by Stuart Millar, IB coordinator | Mar 2, 2018
by Stuart Millar with Persis Ferrón Ciampi and Alexa Alayeto Valdehita
We took the opportunity in 8th grade English B to talk about all the new or improved buildings and facilities at Futuro Verde. It was great to see how much the students notice and appreciate the progress we are making. It was also very interesting to hear about schools in other towns, cities, and countries that the students had attended.
Top of the list for praise was the new high school and primary libraries. The primary space is a much more relaxed environment to read books in, with comfortable beanbags to sit on. Persis commented on the fact that the high school library now has many more books in Spanish than before. She also appreciates the openness of the new multi-use classroom shared by business management, theory of knowledge and language acquisition. There is nearly always a breeze, even on the hottest days. We all enjoyed having the science lab last year, but it is now fully equipped and students of all ages are enjoying conducting experiments.
Although not new, there were improvements made to several learning areas over the vacation. The 1st to 3rd-grade classrooms were all extended and the floors were tiled. The teachers and students are all appreciating the extra space and the cool floors! The art room was also given a tiled floor and the interior was rearranged to make it lighter, brighter, and more spacious feeling. IB visual arts student, Elian Gonzalez, commented that the improved space gives a better quality of light and is more conducive to creativity.
There have been many changes, but students are excited about what is to come – a new garden and space to relax where the play structure used to be and the much anticipated outdoor sports facility.
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.
by Angie Briceño | Feb 20, 2018
This year, the Futuro Verde community has grown thanks to the different families that have joined us from different parts of the world:the United States, Belgium, Nicaragua, Switzerland, Italy, England, France and Spain, as well as families from Costa Rica who come from Paquera, Santa Teresa, Cabuya, Montezuma and surroundings. Futuro Verde has a visitor program for all those families who want their children to take part in an enriching academic, cultural and linguistic experience. Through this program, families visit us from Italy, Canada and the United States (New York, Los Angeles, Nebraska and Wisconsin).
We extend a warm welcome to all the families that will be accompanying us throughout or during part of the 2018 school year. We hope your year will be filled with learning and fun and cultural experiences!
by Cocina Futuro Verde | Feb 20, 2018
In the Futuro Verde lunchroom we prepare delicious and nutritious dishes using the freshest vegetables of the area, organic chicken and Bahia Tambor fish. For breakfast, we serve fruits, omelets, eggs, toast, bananas, yogurt, fresh cheese, sour cream, as well as other foods. Every day we offer a varied menu for lunch, with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten and dairy free options for students with these preferences or health requirements. Our goal is to provide a lunchroom where children experience new flavors and maintain a healthy and balanced diet throughout the week.
by Hileyn | Feb 20, 2018
We are pleased to inform the entire educational community that our library is evolving!
During the past months we have seen our educational center grow by leaps and bounds and our library is not far behind. Great efforts have been made to update and extend our service: the hiring of a librarian, the expansion and remodeling of the reading spaces, the new shelves, the labeling, classification and respective decoration, the acquisition of software to carry out the transactions digitally, new strategies to stimulate reading (library classes and future book fairs), in addition to the purchase and reception of new books. They offer our readers an increasingly interesting and captivating atmosphere.
We currently have more than 4800 books for the enjoyment and benefit of our users, which has been achieved thanks to the great efforts of our staff and the generous donations that were continuous throughout the previous school year.
It is gratifying for us witness the evolution that this school area has undergone and we hope to continue on the path of progress and innovation. Hence, we wish to remind our Futuro Verde family that our Library is open to all (parents, students and staff of the institution) and request you to make donations of both new and used books that will be of great benefit to the institution.
Library Check Out and Return Policy
- Users look for the book(s) they wish to read in an orderly manner.
- They turn to the person in charge of the Library (Daniela), to make their registration in the M3 system by means of user’s name and book code.
- Users will be given a library page separator (reusable) so they can record the date on which the book should be returned and their user’s name.
- Users have a period of 14 days to return the books. When returning, users must return the book directly to the person in charge, so the return process can be completed. The page separator of the school must also be returned. If the person in charge is not present, users will leave the book on the desk along with a note specifying the title of the book, the user’s name and the bar code.
- Each month a report of late returns informs the librarian which books are late. The librarian will notify the users involved. Next, a reminder is sent home via the planner. If a third reminder has been delivered, and the book is not returned, it will be registered as lost, and a letter will be sent home requiring it to be replaced (purchase a replacement or send in the amount to cover the cost).
- In the event that a book is damaged or lost, the librarian will deliver a letter to the parents informing them and clarifying the steps to be taken (replace the book by purchasing a new one or send in the amount to cover the cost).
* As part of our commitment to reading, students who read more than 4 books will be given a personalized page separator. *
by David Brookshire, MPH/ School Counselor & Special Education Case Manager | Feb 14, 2018
Our IB learner profile value for the month of March is “Inquirers.” We define this value in the following way:
“We develop or natural curiosity. We acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. We actively enjoy learning and the love of learning will be sustained throughout our lives (IB 2017).”
At Futuro Verde, Constructivism, as a philosophy of education, is the notion that students construct knowledge and understanding out of their experiences. With reflection, the student can assess what they are learning and how their understanding changes over time. By asking questions and exploring, students essentially learn how to learn. With an emphasis on project based and experiential learning, our students get a chance to regularly develop their natural curiosity inside the classroom and throughout their day. This is reinforced during our weekly Peace Practices meeting as we explore different ways to be good inquirers when we come together as a community.
Developing natural curiosity at home can be reinforced by constantly asking questions and encouraging our children to ask questions as well. Helping them expand on their thoughts and ideas can be easy and fun when we ask clarifying questions utilizing the 5 W’s. When we get in this habit with our children, especially from a young age, it trains their brain to seek more information and expand their ideas. How? What? When? Where? Why? These simple words can be a great tool for creating a natural love of learning by engaging in a dialogue and creating conversation that allows for regular expansion of questioning and expression of ideas. With practice at home, being inquisitive at school and throughout life becomes a natural part of how we explore our world and communicate with others.
