in North Dakota today.
Rails and Bonanza Farms
The Northern Pacific Railroad reached the Missouri River in 1873. The town there was named Bismarck. In the Red River Valley, railroad land became bonanza farms. These were wheat farms that covered thousands of acres. The Homestead Act offered 160 acres to a settler who lived on the land and farmed it for five years. Many came from Norway. Others were Germans who had lived in Russia. Trees were few, so families built houses of sod.
The 39th State
North Dakota became the 39th state on November 2, 1889. Bismarck was its capital. In 1919, the state opened its own bank. In 1922, it opened its own flour mill. Both still run today.
Hard Times and Big Projects
In the 1930s, drought and dust ruined crops, and many families left. The capitol burned in 1930. Workers finished a new one in 1934, a tall tower instead of a dome. Garrison Dam was finished across the Missouri in 1953. Its lake covered farms and towns of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, and the families moved to higher ground.
North Dakota through time
- 1738 La Verendrye visits the Mandan
- 1804 Lewis and Clark winter here
- 1828 Fort Union opens
- 1861 Dakota Territory is created
- 1873 Railroad reaches Bismarck
- 1889 North Dakota is the 39th state
- 1919 State bank opens
- 1934 New capitol is finished
- 1953 Garrison Dam is finished
People to know
- Sacagawea: Shoshone. Joined Lewis and Clark here.
- Sitting Bull: Lakota leader. Surrendered at Fort Buford.
- Theodore Roosevelt: Badlands rancher. The 26th president.
- Louis L’Amour: Western writer born in Jamestown.
- Roger Maris: Fargo ballplayer. 61 home runs in 1961.
Free North Dakota maps
Each of these maps is free to print on its own page. The kit puts them in one file with the reading pages and the booklet.