by Dr. Gabriel Maldonado | Jan 15, 2022
As we prepare for the planting season, Futuro Verde students and staff are shifting their focus to producing soil amendments that are good for the environment. With the help of our fiscal sponsor Green Wave, we will focus on establishing a composting program that will reduce water consumption, cut methane emissions in landfills, improve soil health and reduce the amount of food waste entering the trash.
The recipe for making compost that facilitates the growth of healthy microorganisms that break down our food waste is quite easy, requiring only four ingredients: nitrogen, carbon, oxygen and water.
Nitrogen is an essential building block of life and facilitates growth and reproduction in both plants and animals. Green items for nitrogen include items such as grass clippings, food scraps and coffee grounds.
Another essential element for life is carbon, which can be found in brown plant material. Carbon is the primary food source for decomposers, keeping them alive while breaking down our waste. Carbon rich items for compost can include dead leaves, sticks, paper, or cardboard.
Like any other life form, compost also requires a balance of oxygen and water to survive. When combined with the right temperature and regular maintenance, you can create compost that builds healthy soil, reduces water usage, and eliminates pests at Futuro Verde.
To achieve our goal of creating a composting program at Futuro Verde, we will work in conjunction with Green Wave to train our teachers, staff and students to implement systems that will allow our food forest to flourish. The end result, a sustainable campus making a positive impact on the planet and growing food that will nourish our students today and into the Future!
by Jimena Gonzalez | Jan 10, 2022
I started practicing Mindfulness without knowing it. In my college years I loved getting to university early to lie down on the grass to listen to the bamboo move, or to put my feet in the pool and write about my surroundings.
Mindfulness is full attention, the focusing of our entire attention in the present moment. And, it’s completely trainable! Just like exercising in the gym, through Mindfulness, the mind can be trained in patience, observation without judgment, and being completely present.
Through different meditation exercises presented like games, we can teach our children to be present, to be aware, and to recognize what they feel.
It is not about stopping feelings or controlling circumstances, it is about being the observer, not anticipating circumstances, or living in the past. It’s about noticing. It’s about accepting.
“We can’t always change what happens outside of us, but we can change what happens inside.”
by Angie Briceño | Jan 5, 2022
This 2021-2022 school year we have seen tremendous growth and change in our educational community.
We feel very honored and proud that you have chosen our educational community for your children. Because of this, we always seek the best for them.
This year we have invested in new classrooms for our secondary classes, so that little by little we begin to divide secondary students from primary and preschool. This way each student body can enjoy their own designated space.
In addition, we have divided the high school to third grade classes into two groups, A and B, to ensure a student population of 15 students each and a maximum of 18 students per classroom at a time. This ensures more differentiated attention, thus reducing the groups from 25 to 18 students per class.
Growth in Futuro Verde is not only in classes and buildings, but also in the extracurricular area.
This year we are including ‘Personal and Community Project’ classes for grades 7-9 and the students are really enjoying them. Some of the projects they have started are; volleyball tournaments, creating bags made from recycled clothing to give to business, cookbooks based on cultural dishes related to heritage, learning more about caring for pets and sharing that knowledge with others, plus much more. These courses help students develop the attributes of the International Baccalaureate student profile such as being: bold, inquisitive, informed, educated, well-rounded, open-minded, supportive, balanced, reflective, excellent communicators, and profound thinkers. Additionally, these courses are excellent opportunities for students to explore new interests and arrive more prepared for the Pre-CAS and CAS courses in the 10th and 11th grades, respectively.
In the preschool and primary department, we continue to work on aligning all content to the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. This year we implemented a communal blackboard where primary teachers can share the work done in class along with work that is aligned with the transdisciplinary theme of the month. Thus having four transdisciplinary themes this year:
- ‘Who we are’
- ‘How the world works’
- ‘How we express ourselves’
- ‘Where we are in time and space’.
Lastly, we started this year with new courses in the artistic area as well as expansion in the athletics area. Art, dance, music, expression and theater give our students a development of knowledge which helps them enhance their skills which is as important as any other subject in school or college. We are fortunate to have teachers in the arts and athletics who are highly qualified and support students in discovering their potential.
The 2021-2022 school year is a short year but filled with new opportunities for our students!
by Karol Madrigal | Dec 20, 2021
Choosing to enter the International Baccalaureate Diploma program must respond to a set of previously forged circumstances and well-considered decisions on the part of students, families and educational center.
This is because the diploma is obtained not only by passing 6 intensive classes from different academic areas, but also by involving young people in a process of inquiry and continuous personal reflection. For two years students complete courses in which they must stay actively involved in reading and research processes, personal or group projects where they serve their community, as well as the school and themselves, through creativity and physical activity.
In that sense, an IB student must be characterized, initially, by a genuine interest and motivation towards the program. What interests us most is the well-being and academic growth of each one of them, however that progress also depends, to a great extent, on their emotional health. Thus, we prioritize the fact that your participation in the diploma is a personal commitment, as this will keep motivation and commitment alive.
Other attributes that should be considered are, for example, the ability to self-manage, good time management, integrity and responsibility. These qualities, along with academic skills, are essential for a path of success to be built during the program. Therefore, we strive so that our students have great opportunities to gradually develop and prepare these skills during the years prior to the Diploma. We are convinced that this program, and the attributes that young people develop in it, are the keys to a wide range of possibilities for your future.
