Author Archives: rhineap

Community Visits During the Government Shutdown

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The closure of the federal government, beginning October 1st, 2025, impacted much of Washington, D.C. and SEEC was not immune to the ripple effects.  SEEC educators began preparing for the possibility of a federal government shutdown by re-evaluating how we utilized our community spaces. Taking our classes into our community on a regular basis is an integral part of our object-based and inquiry-based learning philosophy.  What do our days look like when one of the key pillars of our community, the Smithsonian museums our classes call home, is closed for an indeterminate amount of time? 

While the Smithsonian museums are a major resource and source of inspiration for our educators, SEEC teachers are also well versed in using other parts of our community to inform their lessons. At SEEC, we believe that learning can happen everywhere, not just in a classroom or a museum gallery. Educators routinely host lessons on the National Mall, utilize local businesses, and tap into creative explorations of places they’ve been before.  

From explorations of architecture to farm animals to fairytales, SEEC educators rose to the challenge of using our community spaces during a government shutdown. 

Toddlers Explore The Built Environment 

Our youngest toddler class, the Toucans, took the government shutdown as an opportunity to switch topics and begin a multi-week investigation of the built environment. These little learners, ranging from 12-18 months old, started their architecture unit exploring various building materials in their classroom.  

After looking at wood, brick, and stone, the class went on a walk to MLK Library and made a stop at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church to discuss the materials they could see and take turns touching the rougher stone of the building facade and the carved stone of the archway. The toddler teachers realized that building materials were all around them and that each city block offered a new and exciting learning opportunity for the class.  

The Toucans continued their study of buildings and architecture by visiting the construction site at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden. The students were so excited to see some of the tools and construction vehicles they had been reading about in their classroom. Through a lot of pointing and excited sounds, the teachers could tell the students were making connections between objects they were seeing on their community visits and the toy versions they had been playing with.

 Caption: Toucan Toddler class explores the stone walls of St. Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral and the carved stone of the columns.

Twos Bring the Farm to the National Mall 

Prior to the government shutdown, one of our two-year-old classes, the Penguins, began a unit on farm animals. What started as an exploration of horses soon transformed into a deep dive into life on a farm. When the federal government shut down, the Penguins took their classroom outside and enjoyed a nice long walk over to the National Park Services Stables. They compared the barns they had in their classroom to what they could see at the stables. As the shutdown progressed, they continued their investigation of farm animals by discussing pigs and cows. 

During their week on cows, the class learned where milk comes from and how milk is turned into butter. The Penguins took their learning back outside to practice ‘milking’ a cow using a plastic glove, water and a bucket. Each student had the opportunity to squeeze the makeshift udder and watch as the ‘milk’ came out and collected in the bucket below. They culminated their week on cows by creating their own butter. Using heavy cream and small, tightly sealed, containers, the Penguins were able to shake the cream until it turned into soft butter. They could see the change happening before their own eyes! This progression of farm animals to food allowed the class to transition into a lesson other foods are found on farms.  

Caption: Penguin Twos Class takes turns squeezing milk out of a plastic glove ‘udder’ during their week on cows (left). Students look at horses at the National Park Service Stables (right).

Fours Imagine Fairytale Creatures in DC 

SEEC’s four-year-old class, the Honey Bears, expressed interest in storytelling right before the government shutdown began. While they couldn’t visit the National Gallery of Art to look at Rogier van der Weyden’s Saint George and the Dragon, they could pretend to be giants towering about the city on the rooftop of MLK Library. The outdoor rooftop garden was the perfect place to use their imagination and see the world through a giant’s eyes. Four stories up, the Honey Bears read Jack and the Bean Stalk and discussed how different the city looked so high up.  

Later that same week, the Honey Bears went over to the water feature outside of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) to talk about what they need to trap a mermaid. The water feature became their mermaid lagoon and using their nets, the Honey Bears searched for mermaids and sunken treasure. These outdoor visits enabled the students to really use their imaginations and practice their dramatic play skills.  

Caption: Honey Bear Fours class prepares their net to catch a mermaid (left). Students investigate the mermaid’s treasure outside NMAI (right).

