In 2021, a team of middle school and high school students spent the summer researching the rich history of Americans of Chinese descent. They compiled their research findings in a simple, easy-to-understand flashcard format with the intention of helping the public learn and recognize the achievements, contributions, and struggles of Americans of Chinese descent in the United States.

The Cultivating Washington curriculum is intended to be a go-to resource for Washington state middle school educators seeking student-centered instructional materials that make learning about the history of the Pacific Northwest more relevant and meaningful for students.In addition, it is a resource for agricultural education teachers, parents, and community members interested in helping students discover the history and development of agriculture in the state of Washington.

Drumbeats in Time is a collaborative effort between the Thorp School District and members of the Kittitas Band of the Yakama Nation. These units are designed to integrate local Native American oral history and interview skills into the social studies curriculum to help students gain understanding of the life and times of various members of the Kittitas Valley.The sixth grade unit focuses on accounts of modern life and past life in order to develop an understanding of cultural awarness in the future.

In 2023, Washington State passed legislation designating January as Americans of Chinese Descent History Month, the first-ever in the U.S. Public schools are encouraged to designate time in January for appropriate activities in commemoration of the lives, history, achievements, and contributions of Americans of Chinese descent. Students have created posters specifically intended for use in schools and classrooms. These posters serve the purpose of acknowledging and illustrating the historical timeline of Americans of Chinese descent in the United States, including highlighting significant events in that history.The posters are available in 11"x17" or in 24"x36". Districts can upload their own logo in the corners. 

This is an accompanying teacher's guide to the graphic novel "Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers. The book is a compilation of 6 Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans, veteran's oral histories. These emotional first-person accounts are visceral and graphically moving. These veterans take us on the journey into intelligence units, into the life of a medic, and into gripping and pivotal moments of the Second World War. The books are available in multiple bookstores and library systems. For more information on where to find this novel, contact education@wingluke.org. 

Students begin this unit by exploring the themes of humanity and community as they discuss  the many factors that influence the development of personal identities. They unpack together how we show versus hide different parts of ourselves, and how our identities can be both fixed and ever-changing. Then, students listen to oral histories by Vietnamese Americans in Washington to learn how displacement and resettlement have impacted them personally and shaped their outlook on helping others. Using evidence from these firsthand accounts, students answer the question: What can the experiences of displaced people teach us about community, resilience, and humanity? Throughout this unit, students work in teams to create a podcast where they reflect on their collective responsibility to stand in solidarity with displaced people.

This unit is focused on the examination of a single topic, in this case, the Native Americans of the inland Northwest and conflict that arose when other non-native people started to settle in the northwest, and to specifically address the native populations that lived in the inland northwest. The materials were created to be one coherent arc of instruction focused on one topic. The module was designed to include teaching notes that signal the kind of planning and thinking such instruction requires: close reading with complex text, and specific instructional strategies or protocols are described that support students’ reading and writing with evidence are described in enough detail to make it very clear what is required of students and how to support students in doing this rigorous work. Materials include summative assessment of content and process, central texts, key resources, and protocols that support and facilitate student learning.

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