by Lural Ramirez | May 24, 2018
Futuro Verde’s annual education conference, focused on Bilingual, Holistic and Sustainable education. is designed to attract educators from around the country and the globe. But, did you know that most BHS sessions are targeted for parents as well? Parents who have attended BHS in years past have raved about the learning they’ve experienced and have appreciated the perspective it gives them on their child’s educational journey.
What can parents learn from BHS this year? Conference sessions are divided into three strands: Bilingual education, Holistic education and Sustainable education. Below is a highlighted list of some sessions coming to this year’s conference:
- Global Mindsets for a Sustainable World
- Community Blue Flag Green Certification: A Case Study
- Connecting Music with Poetry
- Childhood Nutrition
- The Perfect Balance between Work and Play
- Bilingual Reading Ability from a Young Age: Benefits and Advantages
- Experiential Education- Solving Real World Problems in the Classroom
- Permaculture
- Play and Inquiry Based Learning / Reggio Emilia Approach
- Comparative Language Study: a universal tool for interculturality and multilingualism
- Assessment Through Interaction and Games
- Mindfulness as a Tool for Emotional Resiliency
As you can see, BHS offers topics for every area of interest and expertise! We encourage you to register today to attend this life-changing educational conference in our own backyard. For registration details, click on the link: https://www.futuro-verde.org/professional-development/
See you at BHS 2018!
by Angie Briceño | Apr 29, 2018
On April 23rd, we celebrated Earth Day at Futuro Verde with costumes, activities and workshops. Thanks to the collaboration of students, parents and friends, Refugio Romelia, Cabo Blanco Reserva Absoluta and ASVO achieved the first, second and third place respectively, reaching 1,000 dollars raised before the closing date of the competition, April 27th.
It is with great enthusiasm that we share with you how the beneficiary organizations will use the funds raised at Futuro Verde:
Refugio Romelia can now afford to remunerate the volunteer coordinator for the coming turtle season, starting in June and ending in January. Refugio Romelia coordinators are interns graduated in Biology or a related field of studies who have had previous experiences with turtles. They travel to Refugio Romelia as volunteers from other countries and receive $ 200 per month as a token of appreciation for their work protecting the species.
The funds raised for Cabo Blanco Reserva Absoluta will go towards repairing the public trail bridge and hosting ecological camps on site.
ASVO will use the donation to repair and finish the turtle hatchery, which is very important because it provides a safe and comfortable place where volunteers perform their duties and which serves as a patrol headquarters, both at night and during the day. They will also purchase research and environmental education materials.
The rest of the donations will go towards the Futuro Verde multipurpose sports field fund. Thanks to the initiative of our fourth grade student Margaret Holland and her companions Sofía Morales and Naomy Delgado, we will be able to sterilize and provide a better quality of life to our two school cats.
We thank all the people who supported both the students and the organizations.
by Javier Sánchez Cáceres | Mar 22, 2018
Climate change is a significant change to our Earth´s temperature caused mainly by human activities in a relatively short period of time. More specifically, the increase of 1 degree celsius or more in a period of one to two centuries is considered global warming, and even an increase as slight as 0.4 degrees celsius over a hundred years is already significant. Interestingly enough, our planet would take thousands of years to warm or cool 1 degree celsius in a natural way.
In general, climate change is caused by anthropogenic factors such as cutting trees, burning forests, waterproofing soils, emitting greenhouse gases, among others. The greenhouse effect is the term used to describe the phenomenon of gases trapped in our atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), water vapor (H2O), thus contributing to global warming. Of all the aforementioned gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) has undoubtedly been portrayed as the main villain and its importance for life as we know it is yet unknown. The reality is that if it were not for CO2, and its ability to trap heat, the temperature of the earth would not be within comfortable limits to support life. Apart from the natural presence of carbon dioxide in the carbon cycle, human activities increase the presence of this gas, mainly due to emissions from the manufacturing and agricultural industries.
Although many people deny climate change, the evidence is clear. Below are some examples of the evidence collected by the scientific community:
- The temperature has increased about 1.4 F (0.8 C) since the end of the 19th century. Approximately 1.0 F (0.6 C) of this warming occurred in the past 30 years.
- An increase in sea levels of 3 mm per year has been observed in recent decades, associated with the thermal expansion of the sea.
- A 4% melt of the Arctic ice sheet per decade.
- An increase in the intensity of atmospheric phenomena, such as hurricanes, droughts, rainfall, among others.
- Change in plant flowering and fruition times.