On my behalf, I feel very satisfied to have the opportunity to accompany them in this process as the coordinator of the program. I hope that both my professional training, as well as my experience working for years at the this school and knowing these young people from a very young age, will be of great help to guide them to answer the doubts and concerns that arise along the way, but also to teach them to trust themselves and celebrate each of their successes!
by Hileyn | Oct 30, 2021
The Costa Rican rural area of the Nicoya Peninsula, presents many problems with respect to literacy and accessibility to information. It is for this cause that we started with the project of a community library, where the doors will be opened to the people of the Nicoya Peninsula. Last April we requested the help of hundreds of people for the donation of $ 5,000, what excites us is that we managed to exceed the proposed goal.
We proposed the purchase of Spanish language material, due to the fact that 80% of our library’s total bibliographic collection is in Spanish. Thinking of obtaining hundreds of books for elementary school and being able to offer a better children’s collection, we went to second hand bookstores, where we obtained great literary works of excellent publishing houses at very low prices such as Barco de Vapor, Torre de Papel, among others. We obtained great literary pieces for elementary school. We did not leave behind Costa Rican literature, in the Editorial de Costa Rica, we acquired brand new books, all the literature that the Ministry of Public Education suggests for school ages and we also got several titles for the smallest of collections with beautiful illustrations, which will catch more than one in the reading.
Thinking about the satisfaction of our teenagers, we moved on to the discounts that were found in the International Bookstore on manga, anime and youth series, more than 10 titles of these genres, which already have a waiting list in the library to be read. The youngest preschoolers were not left behind, in each of the purchases there were always books for them, but they needed a lot of love so we went to a store specializing in babies, BamoBam, and bought literary gems with the right material for their age as well as being interactive books that they needed and so authors like Eric Carle are available for these ages. Between all the book purchases, $1,400 was allocated.
In order to organize the purchase of all new acquisitions and the more than 8,000 copies that the library owns, the Destiny Follet cataloging system was installed. This system is used by the best school libraries around the world, where it is a complete library management system that can be accessed from anywhere, 24/7, which helps to strengthen the crucial link between the library, the classroom and the home. The first phase is ready, which is the creation of the online platform and user login. Now the most difficult part of the job remains, cataloging and entering each of our copies online. If you want to see how the page is looking click here. Soon it will be 100% ready for online booking. The purchase of $1,431 plus the purchase of a code scanner for $175.
The aesthetics and comfort of our current and future library users is not left behind, we have invested in the remodeling of the space with the purchase of new puff chairs for the different libraries, replacing the old ones that were in very bad condition. New shelves have been created that are more accessible to children. This is to create a more friendly and attractive space for all those who come to our facilities. Technology is not far behind and for the events that the library will hold, two new microphones were purchased.
All these advances in our project were made with the help of each of the donors and the people of Futuro Verde and Cóbano are grateful for every grain of sand received from people full of love for a better future for the community.
With hard work, it is expected that the goal of creating a community library in rural Costa Rica, can open its doors in November 2021.
by Khalida Lockheed | Oct 20, 2021
Transitions
The transition to an International calendar has made the timing of the end of this school year and the beginning of the next school year feel odd. This is the time of year when, traditionally, we would be planning our end of the year activities, the closure of the school year coinciding with the closure of the calendar year. This year, however, we will be celebrating the culmination of primary school’s 6th graders on October 14th, but we won’t be celebrating the culmination and graduation of our 12th graders until the end of November, long after the next school year and the new IB cohort begins!
Looking Back
Our November 2021 IB cohort is preparing for their final exams and finishing up any last minute touches to their coursework which will finalize their time, not only as IB students, but Futuro Verde students. Some of this cohort have been Futuro Verde students since the school’s founding, 13 years ago! They are anxious and stressed, simultaneously looking ahead to their future plans and studies, while reflecting back on their time at Futuro Verde. They will be hosting our last Peace Practice of the year and of their student careers on October 7th. It will be an opportunity and a space for reflection.
Looking Ahead
Our May 2023 IB cohort is anxiously looking forward to beginning their journey as IB students. They have made their course selections and are enthusiastic to begin. Highlights for their upcoming year include Theory of Knowledge for all 11th graders, the new Psychology course, and exciting organized CAS experiences and retreats.
Finally, as with all transitions, changes, and new beginnings, we welcome Karol Madrigal to her new position as IB Coordinator and Curriculum Coordinator. With over 7 years of experience at Futuro Verde and currently working as the Curriculum Coordination at CINDEA, she is more than qualified to take on this new position. While our students will miss having her teach them in the classroom, she will now have the opportunity to positively impact students of all ages at Futuro Verde. As for myself, I will be continuing to assist with IB Coordination during the process of having our IB authorization verified during the 2022 and 2023 years and am delighted to be returning to teach Visual Arts at the secondary level.
During times of transition and change, life requires us to embody the IB Learner Profiles of being reflective while simultaneously being risk takers. The greatest growth happens on the trapeze of life when we let go of one trapeze and fly towards the next.
