School Programs at the National Building Museum

Programs and tours run from October 1, 2009 to June 11, 2010 and are held at 10:00 am or 10:30 am and 12:30 pm Monday-Friday. Each program/tour costs $75. Click to be brought directly to a specific program/tour description or scroll through to read them all.

For more tour options for High School students and above please visit our Custom Tours section.

Looking for Bridge Basics? The Bridge Basics program is not currently being offered while the program is revamped. To bring Bridge Basics to your classroom, read more about the Museum's Bridge Basics Kit.

Patterns Here, There, and Everywhere (Grades 4-year-old preK-2)

What are patterns and how are they used to decorate and construct buildings? Why are they important?

Patterns exist everywhere in the built environment. Through pattern recognition, students organize random information into groupings that help them make sense of their everyday lives. During this program, students learn the importance of repetition, rhythm, and consistency in patterns that define the built environment. Working in teams, they identify shapes and patterns by examining the walls, floors, and ceiling of the National Building Museum. Students have fun creating their own patterns using their arms, legs, and faces, and illustrating individual booklets with a variety of materials.

This program meets content standards for math, visual arts, and music. This program comes with an Educator Resource Packet that includes pre- and post-visit lessons and information.

Before registering for the Patterns program, please be sure that any young children attending can maintain focus for the 1 1/2 hour long program. You are welcome to bring a snack to eat during the program if your Museum visit is scheduled during the students' normal snack or lunchtime.

Registration Details:
Grades preK4–2
This program is available for students ages 4 and up. It is not appropriate for 3-year-old preschool classes.
1.5 hours (10:30 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:00 pm)
Maximum class size 25 students
Minimum of 3 chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 4 classes (100 students) at a time.
Limited availability! Please note that this program fills quickly.

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Create your own city during the City by Design program.

Photo by Museum staff

City by Design (Grades K-5)

How does the layout of a city reflect the beliefs and values of the people who live there? What part does each of us play in creating a livable city?

Students are introduced to the variety of forces and people that shape communities. They identify and prioritize real problems a city faces such as traffic, pollution, and waste disposal, and explore zoning issues. While designing their own model city out of colorful supplies and recycled materials, students come to understand the complexity of issues associated with planning a modern city and learn how they can contribute to improving the quality of life in their community.

This program meets content standards for social studies, language arts, technological literacy, and visual arts. This program comes with an Educator Resource Packet that includes pre- and post-visit lessons and information.

Registration Details:
Grades K–5
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:00 pm)
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 4 classes (120 students) at a time.

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Washington: Symbol and City (Grades 3–5)

How can buildings and architectural elements be symbolic?

As the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., is both a city of residents and a national symbol. During this program students explore how some of Washington D.C.’s monuments and memorials are symbolic. Through this exploration of symbolic architecture, students learn about the history of D.C. then design their own symbolic building for the National Mall.

This program meets content standards for social studies, language arts, technological literacy, and visual arts. This program comes with a Pre-visit Lesson Kit that includes in-school lessons, information, and materials. In-school Museum Teacher classroom pre-visits are no longer being offered for this program.

Registration Details:
Grades 3-5
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule 1 class (30 students) at a time
Must be booked at least two months in advance to allow hands-on materials to be delivered to the school.

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The Lifecycle of a Building, a Street, and a City (Grades 3-6)

One Field Trip, Two Museums-A joint field trip with the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM)
How and why do buildings change and evolve to adapt to the needs of people? How do streets and cities grow?

The National Building Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) are offering a joint field trip that traces how buildings, streets, and whole cities change as the needs of people change. By investigating the historic homes of both museums, students learn about the factors that influenced the creation of each site and how the buildings have been used. Beginning at SAAM, students examine the innovative architecture of its landmark structure, the third oldest building in Washington, and trace the factors that led to its current use as a museum. Students then become historical detectives during a short walk between the two museums (weather permitting) where they investigate a stretch of Seventh Street, NW as it is today and how it was 100 years ago. At the National Building Museum, students identify some of the factors that have changed Seventh Street and imagine what the neighborhood might look like in the future. While learning about the two museum buildings and designing their own model Seventh Street for the future out of colorful supplies and recycled materials, students come to understand the complexity of issues associated with planning a building, a street, and a city.

