by Jose Arturo Calvo Gonzalez | May 24, 2018
From May 8-11, Futuro Verde witnessed a true display of artistic expression. Students from almost every grade stepped forth and brought their talents to the stage during the audition process, leaving the jury panel in awe and wonder. Who needs American Idol?
This year we had participants showcase their many abilities in musical performances, plays, and energy-packed-choreographies. We are looking forward to the main event, which will be taking place on Friday, June 15 where the student community and guest jurors will be excited to enjoy, comment, and choose the best performances.
There will be a dress rehearsal on Wednesday, June 6 in order to tune up any fine details before the big day. If you have any questions, please contact any of the FVGT committee members for more details. Remember the key to a successful performance is PRACTICE. Practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes consistent.
Also, please do not hesitate to schedule a hearing before the dress rehearsal with the committee member most adequate to assist in the process (for Music: Arturo; for Visual Arts: Khalida; Literary Arts/Drama: Izaura).
All the best to all participants. Happy practicing!
by Stuart Millar, IB coordinator | Apr 27, 2018
“I didn’t like it … I LOVED it!” is something you often hear Simon Cowell say on Britain’s Got Talent. It was the same for us with our first FVGT last year! Magicians, singers, dancers, and even juggling teachers. We had it all!
Now get ready for a whole week of talent. Literary and visual art entries will be on display during the week, with the culminating event being Futuro Verde’s Got Talent on Friday 15/6/18. Students will be able to enter Costa Rica’s student arts festival, assuming they meet all the event requirements.
Here are the important dates and information:
- May 3rd: last day to register for auditions
- May 8th – 11th: FV’s Got Talent auditions
- May 14th: registration for FEA
- June 1st: last day to submit Visual and Literary Arts
- June 11th -15th: talent week (Visual and Literary Arts exhibition)
- June 15th: Futuro Verde’s Got Talent!
The show will have the following categories:
- Preschool to 2nd grade
- 3rd grade to 6th grade
- 7th grade to 11th grade
Inspire and motivate your children to get involved. It’s going to be great fun!
by Stuart Millar, IB coordinator | Jan 20, 2018
The start of every school year brings some new things to get excited about, and this year is no different!
Middle and high school students in grades 7-10 will be offered greater choice than ever before in the areas of physical education, the arts, and a third language.
Just some of the highlights include:
- Visual arts and music electives will be offered on a semester basis. This will allow students more hours per week to focus on the visual arts or music course they are taking. As they move up the grades, students will be able to select visual art or music courses that interest them, depending on availability and space.
- All 7th-grade students will embark on a Classical Languages course with Don Byrne, while students in 8th and 9th grades will be given the option of studying Classical Languages with Oscar Leal Méndez or French with Eugenia Allen. It is worth noting that French is for students who are new to or have little experience with the language. It is not designed for those who are already advanced or native speakers.
- Athletic director Alejandro Ramírez, with the support of Eugenia Allen, will be incorporating more options and choice, while still focusing on a core offering for all students. The list of choices for the entire year is yet to be finalized but the first choice will be between swimming and mountain biking.
We are excited to bring even more to our holistic offering at Futuro Verde. As the school year starts, students will hear much more about our offering of electives. Make sure you ask your middle or high school student what fun and exciting things they are up to!
by Lural Ramirez | Dec 26, 2017
As Futuro Verde moves into its first year as an IB World School, we are excited for some new curricular changes in 2018 that will benefit students at all ages and stages in our school and better prepare all students for their new end goal of an IB diploma!
In preschool and primary school:
- Two sessions of mindfulness classes for each grade, each month- keeping kids in touch with their emotions and on the path to a healthy, calm and mindful self
- Weekly library time- to listen to a story read aloud by our librarian Daniela Ugalde and to check out or renew a book from our school library, which boasts over 5,000 unique titles at all reading levels. Building their love for reading one book at a time!
- CREW time twice weekly- this extension of ‘homeroom’ assures everyone in class is a part of the crew, no passengers allowed. A great time to set class goals, reflect and build community!
All of these changes come in addition to the holistic offering Futuro Verde has always shown commitment to: swimming, physical education, art, music, environmental education, comparative language study, global studies, technology classes, peace practices and all the basic subjects required under Costa Rican law and our MEP accreditation.
In middle and high school:
- Electives! Choose between-
- Physical education options: for the first trimester students will choose between swimming and cycling to complement their general physical education classes. Each new semester will bring fun new options to choose from!
- Additional languages: French or Classical Languages
- The Arts: choose which semester to take music or visual arts
- CREW time twice weekly- same goals as in primary and preschool grades with an added emphasis on self-management and organizational skills.
For students in 11th grade, the choices abound:
- Language Arts and/or Acquisition: Literature (Spanish), Language and Literature (English), English B or Spanish B
- Business Management
- Biology
- Math Studies
- The Arts: Music or Visual Arts
For all IB classes, students choose from within each group and, additionally, which classes they would like to take at a higher level. These classes come in addition to their Core classes: Theory of Knowledge, CAS and Extended Essay.