At Futuro Verde we contribute to the mitigation of climate change through environmental education and the implementation of specific initiatives focused on reducing our ecological footprint. Some of these initiatives are: beach and river clean-ups, reduction of solid waste, management of a collection center for recyclable materials and a composting program, among others. We encourage you to take small measures, which are the only ones that can help us fight this sad reality that we face as a species together with all other species on which we depend.
by Lural Ramirez | Mar 21, 2018
Did you know that Futuro Verde teachers actively collaborate with other educators across the country and the world? Futuro Verde prides itself on the understanding that we are not engaging in teaching and learning in a silo here in our corner of the peninsula. Our students this year come from 32 different countries or origin, our staff hail from 11 different countries and we are keenly aware that philosophies on education and theories on the very best way for students to learn varies drastically depending on the context in which you live and the educational training you have received. We open our minds and our school doors to input from other educators and educational contexts each and every day!
How does that happen, you might ask? Well, in so many different ways! For example:
- Our CAS teacher, Karol Madrigal, collaborates with the CAS teacher in Jersey, the Channel Islands, in order to unite our students with theirs in their Creativity, Activity and Service initiatives! She also guides students in service projects that directly impact both our local and global community.
- Our IB coordinator, Stuart Millar, maintains regular communication with other coordinators and IB educators across Costa Rica and the world as he strives to clarify policy, coordinate programming and seek out meaningful connections with other IB World Schools across the globe.
- Futuro Verde hosts an international education conference each year in June. BHS welcomes guest contributors to this conference from around Costa Rica and the world who come and share their expertise and knowledge related to Bilingual, Holistic and Sustainable education!
- When we have teacher changes at a given grade level or subject, we pride ourselves on our effective transitions- teachers collaborate before their departure, during the change over and after the new teacher has taken over the class. Curricular continuity is a priority at Futuro Verde!
- Do you remember former FV primary English teachers Eileen Waldschmidt and Shahnaz Sahnow, both of whom worked at Futuro Verde while on sabbatical from their teaching positions in the United States? They are no longer on site but both master teachers continue to stay meaningfully connected to the school through their support of current FV teachers, curriculum development and systems organization. Eileen, a co-founder of BHS, also continues to actively plan each year’s conference as a member of our conference leadership team.
- Lastly, several Futuro Verde teachers and administrators have established formal sharing agreements with schools, teachers and students at different schools and grade levels around the globe with pen pal programs, Skype calls and even student exchanges!
Part of the benefit of an international school is the opportunity to easily connect with other students, educators and schools around the world via our shared values and goals. We value the benefits these relationships bring and we encourage our families to support these important efforts by our students and staff!
by Angie Briceño | Mar 15, 2018
On April 23rd we will be hosting our Earth Day Charity event.
What´s this day about?
It´s about supporting an organization involved in local environmental protection and conservation, in an unusual and fun way. The challenge will be to raise money for a chosen organization both before and during the day of the event, with the participants spending the day up in a fig tree until they manage to collect $ 1,000 for their cause by reaching out to their connections through the internet and social media in order to promote the event. The participant(s) who reach the $ 1,000 goal before 2:30 pm on April 23rd, may come down from their tree. In addition, the first three participants will be able to donate the money raised to the organizations they chose to support. The rest of the funds raised will be used to invest in expanding Futuro Verde’s sports facilities. In 2017, we raised $ 6,093 and the beneficiary organizations were: Green Wave, ASOPROLAPA and Nicoya Peninsula Waterkeepers. The rest of the money was used to purchase 7 new computers for the multimedia center.
If you wish to participate, we invite you to investigate and find an organization that you would like to support next April 23rd, Earth Day. Don´t miss out on Earth Day!
by Angie Briceño | Feb 20, 2018
This school year, 2018, is loaded with fundraising and development activities.
In order to extend and improve facilities, recreational spaces and opportunities for students and the educational community alike, we promote and support different initiatives throughout the year.
First up is a casino night on Saturday, March 17th, led by Richard Grimm, a parent of our educational community.
Our Earth Day charity challenge will be back on April 20th. We encourage students, parents and community members to identify an organization they wish to support and raise funds for.
The biggest upcoming event this year will be a fundraiser at the Core Club New York, United States, in the month of May. We have been working together with Myra Magaletta, founder and president of Indelible Impact. Myra is a global marketing and business development strategist, philanthropist and global citizen. Her main objective is to help different organizations around the world fulfill their mission and vision so as to create awareness in educational and environmental matters and achieve sustainable growth worldwide. Myra has been a great help and guide throughout this process in which our goal is to improve and create new spaces and more opportunities for all the people and students of the community. We hope that with her support we can continue to grow and invest more in the future of our educational community so that our geographic location no longer constitutes a limitation and turns out to be a greater benefit to all of us.
We will finish the year with our usual Green Sustainable Solutions Fair, where students are encouraged to create and reveal different solutions for the various environmental problems we face on a daily basis. We also encourage all community parents and members to display their products at the fair.
The funds raised in each activity will be invested in the following initiatives:
– Expansion of sports facilities: multipurpose court and space for Physical Education classes during the rainy season.
– Expansion and improvement of the library and multimedia room
– Environmental Education Projects
– Solar panels in Futuro Verde
We invite you to participate and follow the news about our initiatives in 2018.
