Recientemente en un convivio del consejo de la escuela, se nos pidió la tarea de definir en pocas frases que veíamos en la misión de la escuela. La mayoría de nosotros usamos muchas comas y cláusulas como pudimos, incorporando un vocabulario lleno de significado dentro del limitado número de palabras. Continuamente educándose, crecimiento espiritual, ambiente sostenible, educación bilingüe, auto-suficiencia, atención individualizada, flexibilidad — estos fueron algunos de los términos que se usaron. Cuando leímos nuestras [...]
At a recent school board retreat, we were asked to express, in one or two sentences, what we saw as the school’s mission. Most of us used as many commas and clauses as we could, cramming meaning-packed vocabulary into a limited word count. Continuously educated, spiritually grounded, environmentally sustainable, individually appropriate, bilingual, skills for self-sufficiency, resiliency — these were some of the terms used. As we each read our [...]
Out of the workshop and onto the stage
World premieres by four MFS playwrights
Rebekah Lopata
Last semester four colegio students, Hannah Walker, Bobby Leonard, Zoë Beale, and Daniel Vargas, presented their completed short plays before a packed meeting house. The students dedicated two cycles of mini-courses to working on these plays. They began their labors with a series of writing exercises and improvisation activities. Then, during sessions of “work-shopping,” they started writing their plays-in-progress. Playwriting workshops involved [...]
Conexiones bio-estudiosas
Un viaje de campo de los grados 7–8 combina la biología con radio y televisión
Tricia Wagner
“Adiós,” decían las chicas a cada persona que pasaba. Regresábamos de una gira por INBio y los estudios de Canal 6 y Radio Disney.
Dos meses atrás, la mayoría de los estudiantes del viaje llevaban un mini-curso de video conmigo. El primer día de clase, nos encontramos con un hecho feliz. Algunos reporteros de Canal 6 (Repretel) vinieron a filmar pequeñas escenas de Monteverde. Salimos [...]
Bio-studio connections
A 7–8 field trip combines biology with mass media
Tricia Wagner
“Adiós,” the girls call out the window at every passerby. We were heading back from San José and a tour of INBio and Repretel’s Channel 6 and Radio Disney studios.
Earlier in the year, many of the students on the trip had taken part in my video-making mini-course. A lucky event greeted our first day of class. Some reporters from Repretel’s Channel 6 were on campus filming a short piece about Monteverde. Despite our initial hesitations [...]
La creatividad no tiene límites
Un vistazo del aula de kinder y prepa
Melody Guindon
Nuestra clase está llena de niños ocupados, todos escogen algún trabajo que les interese. ¡Es fascinante observarlos! Para darles una idea, les voy a describir lo que hicieron dos niños la semana pasada.
Una alumna, Fiorella, sacó la canasta con lápices de color y empezó a hacer un dibujo para un cuento. Cuando había terminado los últimos detalles, me mostró con entusiasmo y me dijo que estaba lista para escribir [...]
There’s no end to creativity
A glimpse of the kinder and prepa classroom
Melody Guindon
Our classroom is full of busy children, all choosing work that interests them. It’s fascinating to watch! To give you an idea, I’ll describe what two children did this past week.
One student, Fiorella, took a basket of colored pencils and began drawing a picture for a story. When the last details of the drawing were finished, she showed it enthusiastically to me and said she was ready to write [...]
Vacas en busca de pasto
El poder de escoger en un ciclo de escritura
Tricia Wagner
Todos los bimestres, los estudiantes de quinto hasta octavo grado hacen un ciclo de escritura. Buscan ideas y temas, escriben borradores, corrigen estudios de sus compañeros de clase y finalmente se reunen con la maestra para una revisión y edición final. Dos bimestres por año, los estudiantes escriben en formas determinadas, sobre temas definidos, para mejorar sus destrezas en áreas específicas. Los otros dos bimestres, sin embargo, escriben de cualquier manera, sobre cualquier tema, que ellos escogen. Un trabajo que han hecho mis estudiantes [...]
Every quarter students in grades five to eight go through the writing cycle. They brainstorm ideas, research themes, write rough drafts, edit their peers’ papers, and then meet individually with a teacher for final revising and editing. Two quarters a year, students write in a specific genre, about certain themes, in order to improve their skills in specified areas. For the other two quarters, though, they write in any genre, and about any topic, they choose. A project my fifth- and sixth-graders did this fall [...]
El escape secreto
Lalo Belmar
Había una vez nueve chiquillos parlanchines. Ellos recibían español, sociales y cívica con Pamela. Eran una clase poco civilizada al no poner atención de vez en cuando y hablar mucho. A ellos les llamaban “los mostacillas” y los octavos. 
Eran muy energéticos y buscaban cada chance para salir de la clase de alguna manera. Sin que la maestra se diera cuenta, ellos tenían un escape secreto [...]
The secret escape
Lalo Belmar
Once there were nine talkative kids. They took Spanish, social studies, and civics with Pamela. They were a rather uncivilized class — often not paying attention, and talking much. They were the seventh- (called “the green saplings”) and eighth-graders. They were very energetic, and were always on the look out for a chance to get out of class any way they could. Without the teacher noticing, they had a secret escape [...]
Farewell to the slide
Annika Fjelstad
The play structure pictured here was built behind the school 23 years ago. This year we determined it was no longer safe and decided to remove it, but not without celebrating all it had been to the community.
The fifth- and sixth-graders led an assembly in which we shared memories of playing together on the slide. We heard more than one story of a broken limb [...]
Textos Cortos | Short Texts
Heather Gosse Perseverance [full text] [pdf] | Juanita Leitón Amigos por carta [texto completo] [pdf] | Juanita Leitón Pen pals [full text] [pdf] | Rebekah Lopata Student teachers [full text] [pdf]
Poemas | Poetry
Tiffany Lander Levanta un vaso [texto completo] [pdf] | Antonio Belmar Castro ¿Como se define la vida? [texto completo] [pdf] | Maria Vargas Ovares Alas de mariposa hechas de cenizas [texto completo] [pdf] | José Brenes Alvarado Me siento extraño [texto completo] [pdf] | Walker Sales Decisiones tomadas sin pensar [texto completo] [pdf] | Randy Picado Fallas Silenciosos ojos de nacientes desconocidas [texto completo] [pdf] | Kelly La Val La bola que es el sol [texto completo] [pdf] | Students of grades 5 and 6 Ode to the slide [full text] [pdf]
Dichos | Sayings | Noticias | Etc.
Elieth Coto Dialogar en familia [texto completo] [pdf] | Kyle, Liam, Ryan et al. Noticias de la clase de 1–2 grado [texto completo] [pdf] | Kyle, Liam, Ryan et al. Grade 1–2 class news [full text] [pdf] | Students of grades 7 and 8 Paying attention to the senses [pdf] | Jane Wolff [full text] [pdf] | Adopte-Una-Quebrada [full text] [pdf]