Hello Teachers, and welcome to the new school year,
Washington State History Day, and its partner institutions are offering the following training and
enrichment opportunities FREE OF CHARGE this fall to teachers throughout Washington State. National
History Day in Washington State, a program of the Washington State Historical Society, includes
separate competitions for students, grades 6 – 8, (junior division) and 9 – 12, (senior division). Students
become historians by doing their own primary and secondary source research and interpretation to
produce papers, documentaries, exhibits, live performances or websites.
The workshops below will help you and your students as you prepare for the year ahead. This year’s
theme – Rights and Responsibilities – should also produce some exciting projects.
Common Core Classroom Project Resources: The History Day Connection – 3 CLOCK HOURS available
free of charge. For classroom teachers, librarians and curriculum administrators: Learn about this
project-focused, inquiry-based learning program that develops reading, research and analysis skills that
meet the Common Core State Language Arts Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies. Includes an
overview of the program, analysis of the specific common core skills that History Day projects develop,
hands-on analysis of research sources, and a short hands-on project related to the Theme “Rights and
Responsibilities in History.”
Handouts will include a CD containing primary sources that support 18 topics in U.S. and Washington
State History, transcripts from 293 oral history interviews with African Americans, Filipino Americans, as
well as farmers, fishers, miners, immigrants, loggers, ranchers and teachers in Washington State who
were born between 1880 and 1920, the History Day Teachers Manual, a guide for meeting Common
Core Standards through National History Day, and an overview of primary and secondary source
research skills.
This is also a great opportunity to hear from teachers and students who have participated in the
program.
Saturday, September 14 , 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Washington State Archives Puget Sound Branch in
Bellevue.
Saturday, September 21 , 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Washington State Archives Northwest Branch and
the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in Bellingham.
Saturday, October 5, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM at the Washington State Archives Digital Archives and
Archives Eastern Branch in Cheney.
Thursday, October 10, 3:00 PM to 5:00PM at the ESD 105 building in Yakima.
Saturday, October 12, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Delta High School, Richland, WA.
Saturday, October 26, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Pleasant Valley Middle School, Vancouver.
For more information about the National History Day program or to register for a workshop, (be sure to
indicate the class you want), please get in touch with Mark Vessey at 360-586-0219
or mark.vessey@wshs.wa.gov.
For those of you that would like to learn more about the History Day program from experienced
teachers and librarians, please consider the following workshop.
Saturday October 5, 9:00 AM to 12:45 PM at Suzzallo/Allen Libraries on the University of Washington
Seattle campus – National History Day Teacher Workshop. The workshop is free of charge to
participating teachers, librarians and administrators. It includes 3 CLOCK HOURS free of charge and
teaching materials. Learn how to use the History Day program to develop students’ ability to find,
process and present information and to improve their reading comprehension, writing skill and critical
thinking. This workshop is for teachers interested in asking their students to do an academically
challenging project that meets Common Core objectives as well as for teachers who are already active in
NHD and looking to enhance their program.
Registration begins at 8:30 with light refreshments. The class will be held in the Research Commons of
the Allen Library South.
If you would like to register with Theresa Mudrock as a participant in the workshop, just follow this link:
https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/mudrock/175577.
Registration closes on September 30.