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Schools & Education

Special Opportunities   |   Booking a Field Trip   |   How Field Trips Work   |   Teacher Materials   |   Rates & Policies

SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS

Thinking about bringing your class to the Washington State History Museum or the State Capital Museum? Below you'll find some helpful hints for planning and booking a school field trip.

Get the complete Teacher Information Packet online, including virtual tours, driving directions, maps, and other resources to prepare for the visit.

SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES

Ghosts of the Great Hall

Facilitated Field Trip Programs
Native American Heritage Month: What really happened at the First Thanksgiving? Washington State History Museum staff will support your pre-visit classroom exploration of what really happened at this event centuries ago and then welcome you and your students to participate in a celebration of Native American Heritage Month at the museum. Think about planning a field trip to the History Museum in November and letting your students enjoy Native American storytelling, art demonstrations, living history performances, and a close-up examination of artifacts. Dates now being scheduled for November 2008.

BOOKING A SCHOOL FIELD TRIP

1. Select either a tour of the Great Hall of Washington History, or a visit to the History Lab Learning Center. Both trips include access to the current temporary exhibits.
   
   Learn more about the Hall of Washington History
   Hall of Washington History Online Reservation Form
   
   Learn more about the History Lab Learning Center
   History Lab Learning Center Online Reservation Form
    
2. Pick three possible dates for your field trip (since we can't guarantee that your 1st/2nd choice will be available).
3. Call 253/798-5876 to confirm availability of dates and make your reservation, OR book dates through our online reservation forms.
   Note: School groups who are not prebooked will not receive the special admission rate.
4. Watch for your confirmation letter and field trip materials to arrive shortly after the reservation is made.

HOW FIELD TRIPS WORK

School Field Trips are booked Tuesday-Friday, usually between 9:30AM and 12:00PM. Each group is scheduled for a 2.5-3 hour block of time. Field trips may be booked for either the Hall of Washington History or the History Lab. There are separate fees for History Lab and the Hall of Washington History/temporary exhibits, since History Lab is a facilitated experience.

For all Field Trips, we require:

• A minimum group size of 10 students.
• One adult for every 5 students visiting the museum; for each 5 students, one adult will get in free.

TEACHER MATERIALS

A WSHM Field Guide will be sent to each teacher who books a school field trip to the Hall of Washington History. This guide contains background information on each exhibit area, elementary/secondary activity sheets, vocabulary, related bibliography, and suggestions for pre- and post-visit activities and projects.

ADMISSION RATES & CANCELLATION POLICY

Prebooked school field trips cost $4 per student (Hall of Washington History and temporary exhibits) OR $5 per student (History Lab). In either option, one adult chaperone will get in free for every five students. Any additional adults traveling with your group will pay the regular museum admission of $5. Cancellations may be made with 30 or more days notice. Cancellations made with 29-14 days notice incur a $50 penalty fee. Cancellations made with less than 14 days notice will be charged the full balance of the field trip.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The exhibits at the Washington State History Museum are multi-layered, interactive and self-paced. For that reason, we do not give traditional "tours" of the Hall of Washington History. Instead, your class will be met by one of our group coordinators, given a brief orientation to the museum, then escorted to the exhibit as designated in your reservation. We suggest that you break your group into "teams" of five students with 1 adult to go through the galleries. Students who visit the museum have the most positive experience when a challenge set before them, such as 1-2 activity sheets from the WSHM Field Guide. Please feel free to make copies of these pages.

BAG RULE

Please bring bags and backpacks that are no larger than 8.5" x 11". For those teachers needing to carry students' medication with them, we will have red fanny packs for you to borrow from the Security Office.

Washington State Historical Society
1911 Pacific Avenue
Tacoma, WA 98402
Toll-free 1-888-BE-THERE (1-888-238-4373)