This program meets content standards for science, social studies, language arts, technology, and art. This program does not come with an Educator Resource Packet.

Registration Details:
Grades 3-6
3 hours (45 minutes for Smithsonian American Art Museum program, 45 minutes for walking investigation between the two museums and lunch, 1 hour for National Building Museum program)
Program begins at 11:00 am at SAAM and ends at 2:00 pm at the National Building Museum.
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 2 classes (60 students) at a time.
Offered on Thursdays only during October, November, March, April, May, and June.
Must be booked at least two months in advance through the National Building Museum.

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Green by Design (Grades 4-9)

What does it mean to build “green?” How do design, technology, geography, and economics affect the homes we build—past, present, and future?

During this program students explore how buildings affect and are affected by the environment. Students learn what makes a home environmentally sustainable, or “green,” by investigating models and photographs of green homes. Working in groups, students construct model green homes for several different geographic regions.

This program meets content standards for science, social studies, language arts, technological literacy, and visual arts. This program comes with an Educator Resource Packet that includes pre- and post-visit lessons and information.

Registration Details:
Grades 4–9
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 2 classes (60 students) at a time.
 

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A school group works together to construct a geodesic dome in the Great Hall.

Photo by Museum Staff

Fuller's Fantastic Geodesic Dome (Grades 5–9)

What is a geodesic dome? Why is this structure architecturally significant?

American inventor, engineer, and architect R. Buckminster Fuller may be best remembered for developing the structurally-innovative geodesic dome, which has been called, “the strongest, most cost-effective structure ever devised.” Students learn how engineering principles are used to support different structures and how Fuller’s interlocking systems of triangles are used to construct domes that distribute stress and weight in the most economical way possible. Students work together to construct a 6.5 x 13’ geodesic dome in the Museum’s Great Hall and apply what they have learned by assembling their own, simple “geo” balls.

This program meets content standards for math, science, social studies, and technological literacy. This program comes with an Educator Resource Packet that includes pre- and post-visit lessons and information.

Registration Details:
Grades 5–9
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Minimum class size 15 students/Maximum class size 30 students
Please note: Structure might not be completed in the time allotted if there are less than 15 students.
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 2 classes (60 students) at a time.
Limited availability! Please note that this program fills quickly.

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Participants construct a model house in the Museum’s “Be a Builder” program.

Photo by Museum staff

Be a Green Builder (Grades 5–9)

What makes a building stand up? How do builders decide which materials to use during construction? How can materials contribute to a more sustainable house?

Students act as carpenters and use power screwdrivers to assemble an 8 x 11’ house from the ground up. While building, they learn about the hidden features that support buildings – foundations, wall frames, and trusses. Once the floor is completed, the walls are raised, and the roof secured, students can go inside the house and see firsthand how their hard work has paid off! A variety of building materials are presented and discussed throughout the program to introduce students to sustainable “green” building choices. They weigh the pros and cons of building materials and explore how to select a material based upon factors such as strength, durability, appearance, cost, availability, and environmentally-friendly qualities.

This program meets content standards for science, social studies, technological literacy, and visual arts. This program does not come with an Educator Resource Packet.

Registration Details:
Grades 5–9
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Minimum class size 15 students/Maximum class size 30 students
Please note: Structure might not be completed in the time allotted if there are less than 15 students.
Minimum of four chaperones required per program 
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule 1 class (30 students) per day. On a day in which the program is offered at 10:00 am it cannot also be offered at 12:30 pm, and vice versa. 
Limited availability! Please note that this program fills quickly.

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Drawing on History Tour (Grades 3-8)
Building Tour!

What can you learn by really looking at a building? How can a building tell a story?

On this tour, designed specifically for elementary and middle schools, students will learn how to gather clues about the National Building Museum’s historic building by slowing down to closely look at the building. Through guided sketching activities that reveal the hidden secrets of the building, students will investigate the structure, function, and past of the building and begin to see the built environment in new ways. Each student will take home a sketchpad with their drawings.

This program meets content standards for social studies, language arts, and visual arts. This program does not come with an Educator Resource Packet.

Registration Details:
Grades 3–8
1.5 hours (10:30 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:00 pm)
Maximum class size 25 students
Minimum of three chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 4 classes (100 students) at a time.
Please note that this tour does not include a construction activity.

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