This learning sequence is anchored in the phenomena: Salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest are declining.

Part of the job of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is to figure out why salmon populations are declining and create plans for how to help increase fish populations. Throughout this unit, students will engage with the phenomenon of Pacific salmon population decline as they explore salmonid species and discover how WDFW raises healthy fish in hatcheries.

Students will explore salmonid life cycles and discover patterns among life cycles of plants and animals who interact with salmon. Students will then learn what makes healthy habitats for salmon. They will evaluate solutions to the problems of salmon migration above and below dams and examine salmons’ role in a healthy river system. Students will embark on a virtual field trip (in person field trips also available) to a WDFW fish hatchery to learn about current practices in hatchery management and identify ways the hatchery meets the habitat needs of fish. Finally, students will be called to work as an engineering team and help develop a tool to support salmon recovery by working as conservation engineers.

Educational videos, documentaries, book club sessions, conversations, and a podcast produced by the Minidoka Pilgrimage that cover a variety of topics on the Japanese American WWII incarceration. Image of Minidoka Internment Camp by Dave Horalek, courtesy of Pixabay

The WSCSS K-8 Conference was about culturally responsive teaching in Social Studies classrooms. Listen to recorded sessions from Washington educators.

These resources are available for free online viewing.

Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction created WaKIDS resources to support kindergarten families and teachers with remote learning including the Goal Planning and Reflection Sheet, Choice Boards, and Discussion Prompts, Look Fors, and Observational Activities.  Kindergarten children are not yet able to manage their learning independently, so it will be important to establish goals together with the key adults who will help them engage in remote learning. The Goal Planning and Reflection Sheet is intended be co-created with the child, their parent/guardian and teacher during meeting times.  The other resources assist families and teachers to identify learning activities that offer opportunities for observation and assessment of skills, knowledge, and behavior.

These 5 posters celebrate influential Americans of Chinese Descent in the state of Washington! 

The Washington OER Hub is an online library of free, high-quality K–12 learning and teaching materials created by and curated for Washington educators.Watch introductory videos and download this informational handout to share with your district and colleagues.

This document provides background on how resources are submitted to Groups, reviewed, and filtered into Learning Collections on the Washington OER Hub. The criteria are designed to be adapted for any content area to evaluate lessons that may extend over a few periods or days or units that include integrated and focused lessons. The criteria are NOT designed to evaluate a single task or stand-alone activity.

Use this rubric to review lessons and units with respect to the Washington State Social Studies Learning Standards and the Washington ELA and Literacy in History/Social Studies Standards. 

Social studies is a vital component of education in Washington state. The Office of Superintend¬ent of Public Instruction (OSPI) envisions “all students prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement.” Additionally, the National Council for the Social Studies states, “The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an inter¬dependent world.”

Students who receive quality instruction in social studies are engaged in learning that promotes inquiry and thoughtful civic participation. With this in mind, we are pleased to introduce OSPI’s updated Washington State K–12 Learning Standards for Social Studies. Our hope is that you will find these standards to be rigorous, thoughtful, inquiry-driven, and organized for easy accessibility.

The K–12 Arts Learning Standards for Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts can be
downloaded from the OSPI Learning Standards and Instructional Materials webpage at https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/learning-standards-instructional-materials.
Depending on the focus of arts education in a given district or school, one or more of the five Arts Learning Standards documents can be used to guide instruction and help students develop competency in the arts.

This document covers Dance, which may include, but is not limited to, multiple forms of dance, as well as choreography, dance notation, dance history, dance anatomy, musical theater, dance production, and improvisation.

The K–12 Arts Learning Standards for Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts can be downloaded from the OSPI Learning Standards and Instructional Materials webpage at: https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/learning-standards-instructional-materials.
Depending on the focus of arts education in a given district or school, one or more of the five Arts Learning Standards documents can be used to guide instruction and help students develop competency in the arts.

This document covers Media Arts, which may include, but is not limited to photography, film, animation, audio/video arts, technology (T.V., radio, and audio projects, social media, and Internet projects), video game design, digital art and design, and visual communications.

The K–12 Arts Learning Standards for Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts can be downloaded from the OSPI Learning Standards and Instructional Materials webpage at: https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/learning-standards-instructional-materials.
Depending on the focus of arts education in a given district or school, one or more of the five Arts Learning Standards documents can be used to guide instruction and help students develop competency in the arts.

This document covers Music, which may include, but is not limited to, but is not limited to, general music, choir, band, orchestra, music theory, world and historical music, opera, and musical theater,

The K–12 Arts Learning Standards for Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts can be downloaded from the OSPI Learning Standards and Instructional Materials webpage at: https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/learning-standards-instructional-materials.
Depending on the focus of arts education in a given district or school, one or more of the five Arts Learning Standards documents can be used to guide instruction and help students develop competency in the arts.

This document covers Visual Arts, which may include, but is not limited to, drawing, painting, ceramic arts/pottery, sculpture, 2-D design, 3-D design, photography, arts printmaking, graphic arts, textiles, jewelry, and glass arts.

The goal of this inquiry is for students to gain an informed, critical perspective on the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West from 1915-1970.  By investigating the movement, including the injustice of Jim Crow in the South, and the racism migrants continued to face in the North and West, students will examine how the migration changed the social fabric of the United States.  Through taking a critical look at the documents, students should understand the extent to which this movement was “great,” and determine if the title Great Migration is fitting. Photo: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library (1168439), CC BY 4.0 

This professional development course consists of a series of workshops focused on NGSS-aligned & local phenomenon-centered curriculum, developed by IslandWood with funding from the OSPI ClimeTime Grant. It is currently structured to be delivered online and for Upper Elementary (3-5) educators. A slide deck and accompanying handouts are available to complement the course outline.