Like other citizens, U.S. Presidents attended elementary and secondary schools and then college. They went to classes; did their homework; joined clubs; participated in band, debate, and sports; worked on newspaper staffs; and ran for class office. The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum will host the National Archives traveling exhibit, "School House to White House: The Education of Presidents." Visitors journey back to the schooldays of the 20th-century presidents through photographs, archival materials, and museum objects revealing fascinating detail about the children who would one day grow up to be President of the United States. In conjunction with this exhibit, a teacher workshop will be held. Educators from four Presidential Libraries (Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, and Clinton) will share information and teaching activities for use in the classroom.

The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center is offering an innovative training program for museum professionals and early childhood educators interested in using objects to teach young children. Participants will learn how a host of museum objects—including paintings, sculptures, an African headrest, and an old-time chestnut roaster—can help children, as young as two or three, understand their world. The program, featuring hands-on exercises with museum objects, lectures, discussions, and gallery experiences, is designed to help museum educators forge more creative encounters with young museum-goers, and to introduce early childhood educators to the magic of museums. Participants will be encouraged to think expansively about using children's literature, art, and objects to create explorations of thematic topics. By tapping resources in their own communities—resources such as objects in local museums and community centers, statues, public art, bridges, buildings, and more, participants learn to bring the world of museums to young children in their communities.

The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center offers a morning seminar to examine how educators can enrich infant and toddler programs with art and objects. Very young children thrive in an environment that is rich in exposure to everyday objects, stories, and visual images. Age-appropriate books, art prints and objects can appeal to infants and toddlers and help them to understand the world around them. Participants in this seminar will learn how to develop this innate curiosity by creating an environment that supports arts-rich learning in the classroom as they nurture the growth of each child. They will learn how to choose exhibits, have successful outings, and build a classroom community that parents, teachers, and children will love.

Facing History is excited to present its first community event in Chattanooga featuring author and concert pianist Mona Golabek. Golabek is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, the host of a syndicated classical music radio show, and the author of The Children of Willesden Lane, the story of her mother's rescue from Nazi-occupied Austria on a Kindertransport and her teenage years as a refugee. Through a powerful musical and narrative performance, Ms. Golabek will relate her family history and address Facing History themes of identity, participation, courage, and resilience.

Founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund and bestselling author Marian Wright Edelman examines how to make the nation and world safe and fair for all children. She will also offer insights from her new book The Sea Is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small.

This event presents a reading and discussion with Rick Hollander, editor of Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family's Correspondence from Poland. He will recount his family's poignant experiences before and during the Holocaust as revealed through letters found after his parents' deaths.

Marjorie Agosin, recipient of the United Nations Leadership Award for Human Rights was raised in Santiago, Chile until the 1973 coup. She is the author of poetry and prose about human rights, memory, and Jewish identity. Her work exemplifies the power of language to effect change and give voice.

Sonia Nazario will discuss her book Enrique’s Journey, based on her Pulitzer Prize-winning series from the Los Angeles Times. This true story of a Honduran boy's dangerous odyssey to rejoin his mother in the U.S. has the potential to reshape our conversations about immigration.

Founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund and bestselling author Marian Wright Edelman examines how to make the nation and world safe and fair for all children. She will also offer insights from her new book The Sea is So Wide and My Boat is So Small.