by Noelia | Apr 1, 2016
Did you know that 5% of our pupils are study abroad students?
One, two, three, six months or one year – our students run the range of short and longer term stints with us.
Most come from countries where another language is spoken and the home culture is very different from our own. However, wherever they come from they all agree that Futuro Verde is different!
To be able to learn in a friendly and welcoming environment surrounded by nature makes our school a very different school.
At Futuro Verde everyone knows each other, students from different grades hang out with each other and their differences are integrated. Cultural diversity make us rich, the world shrinks and everyone, regardless of their home language or culture, fits in our global community school!
by Alejandro Ramírez | Apr 1, 2016
April and May are months full of sporting events for our students. Keep on supporting our teams!
April
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Ping-pong – Regional competition in Valle Azul
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Track & field – District level competition in Cóbano
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Basketball – Regional competition in Los Delfines (tentative)
May
by Stuart Millar, IB coordinator | Apr 1, 2016
Futuro Verde is a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate diploma program*. Over the next few months we will be outlining the different elements of the IB diploma program, and considering how these might come to life at Futuro Verde.
IB’s intention, as it is at Futuro Verde, is to utilize a holistic approach, educating and developing the whole student. In the diploma program this is accomplished not only by offering breadth and depth in traditional academic subjects inside the classroom, but also by exposing students to different experiences that provide them with a multitude of opportunities for personal learning and growth. Just as at Futuro Verde, students are seen as being at the center of their own lifelong educational journey. To receive the IB diploma, students must satisfy the requirements of three core subjects as well as those of the six group subjects. All are seen as having equal importance. The core subjects are: creativity, activity, service (CAS); theory of knowledge (TOK); and the extended essay. The six subject groups are: language and literature; language acquisition; individuals and societies; sciences; mathematics; the arts.
As 10th grade embarks on their community projects it’s a good time to try and understand what creativity, activity, service (CAS) might involve.
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Creativity – visual and performing arts, digital design, writing, film, crafts and culinary arts. Culminating with an original product or performance.
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Activity – individual or team sports, dance or outdoor pursuits to contribute to a healthy lifestyle.
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Service – students identify and tackle a global issue in their local community.
This core subject is supervised by the school’s CAS coordinator over a period of 18 months. Intended to be both fun and personally challenging, CAS involves a blend of individual experiences and a group project. Students will be required to: select their own experiences and project; set goals and objectives; and keep a portfolio containing both pieces of personal reflection and to demonstrate evidence of achieving learning outcomes.
Be sure to follow this year’s 10th grade students through the newsletter and social media as they complete their community projects.
*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
by Noelia | Apr 1, 2016
Due to the increase in our student population this year and our desire to assure that each family has an adequate amount of time to meet with their child’s teacher(s) during parent/teacher conferences, we have modified our 2016 calendar.
In May, there will be a day and a half with no school in order to hold conferences with all families, instead of only one day as originally scheduled.
Students will attend on Thursday, May 19th until 12:00, at which point they should be bused or picked up to go home. Teachers will then hold conferences on Thursday from 1:00-5:00 and all day on Friday from 8:00-5:00.
Thank you for your understanding and support of this important change that will assure effective communication between teachers and parents.
The date changes for the second and third trimesters will be communicated during the respective trimesters.
by Stuart Millar, IB coordinator | Apr 1, 2016
Knowledgeable
We explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing, we acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.
Thinkers
We exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.
New information comes at us at a relentless pace. The BBC reported that the average inhabitant of a Western city is exposed to the same amount of data in one day as a person in the 15th century was in their lifetime*. The challenge for our children is how to process, categorize, and choose to assimilate (or not) this potentially new knowledge.
Teachers at Futuro Verde help students question what they already know, decide what they would like to know, and assist them in integrating that new information. Critical thinking skills are vital as students compare and contrast different information they find, evaluate it for bias and ultimately decide, consciously or subconsciously, whether or not this new knowledge will be retained.
Lural Ramírez, Director, recently attended an IB workshop in Theory of knowledge (TOK). As she starts to share from her experiences at this training, all staff and students are being encouraged to reflect on how we know what we claim to know. This comes through analyzing: the distinction between shared knowledge and personal knowledge; our ways of knowing (emotion, reason, imagination, faith, intuition, memory, language, and sense perception); and our areas of knowledge (mathematics, natural sciences, human sciences, the arts, history, ethics, religious knowledge systems, and indigenous knowledge systems).
To support their students, parents and guardians might also take the opportunity to reflect when stating with conviction what they think they know. Model and share with your children how you believe you came to know something, and be open and honest about how your memory, emotion, faith etc. might have influenced that process.
*Vince, Gaia. “Cities: How Crowded Life Is Changing Us.” BBC. BBC, 17 May 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130516-how-city-life-is-changing-us>.
Dunn, Michael. “Critical thinking and the IB Diploma.” 14th October 2014. Last accessed: 24th March 2016. <http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/about/the-tok-course/critical-thinking-ib-diploma/>
by Noelia | Apr 1, 2016
At Futuro Verde we strive to improve our service to parents and students. In the finance area we have proceeded to emit the full year’s invoices for all the students. This allows parents to plan their annual expenses and to pay in advance if they so desired.
