by Lural Ramirez | Nov 17, 2018
At Futuro Verde we look forward to each new school year because the start of a new year brings with it opportunities to implement new and improved curricular plans! Here is a short summary of some exciting changes coming to our curricular offering:
World Languages: Our ever-expanding additional languages program in secondary is taking new shape in 2019! Eight different teachers will be collaborating together for this class and the structure will bring together multiple languages to be learned and explored (Classical Languages, French, Translation Studies and more!). The class will also provide for a time for students in need to receive additional support in their development of either English or Spanish, if they are newer to either of the languages. With a self-study, student-directed component to the World Languages course development, this new class is a perfect fit for our inquisitive secondary students!
Reaching that 50-50 English/Spanish goal in secondary!: New staffing choices and curricular decisions in 2019 are allowing for us to finally achieve a more perfect balance between English and Spanish instruction in the middle and high school grades. A more ideally balanced linguistic program makes for more well-developed language in both Spanish and English!
We finally add in 12th grade!!: 2019 starts with a real bang with 12th graders joining our preschool through 11th grade campus for the first time. We are immensely excited and proud to take this important step as a school! 12th grade also brings the final year of a two-year program of study for our first generation of International Baccalaureate (IB) graduates! This first group of 12th graders will take their final exams in November 2019 and, depending on their exam results, can qualify for two diplomas simultaneously: MEP bachillerato and the Bilingual IB Diploma.
Improved pool rental facilities and a brand new multi-use sports court!: 2019 marks a year of huge gains in sports programming within the Futuro Verde curriculum. We are working out the final details for the agreement with the privately owned, semi-Olympic pool facility directly across the street from Futuro Verde and construction will be complete before the new school year on our very own multi-use sports court facility located right on our campus!
College Counseling starting in 7th grade: We know that Futuro Verde is many things, to many people! Two of the aspects of our school that we are the most proud of combine next year for a new class for our 7th through 12th graders- College Counseling. Students and families love how we provide personalized and loving attention to all our students and most families choose our school because of the academic rigor and opportunity for a bright post-secondary future. The college counseling class will be co-taught by two Futuro Verde teachers whom have university and post-secondary experience in Costa Rica, Europe, Africa and the United States and they are excited to support our students in identifying their interests and passions, exploring university options or helping students to find their path in life.
Art/music/PE plan: Two big changes are coming to three of the biggest contributors to our holistic programming at Futuro Verde:
- In the early grades, we have hired a new specialist generalist who is tasked to teach Physical Education, Music and Art to our students grades preschool through 4th grade. All swimming classes will still be taught by Alejandro Ramirez, our certified swim instructor, with assistance from our new specialist generalist, Katie Reading.
- In the middle school years students will have a slight modification in their art and music classes, in that they will end each school year with a class that will be a collaborative performance and production class between the art and music classes. Students will be putting theory into practice in this collaborative performance and production class and we can’t wait to see their creativity applied to a real context!
As you can see, the curricular offering is just getting better and better in 2019 at Futuro Verde!
by Katie Chiaverini | Oct 24, 2018
Futuro Verde’s 2nd annual Sustainable Solutions Fair will be held on Friday, November 30th, but students are already hard at work. This year we are focusing on widening our sustainability topics and learning as a process which we will approach and evaluate in phases: inspiration, choice, design, and engage.
All of our students, grades pre-K through 11th, have begun the inspiration phase which includes investigating sustainability issues related to 5 specific categories: education and literacy, social justice and equality, health and nutrition, citizenship and responsibility, and environment and humanity. As they learn about sustainability issues around the world within these categories, we hope that they will be inspired to further investigate a specific topic. This will lead students into the choice phase where they will research about their chosen problem, looking at both global and local impacts. During the design phase, students will choose an innovative solution that addresses their chosen problem. On the day of the Sustainable Solutions Fair, the students will engage their audience to inspire change. Be ready to ask questions and learn more about sustainability issues and possible creative solutions!
We are celebrating the third anniversary of the Futuro Verde´s Green Fair. As part of the program of the Sustainable Solutions Fair, we provide a space for small businesses and entrepreneurs to exhibit and sell their products of great variety, from different food, desserts, clothing, crafts, paintings and much more. The Green Fair is a great opportunity to learn about local art and support entrepreneurs.
Vendor registration is now open to the public. Reserve your booth now!
This year the Sustainable Solutions Fair will also showcase the annual Trashion Show and Green Fair. Last year’s Trashion Show was such a success and so much fun that we decided it should be an annual event! The show featured ball gowns, samurai costumes, beach chic, futuristic fembots, and elegant cocktail dresses. These were made from such diverse trash materials as snack bags, cardboard tubs, magazines, markers, compact discs, e-waste, plastic bags, newspaper, cardboard pizza boxes, beach microplastics, plastic lanyards, and upcycled clothing.
This year, our Trashion show will be held in conjunction with our Sustainable Solutions Fair on November 30th, events with a shared mission and common themes. We look forward to welcoming our special panel of judges again. Participants will have the opportunity to win prizes for several categories in our Trashion Show: most elegant, best women’s attire, best men’s attire, best accessory (jewelry, bag, head/hair), most creative use of materials, most street worthy, and, of course, best in show.
