Welcome to the State Chronicles

State History Bee

Helping each state celebrate its history with an unforgettable school competition

The State Chronicles team is eager to collaborate with any America250 State Commission, or directly with schools and districts, to help organize, facilitate and run a State History Bee.

How it works

Up to 500 schools can take part across the state, focusing on students in grades 4-7 who typically study state history as part of their social studies curriculum.

Each school will enter a team of 4 players, supported by a teacher and assisted by classmates. They can / should be mixed age and mixed sex.

On a certain day and at an appointed time, the teams will face off in a live online heat, consisting of a range of questions to be answered in a fixed amount of time. The top scoring teams will go through to a second online heat.

Following this second heat, the remaining 8 schools will attend a thrilling, live in-person finals day to be held at a prestigious venue in the state, where friends, family and supporters can witness the crowning of the State Bee Champions.

All questions will be based on information contained in the State Chronicles for their state, and in the online media linked to via the State Chronicles QR codes.

By framing all the questions around the State Chronicle and its QR codes, the quiz encourages children to follow their own paths of curiosity around state history through a curated, easily accessible series of narratives written as newspaper stories and a timeline.

The quiz encourages research and memory-retention and builds confidence as students realize they can be fountains of knowledge in ways that adults can only admire.

Questions will be created to be inclusive and accessible to all communities of learners and will include math, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, visualization, literacy and social studies.

There will be two categories for school entry - Elementary schools (ES) and Junior High schools (JHS). There will be a winner in each category, but the winners will face off in a grand finale to determine an overall state history champion.

The UK Pilot

In November 2022 the State Chronicles team tested out the concept with a quiz that was open to all schools across the UK. More than 80 schools took part, with the finalists battling it out at a theatre near Fleet St, London, on Wednesday November 30th.

“

An exhilarating experience from start to finish! A brilliant way to get children engaged in the world around them. Thank you for the opportunity.

”

Head Teacher, Cramlington Village Primary School

For a taste of the kind of questions, click on this

sample quiz link

All the correct answers can be found on pages 10-13 of
The Massachusetts Chronicles, which can be downloaded here.

For further information about how the State Chronicles team can organize, facilitate, and run a State History Bee for some or all of your schools, please email us at info@statechronicles.com or contact us here.