While the government shutdown, and the subsequent closure of many museums, offered challenges for SEEC educators, they were able to make the pivots they did because of the foundational understanding that our community is more than just museums. For teachers at SEEC, the classroom extends beyond the museum galleries and out into the world around us. Our classrooms can be the local library, outdoor fountain, stable, and the exterior of a church. It is less about where children learn, and more about how they learn. 

Teachers were able to seamlessly continue the learning happening in their classrooms because they are confident in their ability to teach using real life objects and experiences. While pictures and books are a vital part of early learning, SEEC believes that children learn best through exposure to tangible objects and concepts. This hands-on approach allows students to make connections for themselves and helps bridge the gap between the familiar and the unfamiliar. It is possible to explain to a toddler how cream turns into butter but allowing them to shake a jar until the butter separates from the milk offers a deeper understanding of the process. The hands-on experience moves the learning from conceptual to tangible.  

These hands-on experiences and community visits won’t disappear with the re-opening of the federal government. Classes will still take trips to MLK library, explore the architecture of the buildings around SEEC, and visit horse stables. Those kinds of visits will be in conjunction with visits to museum galleries, just like SEEC has done since our founding. We are so excited to bring our classes into all parts of our community and to continue to share how the learning extends beyond the classroom.  

Teacher Feature: Ducklings Explore Bubbles

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This teacher feature focuses on the older infant (Duckling) class’s exploration of Bubbles and the development of their classroom exhibit: HOME during the month of May. At this point of the year, students in the Duckling class were between the ages of 14-20 months old.  

Preparation:   

Why and how did you choose the visit? 

The Ducklings were showing their teachers an increased interest in helping clean the classroom throughout the day. After each meal at school, the Ducklings would ask to help with a “Task,” such as wiping down the table, carrying dirty dishes to the kitchen, and putting the laundry in the laundry room. The students were excited to help and to mimic what their teachers were doing. The Duckling educators decided to follow that interest.  

What were your topics of exploration?  

This month-long exploration was all about Bubbles. Each week focused on a different way to encounter bubbles: Laundry, Dishes, and Bathtime. The class then spent the last week of the month discussing how we can take care of the spaces and things in our home. The unit concluded with the classroom Exhibit entitled HOME to show off all their hard work.  

What were your learning objectives? (What did you want your children to take away from the lesson?)  

There were a few learning objectives for the Bubbles unit. A major focus was for the Ducklings to gain a sense of autonomy and independence in their space. Throughout the month, the students had opportunities to decide how they wanted to interact with the lesson. For example, there were spare clothes available to the students during the week on Laundry. They could then decide if they wanted to practice putting on and taking off the clothes, pretend to wash them in the model washer and dryer, or work on hanging them up on the clothesline set up in the classroom. Having these options available allowed the students to decide for themselves where their interests lay and to work on a variety of gross and fine motor skills.  

Caption: Two infants practice hanging clothes on a pretend clothesline in their classroomPicture 

Caption: Duckling infant class explores spare clothes and laundry baskets on the floor with their educator.  

Another goal was to create a positive association with cleaning as it can be a difficult part of a child’s daily routine. By allowing them to create a mess and then have them help clean it up, the teachers could show the students that cleaning up after ourselves (a skill they will continue to develop later in life) is just as engaging as the mess making.   

Implementation:   

What was most successful about your lesson?  

The most successful part of the whole month was watching the Ducklings get objects dirty and then get excited to clean them. It was a real full circle moment for the class. Over the course of the month, they would return to this cycle a number of times. First, they painted with dishes and utensils and when they were done painting, they cleaned them in soapy water. The class repeated this activity with toy cars in “mud” (brown paint) and then, again, using their full bodies. By the end it was clear to the teachers that the students understood that something gets messy and then it gets clean.  

Caption: Duckling students painted with their toys cars in “mud” (brown paint) and later washed the cars clean at a “car wash.” 

Another successful element was the cardboard washer and dryer Calla and Kevon built prior to the unit. The Ducklings quickly learned that they could move clothes from one machine to another and that the washer and dryer were only meant for clothes. It was great to see their gross and fine motor skills as well as their spatial reasoning skills in action as they moved clothes and turned the dials. 

Caption: Duckling student shows off her laundry and coordination skills by moving the clothes from the washing machine to the dryer 

How did the lesson reach your objectives to expand the topic?  