It is looking like it will be a fantastic 2018 school year ahead at Futuro Verde!
by Khalida Lockheed | Oct 14, 2017
At the end of November Futuro Verde celebrates the tradition of Thanksgiving with a shared meal and activities having a theme of gratitude. This year, with the opening of the Futuro Verde ceramics program, the Art department is happy to initiate a new tradition in concert with Thanksgiving – “Empty Bowls”. Students in all grades will be learning the craft of ceramics and about ceramic artists. The unit will culminate with the creation of a decorative (but usable!) bowl to be used during our Thanksgiving meal and offered for sale to raise funds.
“Empty Bowls”, an international initiative to combat hunger, has a 27 year history which began with teachers John Hartam and Lisa Blackburn in Michigan, USA. These fundraising events usually take place in conjunction with World Food Day on October 16th. The objectives of “Empty Bowls” is to:
- Raise as much money as possible to feed the world’s hungry people.
- Increase awareness of hunger and related issues.
- Advocate for arts education.
For our Thanksgiving “Empty Bowls” fundraiser, we will be raising funds to assist the community of Rivas in Perez Zeledon which was devastated by Tropical Storm Nate and is the community where our Social Studies teacher, Karol, grew up and has family. This humble population depends mainly on agricultural and tourism. These activities have been heavily damaged with the effects of Tropical Storm Nate and the economic recovery for families is very slow. To make matters worse, damage to roads and bridges has made the arrival of help more difficult. For this reason, any help we can give will be received with enormous gratitude.
We invite all members of our community to join us for this event! We will have plenty of bowls for everyone to use for their meal and for purchase to can help this community in dire need.
by Lural Ramirez | Sep 3, 2017
Our Futuro Verde community have been so enthusiastic regarding the recent improvements made to our campus as we comply with the requirements of IB* verification! Read below for a summary of the improvements we’ve had and the students who will access these beautiful, new spaces.
- State of the art science laboratory: designed to support exploration and experimentation, our science lab features science counters with stations for up to four students to work together as they do experiments. Each station features a sink, gas connection for a Bunsen burner and electrical outlet. Our adjacent science prep room keeps all our lab materials and equipment safe and ready for student use! Beakers, graduated cylinders, scientific sensors, petri dishes, microscopes and much, much more. Our science lab is a space that all students, preschool through secondary, will use in science and environmental education classes!
- Big and welcoming school library: with separate library wings for preschool/primary and secondary, all students in Futuro Verde have full access to our continually growing collection of books. We have over 4,000 books in our collection currently, all cataloged within a library inventory system and with a schedule for weekly visit and lending processing for all grade levels. Comfortable seating, private study space and a beautiful mural welcome our students to develop their love of reading daily! Our collection ranges from board books for our preschoolers to non-fiction texts on global warming for our oldest students and all the way to classic literature in both Spanish and English and texts in multiple languages other than Spanish and English (Hebrew, French, German and Italian- just to name a few!). Our school library is a space that all students, preschool through secondary, access daily during both free play times, before and after school times and integrated into regular classroom instruction and learning!
- Spacious multi-media center: 20 desktop computers are available to our students of all ages in a dedicated computer lab, set up to support all multi-media needs. With regular technology classes at all grade levels, Futuro Verde students from preschool through high school learn about all aspects of Information Technology Systems. A new, and exciting, addition to our multi-media center is our school site license with EBSCO, which offers research databases for our students, Ebook collections for students in kindergarten through high school, access to thousands of online magazines and periodicals and so much more! Our multi-media center is a space that all students, preschool through secondary, use in support of their learning in all subject areas and classes!
- Dedicated and creative art studio: with two separate levels and an open design, all students from preschool through secondary enjoy weekly art classes in our dedicated art space, with adjacent and spacious art supply space full of art supplies and materials of all kinds. With a studio approach deeply rooted in our constructivist methodology, students explore collage, painting, drawing, printmaking and so much more! Coming soon: the electrical installation for our new pottery kiln! Our school art studio is a space that all students, preschool through secondary, use during their weekly art classes and access as desired during secondary flex blocks.
- Dedicated music classroom: constructivism is alive in our music classes with a balance between music theory, instrumental work and music creation for students from preschool through 11th grade at Futuro Verde. Recent improvements include new instruments for student use: two electric pianos, multiple professional quality recorders and percussion sets that join our current collection of string and wind instruments already available at the school. With new recording equipment currently en route from the US, we are excited for the upcoming music creation possibilities. Also, stay tuned for a new purpose built music classroom that is coming soon! Our music classroom is a space that all students, preschool through secondary, use during weekly music classes and access as desired during recess and flex blocks.
If you haven’t yet seen our new and renewed spaces in person, please come by for a tour and be amazed by our inspiring improvements. Remember, these changes, which directly supported our candidacy for IB*, now benefit Futuro Verde students of ALL ages and grade levels!
*Centro Educativo Futuro Verde is a candidate school* for the Diploma Programme. This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy- a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Centro Educativo Futuro Verde believes is important for our students.Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted.
For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org