On the day of the Sustainable Solutions Fair, you can expect food, gifts, workshops, art, science, music, presentations/talks, TRASHION, and a lot of FUN!
by Lural Ramirez | Oct 20, 2018
There are a number of events we hold at Futuro Verde each year – events to look forward to from year to year and events which highlight our unique school culture, our students’ talents and creativity and our focus on sustainability and critical thinking. Each December, as the school year comes to a close, we hold a beautiful whole school celebration called RAP: Respeto, Armonia y Paz. This event began in 2016 with the intention to bring together our diverse school population with a showcase of memorable dances, music, theatre presentations, lyrical poetry and much, much more!
This year’s event is scheduled for Friday, December 7th and will include the same quality of unforgettable performances plus some additional surprises not to be missed, including special presentations from two of our graduating classes- Prepa and 9th grade.
We ask parents to help us in two ways as we prepare for this fun-filled event:
- Please encourage your child to actively participate in the event!
- Please plan to attend the day’s event as an audience member by setting aside the date now in your social and work calendar!
Thank you and see you at RAP 2018 on Friday, December 7th!
by Stuart Millar, IB coordinator | Oct 18, 2018
One of the exciting things for students about the IB Diploma Program is that they get to choose their subjects. As our first cohort advances to year two, the current tenth graders and their parents attended an informational meeting and started to choose their courses for next year. The program requires them to study the three core subjects: Theory of Knowledge; Creativity, Activity, and Service; and complete the Extended Essay. To ensure breadth of study they are also required to select one subject from each of six different groups: Studies in Language and Literature; Language Acquisition; Individuals and Societies; Experimental Sciences; Mathematics; and the Arts. The majority of options are offered at Standard Level (SL) or Higher Level (HL), with students being required to take their studies deeper with three or four subjects at higher level. It is important to clarify that Futuro Verde offers students the IB course of study over two years in 11th and 12th grade, giving students the opportunity to graduate with a Bilingual IB diploma. Our students can also graduate with the Costa Rican (MEP) diploma as long as students study and successfully pass the national exams in Estudios Sociales and Cívica during 11th grade. It is not possible to study exclusively for the MEP high school diploma at Futuro Verde.
It was exciting to talk with the students and their parents as they made their choices and to hear their plans and reasons for the decisions they made. We wish them luck and look forward to supporting them in the next stage of their high school education.
by Lural Ramirez | Oct 10, 2018
With the 2018 school year coming to an end and the 2019 school year already taking shape in the minds of the Futuro Verde leadership team, teachers and current and future parents, I share with you some interesting facts regarding enrollment projections for the coming year! Please note that there are still three months of time remaining for families to enroll students and we usually have significant increases in enrollment over that period of time. Numbers shared today are current to the first week of November.
by David Brookshire, MPH/ School Counselor & Special Education Case Manager | Oct 9, 2018
There’s often a debate among parents about which approach is better, permissive parenting or authoritarian parenting. Authoritarians have little tolerance for misbehavior and are considered to be very strict. At the other end of the continuum, permissive parents set very few limits and tend to have more of relaxed approach where anything goes. While both types of parents have the best of intentions for their children, the question often arises, “Which is correct?” When we look at the science, we realize that a balanced approach is most effective if we aim to raise children who become compassionate, responsible, empathetic adults. This means we need to find a balance between permissiveness and setting strict limits and boundaries.
Limits and boundaries are important at every age and stage of childhood and adolescence. A helpful way to think about this is in terms of executive functioning. Executive functioning skills include things like: impulse control, self awareness, emotional control, self management, planning, and organization. These are all skills that successful adults utilize on a daily basis to navigate the world. Interestingly, these skills, performed largely by the prefrontal cortex in our brain, aren’t fully developed until our early 20’s. This is because this area of the brain continues to grow and mature until young adulthood. In the meantime, we can help our children develop these skills by setting appropriate boundaries and limitations.
As toddlers, it’s clear early on that children prefer immediate gratification. If there is something they want, they prefer it now. While this can sometimes be appropriate, often life requires us to wait. If we can learn, when appropriate, to delay gratification, we are enhancing our skills related to impulse control and self management. This, according to research, helps us learn self control and frustration tolerance and even reduces the chances of addiction later in life. These are valuable skills. As children get older and become adolescents, impulse control can be a challenge as teenage brains continue to change and develop. But, if kids have had practice when they are younger, this period of life will be easier for both the child and the parent.
While the specific limits and boundaries change depending on the stage of a child’s life, the concept remains the same. Sometimes as parents, our role is to help our children make decisions and learn how to control their emotions even when this is difficult. We can do this by following through with our expectations and being empathetic. If we want our preschooler to respect others, and they are hurting a friend, we teach them to stop and we teach them to consider how others’ feel. If boundaries are pushed and we are ignored, it would be appropriate to take space, or leave the area until the child is ready to come back and try again. Even if the child is unhappy in the moment because they aren’t getting what they want, eventually they learn social skills and self control. The same can be true for teenagers. Sure we may want to spend hours on electronics, or go hang out with friends but sometimes responsibilities come first. In the long run, as they become kind, empathetic, responsible people who monitor their own choices and consider others around us, they will thank us.