Each week the Ducklings got to focus on a different way they could clean and interact with bubbles. They would have similar experiences, such as painting and then cleaning up, but the methods would be different enough to expand their understanding of cleaning.  

The Ducklings were able to build on their prior knowledge of what it means to clean in order to understand how to clean with the new objects in front of them. For example, they were used to seeing their teachers clean the table with washcloths and liked to help rub down the table. The teachers took the class to Within These Walls at American History to discuss laundry. When presented with a washboard, typically used for cleaning clothes, they talked about how they could “rub, rub, rub” their washcloths on the board just like they would on the table. When their teacher placed a modern washboard basin in front of them, the Ducklings quickly associated that washboard with the one they had seen in the museum.  

Caption: Ducklings went to visit the laundry portion of the Within These Walls exhibit before returning to their classroom to do some washing of their own. They took their washcloths and got them clean in their soapy water buckets.  

What was successful in terms of your preparation and logistics? 

What made this lesson so successful was having everything prepared in advance. The Duckling educators knew that they wanted to spend an entire month talking about bubbles and cleaning, so they spent time thinking about how to break that down into smaller topics. This enabled the team to dive deeper into each topic but still create a cohesive lesson as the month progressed. 

The Duckling team also intentionally revisited spaces and concepts. They took more than one visit to Inside These Walls during their month-long unit. This allowed the Ducklings to become a little more familiar with the space and more comfortable engaging with the exhibit. They followed a similar thought process for their art lessons during the month. By using a similar formula for their art projects, they allowed their art making to become a routine. The children were able to know what to expect and, therefore, they spent more time exploring and engaging with their projects.   

Reflection:   

How did you document the lesson in order to reflect back on the work? 

The Duckling’s month-long exploration on Bubbles culminated in their classroom exhibit entitled HOME. The students spent so much time exploring bubbles and cleaning that it felt like the perfect topic for an exhibit and to have their adults come and see their hard work.  While not every project was displayed for the exhibit, the Duckling team chose to focus on displaying work that showed the process of getting things dirty and then getting things clean. The art around the classroom was the biproduct of that exploration.  

Caption: Ducklings students made bubble art by making bubbles with colored water and transferring the bubbles onto paper. Once dry, those art works were hung on a pretend clothesline for their classroom exhibit.   

The teachers also decided to bring back out the different cleaning stations they learned about during the month. There was a pretend bathtub, a toy kitchen, the washer and dryer, the laundry line, as well as brooms and dust pans. These stations were in place for the Ducklings to show their adults all the new gross and fine motor skills they developed over the month.  

Each station was brought out because it spoke to the interests of the children. There was a way for each child to engage, and work samples were present for each student.   

Caption: During the exhibit, one Duckling was exciting to show off her fine motor skills back at the clothesline.  

What could you have done differently to better achieve your objectives and expand the topic? 

There is always room for improvement in lesson planning, and if the Duckling team were to do this lesson over, one thing that they’d like to do is to scaffold some of their exploration out a little differently. For example, instead of putting up a clothesline, hanging clothes on it, and just letting the children explore, the team would have liked to break it down into smaller experiences first. Like just practicing pinching the clothes pins open and shut, then trying to balance clothes on a more solid clothes line, then transitioning to a string line. This slower introduction would have helped the students make their own connections.  

What was challenging regarding logistics?  

One challenge was finding the balance between experiencing getting messy and ensuring that the students are safe. Water play, and full-body paint exploration, can get slippery if the educators aren’t keeping a close eye on the situation. It can be a fine line between letting the children explore as they want to and making sure they keep their bodies safe. The Duckling team did their best to let the children explore freely by working to mitigate the mess before it happened. During water play, for example, they covered the floor with towels ahead of the play.  

What recommendations would you have for another teacher trying out this lesson? 

The biggest recommendation is to let the children experience the real thing, whenever possible. If the class is discussing how clothes get laundered when they get dirty, spend a day doing just that! Let the children get their clothes dirty, have them change, and then walk them through the steps of washing their clothes and take the time to investigate each step. The Ducklings loved being involved in the many steps of keeping themselves and their classroom clean.