The Benefits of Bringing Nature Into The Classroom
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF Sept 2, 2024
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: The Benefits of Bringing Nature Into The Classroom
Speaker: Ernesto Rodriguez
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday, our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Message from our President
As the 2024-2025 President of our Club, I welcome our members, friends, and guests. Thanks for joining our weekly meeting!
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
Season Ticket
Ken and Jim were fortunate in that they each had a season ticket to watch The Kansas City Royals. However, they had a friend Ed who would give his right arm for a season ticket. They could not help noticing that there was always an empty seat next to theirs.
One day, during a rain delay, Ken and Jim went to the ticket office and asked if they could buy the season ticket for their friend. The man at the window said, "Sorry men, that seat has already been sold."
Nevertheless, game after game, it was still empty. Then on Labor day, much to Ken and Jim's amazement, for the first time that season, the seat was full. Jim could not resist asking the newcomer, "Where have you been all season?"
"Don't ask," he said. "The wife bought this season ticket back in March, and gave it to me yesterday for a surprise Birthday present."
INSPIRATION
Occasionally in this space we look to inspire you by sharing the beauty of some spot on the planet. This week, it's an island in Greece, and the video is an entry into a contest related to drones. Enjoy!
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
How It's Made
Wool -- From the sheep's sweater to yours!
Club News For Members
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PROGRAM: The Benefits of Bringing Nature Into The Classroom
SPEAKER: Ernesto Rodriguez
We bring you a new program every week on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education and how they contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own and, unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub or Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
Imagine walking into a classroom and…you are under a tree. Branches, leaves and the sun bursting through, the feeling of being outside. Forty plus years of empirical science developed at the University of Michigan teaches us, viewing trees or images of trees calms us and helps us focus.
Nature In The Classroom is a nonprofit bringing this science to life by installing ceiling murals of trees in classrooms. Tree ceilings are installed in fourteen school districts in California, Colorado, Utah, and Pennsylvania, serving 8,000 students. The feedback from teachers and students is consistent with the scientific findings. Teachers express that students are more focused, happier and the trees create a greater sense of community in the classroom. Students are saying the trees are calming, make them feel creative and want to help the environment.
Our speaker this week, Ernesto Rodriguez. Ernesto provided psychological services for US State Department Schools in Colombia and Saudi Arabia. He founded ER Photo in 1988, commercial and fine art photography, and his work is in the Curator’s Collection at MoMA NY and on exhibit in the Smithsonian.
In 2002 Ernesto founded Sereneview®, to bring the science of viewing calming nature landscapes to the hospital patient bedside. Sereneview® curtains are installed in over 3,500 hospitals in the US, Europe and Australia. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Nature In The Classroom®, a 501(c)(3) to bring the science and benefits of nature views to education settings.
Members and guests, please welcome Ernesto Rodriguez!
To learn more, go to:
The link below offers articles, podcasts, and media:
Our Three Podcast Series
Our main program speakers are available as podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week, they are available on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
Or you can click below for this week’s speaker:
The Weekly Rotarian
Inspiring Solutions
And our original podcast, featuring some of the best of our previous speakers, is still available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Development Success Stories
Our third podcast features success stories about economic development from around the world. It is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or you can click below.
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeup.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.
For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
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