Group Visit Offerings
To schedule a group visit, please call 213.830.5601 or use our online or printable (PDF) forms to make your reservation. Special arrangements can usually be made with advance notice. Normal visits last approximately 1 and 1/2 hours; this may include a tour and activity or 2-3 activities. Please plan on extra time to allow students to rotate activities if you have a group larger than 60. All tours and activities are included with the price of admission unless otherwise noted. Guided group visits must be scheduled at least 3 weeks in advance.
Common Ground: The Heart of Community
Recommended Age: 2nd - College
Program Length: 1 hour
Available
Tuesday-Friday at 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 12:30 AM
Saturday 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM
60-student maximum per time slot
The Common Ground exhibition chronicles 150 years of Japanese American history, beginning with the Issei pioneers through the World War II incarceration to the present. This hour-long tour of the National Museum’s core exhibition is led by volunteer docents, many of whom share their World War II incarceration experiences. Please let the Education staff know at the time of your reservation what your students are studying, so that docents can adjust their tour to highlight specific areas.
California History-Social Sciences content standards: 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, 3.3, 3.4, 4.4, 10.8, 11.7, 11.11, 12.10
Documentaries on the Japanese American Experience
Recommended Age: 6 - 12th grades
Program Length: 30 minutes
Available
Available Tuesday–Friday upon request
60-student maximum per time slot
Remembering Manzanar
Through the use of rare historic footage and photographs and personal recollections
of former inmates and others, Remembering Manzanar explores the experiences of more
than 10,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in a remote desert facility
during World War II.
9066 to 9/11: America’s Concentration Camps, Then… and now?
9066 to 9/11 explores the parallels between the post-September 11 treatment of Arab
(and Muslim) Americans with treatment of Japanese Americans after the start of World
War II. Revealing striking similarities, the video serves as a primer on the Japanese
American camp experience and its relevance today.
California History-Social Sciences content standards: 10.8, 11.7, 11.11, 12.10
Origami Art
Recommended Age: 1st - 12th grades
Program Length: 1/2 hour
Available
Tuesday-Saturday upon request
60-student maximum per time slot
The word origami is from the Japanese words for folding, ori, and paper, kami. While learning how to create their own works of origami art, students also learn about the origins of origami and how the art has grown into an international phenomenon. Younger students make a kori basket, representing the basket that Japanese immigrants used to carry their belongings, while older students make more complex pieces.
California Visual Arts content standards: 1.3.3, 1.5.2, 2.3.3
California History-Social Sciences content standards: 1.5, 2.1
Story Time
Recommended Age: 1st - 5th grades
Program Length: 1/2 hour
Available
Tuesday-Friday upon request
60-student maximum per time slot
During Story Time, a storyteller regales students with an illustrated and interactive story. Students in 1st - 3rd grades hear Under the Cherry Blossom Tree, a traditional Japanese folktale written by Japanese American author Allen Say. Older students in grades 3 - 5 hear A Promise Kept, a special story developed by the Japanese American National Museum about two boys during World War II and a special promise made when one boy and his family are sent to a camp in Arkansas.
California History-Social Sciences content standards: 1.1, 1.5, 2.1, 3.3, 4.4
Taiko Drumming
Recommended Age: K - 8th grades
Program Length: 1/2 hour
Available
Tuesday & Thursday upon request
60-student maximum per time slot
Japanese immigrants first brought taiko (“big drum”) to the United States, but today’s taiko combines traditional Japanese drumming with world influences to create a uniquely Japanese American art form. In this interactive performance, students learn about taiko’s basic techniques and some students will try their hands at playing the drums in a call-and-answer session. Students learn about the rhythms used in taiko and how drummers create their complex music from simple beats.
California Music content standards: K.1.1, K.1.2, K.2.3, K.3.3, K.4.2, 1.1.1, 1.3.1, 2.3.1, 2.3.3, 2.4.4, 2.5.2, 3.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.3, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, 5.3.3
California History-Social Sciences content standards: K.6, 1.5, 2.1, 3.3
Tour Reflection at the Museum's Historic Building
Recommended Age: 9th - 12th grades
Program Length: 1/2 hour
Available
Tuesday-Friday following a guided tour of <em>Common Ground</em>.
35-student maximum per time slot
Designed as a follow-up to a tour of Common Ground: The Heart of Community, this facilitated discussion in the Museum's Historic Building (formerly the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple) encourages students to draw thier own personal connections to the Japanese American experience by reflection on how prejudicial statements from the time period of World War II, as well as statements heard in their own contemporary communities, affect our democracy today.
SELF-GUIDED GROUPS
Self-guided groups are welcome, although we encourage all groups to take advantage of our guided tours. If you are planning a self-guided visit to the National Museum, reservations are requested to ensure a better experience for your group and any other guests who may be in the galleries at the same time. Some temporary exhibitions may have age restrictions, additional chaperone requirements, and/or be off-limits to self-guided groups. Self-guided school groups do not qualify for the Free Admission Grant or school group discount rates.
Due to safety concerns and occupancy limits, the National Museum can only allow 60 students per self-guided group. If you have more than 60 students, additional time will be needed to rotate students through the Museum and other activities (What other things can I do or see with my students in Little Tokyo?). National Museum staff can help with logistics at the time of your reservation.
It is especially important that self-guided groups have the appropriate number of chaperons (one per 10 students). Unaccompanied school groups can become disruptive; therefore, self-guided school groups who arrive at the National Museum without the correct number of chaperons cannot be admitted.
FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY
The National Museum offers school visit opportunities to its educational facility, the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (National Center). Visits are offered to school and educator groups by appointment only. The National Center promotes democratic principles and civic engagement by providing tools for living democratically in a diverse society. Aimed at middle and high school levels, National Center programs explore the relationship between diverstiy and democracy. Offering integrated educational activities designed to challenge conventional assumptions about democracy in the United States, focus on facilitating cricital thinking, activate youth-to-youth dialogue, and inspire participation based on three fundamental principles:
- We, the people, shape democracy;
- I, too, can shape democracy;
- Those who have struggled for freedom and equality have extended democracy’s reach for all.
Fighting for Democracy: Who is the “We” in “We, the People”?
Fighting for Democracy is an experiental exhibition that uses World War II as a case study to begin discussion about how women and minorities have expanded the meaning of “we” in “we, the people.” It features the experiences of seven real people and traces their story throughout the pre-war, war, and post-war periods as examples of the millions of Americans whose lives were affected by the war and how each sought equal rights for their families and communities.
The purpose of the exhibition is to provide an interactive tool and discussion piece for educators and their students. Reservations are required. Please contact info@ncdemocracy.org or click on the link below. Attending a free Pre-Visit Educator’s Workshop for this program is highly encouraged.
Visit the National Center Web site for more information >>
