Overview:
Nature in the Classroom uses tree ceiling murals and mindful strategies to create restorative, engaging learning environments that help students regulate emotions, recharge, and enhance focus and creativity.
Imagine a student working through a challenging task. Teacher support has been provided and problem solving strategies have been tried, but frustration is increasing. The student looks up to see trees above, a sun peeking out, and takes a deep breath. A mindful moment relaxes the student and allows a reframing opportunity. The student has not only recharged but is actively using nature, a constant, as a coping strategy. What can initially be seen as a short term fix is now a practiced strategy that resets the nervous system and opens the mind for learning.
Though we can recognize that the scenes of plush forests and natural beauty can bestow rejuvenation and calm, we often only feel able to bring nature to a school setting during special days of reading outside, recess times, or through potted plants on our window sills. Many schools and classrooms are interior spaces and don’t allow for natural light or greenery and Mr. Ernesto Rodriguez, founder of Nature in the Classroom has created a way to bring the peace of nature as a fixture in our classrooms. Fixtures can be added for schools and spaces for stillness, for classrooms lacking a “nature” location, and for schools to mimic an environment inaccessible to many students.
In 2019, Rodriguez launched the nonprofit organization, “Nature in the Classroom”, after reading the research and outcomes behind the work of Dr. Ulrich and the Attention Restoration Theory. Attention Restoration’s position is that exposure to natural environments can restore mental fatigue, by taking the directed attention typically used in a classroom to create more “soft fascination.” The natural environment allows the brain to rest. Rodriguez saw the results of nature landscapes on curtains in over 3,500 hospitals in the US, Europe, and Australia. After seeing patient successes in the hospital environment due to the added exposure to nature, Rodriguez adapted nature landscapes to ceiling tiles for teachers and children in the classroom. Square tiles have become a work of art, a blue sky above, and an inspiring way to bring tranquility to learning, daily.
At Indian Hill Elementary School we not only use our tools and resources to enrich student learning but also use our physical environments to facilitate active engagement. Our students are energetic, curious, and innovative. Their thinking is challenged and extended. As students work through the rigor of curriculum, we also incorporate strategies to foster emotional safety. When a child feels settled, and able to take a mindful moment, learning can occur. We believe all pieces are key to a child’s progress.
When we learned of the research behind nature in the classroom, we seized the opportunity to augment two of our classrooms. Students were told the exciting news that classroom sets of tree murals were being graciously donated by Nature in the Classroom, and were then shown a catalog of tree murals available for classrooms. Students voted on their favorite mural and were immediately anxious for the new ceiling additions. Conversations about the sun peeking out felt paramount in one of our classrooms as they saw this literally as another chance to brighten their day directly.
After working through logistics and installation requirements, our Facilities Director and team installed the tree ceilings over Winter Break. Our students returned to wonder and awe! Students commented that their ceilings feel like a “masterpiece” and have expressed “never wanting to leave the classroom”. The tree ceiling murals foster a tranquil and calming environment and serve as an active tool for brain health. Currently our two classrooms with tree ceilings are intervention classrooms. Like all classrooms, these are also spaces to help students regulate emotions and sustain learning. Teachers have been encouraged to intentionally incorporate Brain Breaks into their daily routine with the nature landscape above. Research shows that imagery can improve positive health, and students are taught how to utilize their surroundings. The presence of the tree murals serve as a restoration opportunity.
Emotional support and Mindfulness:
- Start each day/class session/new transition with one mindful moment:
- Grounding opportunity using senses-5 items (colors) you see
- Visualization-Imagine the sounds you might hear, feel the wind through the trees
- Calming tool-Point to the ceiling and trace a leaf/branch, find one tile to focus on, Take 3 deep breaths
- “Picnic” under the trees with a peer (lunch bunch opportunity, or as learning partners)
- Listen to sounds of the forest
Throughout the day the murals also have the ability to become the focus of the learning. They integrate and extend the existing curriculum.
Content Connection:
- Describe the setting above, use your imagination to write a story with the trees
- What animal lives in these trees
- What do these trees see happening that the humans might miss
- How would (this character) react in this environment
- Ecosystems, Weather, habitats
The tiles support diverse uses and contexts. The new ceilings do not act as “another” thing to add to a teacher’s plate but instead compliment what is already in place. They naturally allow the benefits of nature and learning to connect.
We are continuing to imagine what the direct connection to nature can bring to our students’ learning. In Becky Hemsley’s poem, “Breathe”, the reader experiences the power of nature’s gift to us; the opportunity to reset, feel settled, and breathe.
Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs,
And she stopped…and she heard what the trees said to her,
And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave,
For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe.
Nature in the Classroom has created the ambiance of a small clearing surrounded by firs, the feeling of “never wanting to leave”, and the chance for students to breathe.
