School Program Pre-Visit Information and Policies

Educator Resource Packets

Five of the Museum’s programs include Educator Resource Packets, which include pre-visit lessons and activities to prepare your students for their experiences at the Museum. Please review these packets before your trip.

Patterns, Here, There and Everywhere
City By Design
Fuller's Fantastic Geodesic Dome
Green by Design
Washington: Symbol and City: Coming Soon. This packet will be mailed to all schools that sign up for the program.

Teachers are eligible to receive one hard copy of an educator resource packet for each registered program. Additional hard copies of these packets are available for $10 each. If you would like to purchase additional hard copies, please email youthgroups@nbm.org or call the Museum at 202.272.2448.

Group and Chaperone Requirements

Program	Student Groups	Chaperones
	Before arriving at the Museum, divide each class (group of up to 25-30 students) into:	One adult must accompany every five children grades Pre-K-3 and every 10 children grades 4-9. In addition, each program has minimum chaperone requirements regardless of the number of students:
Be a Green Builder	4 groups	4
City By Design	4 groups	4
Drawing on History Tour	1 group	3
Green by Design	4 groups	4
The Lifecycle of a Building, a Street, and a City	4 groups	4
Patterns: Here, There and Everywhere	3 groups	3
Washington: Symbol and City	4 groups	4
Fuller’s Fantastic Geodesic Dome	1 group	4

Chaperone Involvement

NBM’s programs are hands-on and require adult encouragement and support. In order to create the most meaningful environment for everyone, we ask adults to assist children. Please prepare your chaperones accordingly. Group leaders, teachers, and chaperones may not leave their class during a program to visit the shop, exhibitions, or café. If the required number of chaperones is not present, the program may need to be altered.

Cancellation Policy

THREE WEEKS’ NOTICE REQUIRED: If you need to cancel a Museum program, send an email to youthgroups@nbm.org as soon as possible, but no later than three weeks prior to the program date. To be eligible for a refund or to reschedule a program, the Museum must receive written notification no later than three weeks prior to the program date. If a school's administration cancels a field trip less than three weeks before the scheduled trip due to a change in school policy, a letter from the principal indicating the change in policy will be required to receive a refund or to reschedule the cancelled program. If a school closes due to inclement weather or cancels field trips on short notice due to an unexpected change in the Homeland Security Threat system, the Museum will reschedule the program or provide a full refund.

PAYMENT: If payment for a program is not received three weeks’ prior to the program, the program may be cancelled.

MUSEUM CLOSURES: Occasionally, the Museum is forced to close unexpectedly or to host unanticipated events in Museum spaces. In this case, the Museum will notify you as soon as possible to reschedule the program or provide a full refund. The Museum reserves the right to cancel programs.

AVOID CANCELLATIONS: Most cancellations occur because teachers schedule programs on school holidays or because transportation to the Museum is not available. Please check your school district's calendar and your transportation restrictions before booking a trip to ensure your availability to attend a Museum program.

Late Arrival

The Museum makes every attempt to accommodate each school program; however, if a group arrives more than an hour late, the program will be cancelled. Please keep this in mind when making travel arrangements.

Location and Directions

The National Building Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, between 4th and 5th Streets. The Museum is not located on the National Mall. Wheelchair access is available through the G Street entrance. The Museum is conveniently located across the street from the Judiciary Square Metro (Red Line). Directions are available at http://www.nbm.org/plan-visit/accessibility-directions/.

Parking

The Museum is unable to provide public parking. Two-hour metered parking for cars is located on all sides of the building. Buses may park in the G Street driveway if drivers remain with their buses at all times. Nearby parking garages for cars and vans are located at the Verizon Center’s 6th Street entrance and at the corner of 7th and H Streets.

Upon Arrival

The Museum doors do not open until 10:00 am.
Have a total count of children and adults for the guard at the entrance.
Security measures may require the inspection of adult bags.
A Museum Teacher in a red shirt will greet you inside the entrance.

Lunch

There are no formal lunch facilities at the Museum; however, children may eat in the Great Hall when space is available. Please be advised that the Great Hall is frequently used for events, during which times children will have to picnic on the Museum’s west lawn or elsewhere.

Visiting the Museum Shop and Exhibitions

Unless otherwise noted, school programs do not include building or exhibition tours; however we encourage you to allow additional time to take a self-guided tour of the Museum’s historic building or visit an exhibition. One adult must accompany every five children grades Pre-K-3 and every ten children grades 4-9 into the exhibitions and we encourage you to visit in groups of 20 or less.

When visiting the Museum Shop, we encourage you to visit in groups of 10 or less, with the appropriate number of chaperones.

Special Instructions for attending the City by Design program

During your program, your students will be building a model city or model green houses. To supplement supplies provided by the Museum and to be environmentally friendly, please encourage your students to bring recyclable items from home to use as part of their buildings. Requested items include, but are not limited to: washed plastic containers; empty paper towel and toilet paper rolls; small boxes from soap, rice, or pasta; and egg cartons. Please avoid bringing milk or juice containers or containers that once held nuts.

Special Instructions for attending the Washington: Symbol and City program

This program comes with a Pre-visit Lesson Kit that includes in-school lessons, information, and materials. Please make sure to do the in-school lessons with your students before arriving at the Museum, as those experiences are essential to a successful program at the Museum.

Special Instructions for attending the Lifecycle of a Building, a Street, and a City program

The program begins at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) at 11:00 am and ends at the National Building Museum (NBM) at 2:00 pm. If your transportation is by bus, please have the bus driver drop you off at SAAM and pick you up at NBM.

SAAM is located at 8th and G Streets NW, above the Gallery Place Metro station. While SAAM opens at 11:30 am, you may enter the building at 11:00 am to meet your SAAM docent. If your docent is not yet present, explain to the security guard that you are arriving for a school tour.

Make sure each student brings their lunch with them into SAAM. Upon arrival, stow your lunches in the red bins provided at the G street entrance during their tour.

After your tour at SAAM, your group may bring your bag lunches into SAAM’s Courtyard, sitting either on the large white marble planters, at the black non-Café tables & chairs, or on the floor.

School Group chaperones are responsible for the behavior of their students at all times in the Courtyard, and for ensuring that the students do not use the brown chairs and tables that belong to the Courtyard Café. All lunch trash must be carried out of the Courtyard in containers, or disposed off in the trash receptacles provided at the Courtyard entrances (non-Café trash receptacles). Chaperones are responsible for ensuring that their students experience the water scrims in a responsible way. While students may walk through the water, there is absolutely NO running or splashing through the water allowed; shoes must remain on at all times; shoes must be completely dry before students exit the Courtyard.

At 12:30 pm, a NBM teacher will arrive to provided a guided tour through the Penn Quarter neighborhood to the National Building Museum. From 1:00-2:00 pm, students will participate in a construction activity that ties together the day's experiences.