by Lural Ramirez | May 7, 2019
Have you heard about Futuro Verde’s annual education conference held on our campus on the last Thursday and Friday of June each year? Attendees from years past can attest to how unifying the conference is with attendance by educators, community members, parents and students from around the peninsula, Costa Rica and the world.
This year’s conference is gearing up to be another great experience! Click on the link below to register and read the flyer below for details on the basics of registering and getting involved in this year’s conference! And, don’t forget! Our Call for Proposals is currently open for submissions. If you are an educator or community member with something to share in the area of bilingual, holistic or sustainable education, submit your proposal today!
Registration Form
Call for Proposal
by Alejandro Ramírez | May 6, 2019
Our competitive season is in full swing and there is no doubt that efforts in training are the key to success during competitions! Our athletes are training hard and making our institution proud! In Cross Country, 9 of our runners qualified for the regional event and in the regional event we had excellent results, managing to classify Leandro Salazar and Brittany Castrillo for the national final on May 13 and 14 in Nosara.
Our athletes are also dominating in mind games. On April 25, Chess Interregionals were held, attended by delegations from Nicoya, Lepanto, Cóbano and Santa Cruz. Among the most important results stand out the second place of Joaquín Ramírez, third place of Allison Elias Montoya and first place of our male category B team facing the host team of Lepanto in the final and defeating it in an exciting tiebreak game. Santiago Ramirez, Eco Jacob, Edgardo Salas and Jonathan Semyonov will represent our institution in the national final in Pérez Zeledón on May 27, 28 and 29.
In Swimming and Volleyball our athletes have not yet entered the competitive stage. However, they continue to work hard with a winner’s mentality week in week out because they know that medals are won in training and collected during race day.
Stay tuned for the final results of our competitive season, which, I assure you, look very promising!
by Noelia | May 5, 2019
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out” is a phrase by Robert Collier that sums up the work we do at Futuro Verde in general and, more specifically, in the library perfectly.
From the moment the library was founded, firm goals and convictions were established that are reinforced day by day, regardless of the circumstances. We started out with a simple space with a closed bookcase and a collection of no more than 750 books. Today, we have more than 7,000 copies in accessible shelves, as well as two reading, study and teaching areas. Hence, we believe that every minute dedicated to the library has been worthwhile and has paid off.
With the aim of changing the perception that documentation centers have become tedious and lifeless places, the school administration, collaborators and library employees have taken on the task of converting this area into a comfortable and attractive hub, mainly for the students. Attempting, without a doubt, to draw them closer to the most important source of culture, information and knowledge: books. Through school investments, donations and various fundraising activities, we have managed to improve in 4 essential areas:
Increase the bibliographic volume of books in Spanish, English and French.
Bring library spaces to life.
Provide the necessary means for successful investigations.
Instill a love of reading from the smallest levels onwards.
This last point is, undoubtedly, one of the most important and the school decided to support it by hosting our first Annual Book Fair, held the same day as International Book Day on 22, 23 and 24 April.
Since we sold 70% of the books that we had purchased, recovered the money we had invested, and earned a profit in both money and books (since all the books that were not sold will be incorporated into the library), we are extremely proud to announce it was a huge success! Moreover, we feel great satisfaction knowing that many parents and students invested their money in books, which they are enjoying today.
For all of us involved in the preparation of our fair, it was gratifying to see the excitement and emotion on the face of each child, youngster, teacher and parent who came to the stand to admire or buy a book.
I would like to extend our sincerest thanks to the people involved and collaborators: Doris Madrigal, Mariel Urban, Jusneyling Marenco, Angie Briceño, Katie Chiaverini, Lural Ramírez, Evelyn Vargas, Joaquín Salas, Hannia Granados, Hellen Molina, Walter Mairena, Alannah Anglin and Khalida Lockheed, without your support and collaboration this wonderful week would not have been possible!
We also wish to thank the sponsors of our bingo:
- Chelo’s Pizza
- Farmacia Montecristo
- Transporzuma
- Repostería Doris Madrigal
- La Selva
- Maureen’s bracelets
- Piscina Torogoz
- Macondo Montezuma
- Santa Teresa Travels
by Lural Ramirez | Mar 29, 2019
Preface and Context
As a part of my role as Head of School for our International Baccalaureate (IB) authorization at Futuro Verde, I had the pleasure of participating in a Leadership and Governance Webinar Series offered to Heads of School over the long holiday. The learning and inspiration from the series covered four topics: consistency of mission and vision, growth and accreditations, research-informed models of teacher evaluation and school finance. On the basis of the mission and vision webinar, our teachers engaged in a series of reflective activities during their professional development prior to the start of the school year with the goal of articulating our school values. Throughout this school year, we will be sharing the articulation of these values across our social media platforms and our communications channels. When you come and visit us next, please also read our teachers’ Six Word Memoirs which are posted on a bulletin board in the main office. These amazing Six Word Memoirs are a further extension of the articulation of Futuro Verde’s values.
Futuro Verde: Always Connected, Forever Evolving
In 2018, the IB celebrated its 50th anniversary and, that same year, Futuro Verde celebrated its 10th anniversary. Over the course of our 10 years, much like the path taken by the IB in its anniversary book, “The International Baccalaureate: 50 Years of Education for a Better World” which was sent to all IB Heads of School, we have seen an evolution of our school and the benefits to our students of a coherent, connected educational experience. The Futuro Verde community continues to grow in size, but our evolution in numbers, in quality of teaching and learning and in scope and breadth of servicing for students has not led to a disconnection from our original mission as a school and our main goal of connecting our diverse communities.
For our staff and our board of directors, it is essential that our school community know that we will continue to grow and evolve and, as we do so, we will continue to prioritize our connections and support of each other! The heart of our school is the connections we have with one another, the multilingualism, the diversity in national origin, religion and beliefs and the unity we all share as we progress forward and evolve as a school.
Thank you for your connection to our school and for joining us on our journey of ongoing evolution!
by Axel Alvarado | Mar 29, 2019
This event allows students to express themselves, through music and literature. Our debut was on March 28th, from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm, at Futuro Verde Educational Center. Garage bands, dance, poems, and songs crowned the night. 11th grade prepared a soda full of delicious food and snacks. There was a jam session time for those who wanted to improvise and showcase their talent. We are grateful for the support of parents, family, and friends.
The reason behind this CAS project is the lack of artistic expression in this area. We know that some places, offer Open Mic nights, but more are needed. Many people want to showcase their talents, and do not have the opportunity. This is why we felt the need to create a space where students, teachers, and parents get together during an afternoon of entertainment filled with improvisation in both music and literature.
We know that more and more people are going to want to participate, so we decided to organize one every two months. We are counting on the collaboration of parents to announce the event to more people!
by Stuart Millar, IB coordinator | Mar 28, 2019
One way we can tell is that the first mid-trimester report of the year already made its way home. The mid-trimester report is just one way that Futuro Verde communicates your child’s progress with you.
As stated in the Futuro Verde Assessment Policy: Teachers determine midterm report grades and final grades for each trimester and academic year by combining grading done on daily class work and participation, projects, rubric-based evaluations, teacher observations, portfolio development, written exams (when appropriate), among other assessment tools.
After just six or seven weeks of school, the mid-trimester can be a litmus test for your child’s end of trimester report, giving you a heads up and an indication if your child might need support or just encouragement to keep on achieving! Having received the report, if you are at all worried about your child’s progress at school, now would be a great time to get in touch via email or make an appointment to meet with your child’s teacher(s). We are always here and keen to work with you to ensure your child can be as successful as possible!
