Moshi Campus News – 11 Jan 2014

Boarders will be returning to school on Tuesday, 14th January. Please aim to arrive before 6pm if possible. If your child needs to be met and provided with transport from Kilimanjaro Airport, please contact Rosemary Bango, Head of Boarding, as soon as possible on .
Classes will begin at 7:30am on Wednesday, 15th January. We hope that all students will be able to return in time for the beginning of classes.
D2 students will begin their mock diploma examinations on Thursday, 16th January and these exams will continue until Monday, 27th January. Mock exams are an important part of the preparation for their final examinations in May.
The full programme of primary clubs and secondary CAS and sports activities will start on Thursday, 16th January.

Primary Clubs will start on Thursday, 16th January and continue until Wednesday, 26th March. All our returning students have signed up for their clubs and should not change throughout the quarter. Please inform the class teacher if a child cannot attend the club on any day. Any new students should ask their class teacher to help them select two or three clubs. Some clubs such as Brownies are full. Hats should be worn on the field for sports activities. Please pick up your child promptly from the playground at 3pm. See attached for an overview of the clubs and where they are on the school premises. As usual, students may eat lunch in the dining room or supervised on the tables by the playground.
Start of the day for primary Primary students should not be entering classes until the teacher is in the room at 7.30 am. Your child may play in the grassy area above the primary block until it is time to go to class.

Music theory examinations set by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) will be held in school on Wednesday, 5th March. These exams are for any student who may be learning a musical instrument and wishes to obtain qualifications in music and range from beginners exams (grade 1) to a high level of music theory (grade 8). If you wish your child to register for these exams in March, please inform our music teacher, Susan Jacob [] by next Friday, 17th January.

You will remember that in the last newsletter on 14th December, we congratulated three students on their successful admissions to Harvard, Duke and Stanford in the USA. Only a couple of days later, we received news of other university successes and wish to congratulate: Lucky Yona on receiving an award to attend Yale University, and Sia Kwimbere on her successful admission to Cornell.
This is certainly an amazing year with so many gaining admission to such prestigious universities. Many other D2 students have also received other offers and we will publish a fuller list in due course.

Our M5 students have been working on their personal projects over the last six months or so and are now due to submit their final pieces by Friday, 24th January. There will be an exhibition of the M5 projects on 4th February.

Every year students in P4, P5, P6, M1 and M3 take International Schools Assessment tests set by the Ausralian Council for Educational Research (ACER). We will be holding these tests in English and in Mathematics in February, but students in these classes will first take some practice (trial) tests in the week of 27th – 31st January. More details will be published shortly.

We welcome Coenie and Val Wesselink to ISM this semester. Coenie will be teaching Mathemtics and taking over the classes taught by Mark Dombkins last term and he will be the tutor for D1F. Val will be the boarding parent for the diploma girls in Kijana.
Marika Farrell takes over as the school’s MYP Coordinator this term. If you have any questions on the MYP programme, please feel free to contact her on .
Keiron White: I will be away from school for the first couple of weeks of this term for personal reasons. If you have any questions, please direct them to Rosemary Bango (Boarding), Rick Fitzpatrick (Diploma), Marika Farrell (MYP), Scott Hawkins (Primary) or Mustafa Madan (Finances) during this time. However I will be able to answer emails periodically.
Totty Aris will be away from Moshi for the first week of school as she is involved with new teacher recruitment. Please see above regarding who to contact during her absence.
Nina Bigg will be away from school for the first 3 days – During this period, Catherine Chibanda will be responsible for the P1/P2 class.
Maggie Farrell will be joining the primary school as a student teacher for this term. We welcome her to Moshi.
A number of student teachers will be joining us later this month from the University of Agder in Norway. They will be working under the supervision of our own teachers for a few weeks this term in various areas of the school.

The ISM calendar is available on Google Calendar and is regularly updated there. You can synchronise your Android phone, iPhone, Windows or other device to this, by searching for the ISM Public Calendar at address intsmoshi@googlemail.com and adding it to your device. (Please do not use this address for emails).

We hope that ISM’s DP students have enjoyed the holiday but have also invested time in their studies. The forty-eight D2 students return for one day of classes on Wednesday January 15th and then their mock exams commence on Thursday January 16th. The mock exams in each of the DP classes serve as a key signpost of how D2 students will likely perform on the official May 2014 exams. Parents will be informed of their child’s performance on the mock exams by late-February.
In the first weeks back D1 students will be busy with normal lessons as well as considerable work related to their Extended Essay (EE). The DP Coordinator will provide D1s with a formal EE (the 4,000-word research paper all full diploma students must write to obtain an IB Diploma) briefing including a listing of EE expectations with the series of due dates to which students will adhere. As early as during the D1 Orientation days in August 2013 and on numerous occasions in the first semester, D1 students had been advised to reflect on topics of interest in which they would write their EE. By mid-February D1 students will submit a preliminary subject interest EE form that will include their three top choices in terms of subjects in which they would prefer to write their EE. After allocating fairly each student to an EE supervisor, D1s will proceed with their EE research and writing. It is expected that twice-monthly students will meet with their EE supervisor. Each month the DP Coordinator will receive from the students a written form signed by the EE supervisor that will show their progress.
Earlier this month the IB released its official results from the November 2013 exams. One ISM DP Group 3 Language B course – Swahili B – is only offered in the annual November exam session. Hence, the formidable task of properly preparing ISM students for this rigorous exam in fifteen months rests heavily on ISM’s experienced teacher Mrs. Anna Malya. Again, this year our students’ results were pleasing with over half the class obtaining a grade 6.
The IB DP’s value received more coverage recently in this informative “debate” setting – www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/12/16/finding-classroom-rigor-in-a-global-curriculum/the-international-baccalaureate-is-a-model-for-educating-global-citizens
The IB’s emphasis on Academic Honesty impels us to ensure all DP students understand it well. This phenomenon dovetails nicely with this recent article that I ask you to discuss with your son/daughter – “Talking to Children About Cheating: Dishonesty Is Worse Than a Bad Grade”: https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/talking-to-children-about-cheating-dishonesty-is-worse-than-a-bad-grade/
During the December 20, 2013 end-of-semester school-wide assembly, six ISM IB DP students received learner profile awards. We commended the six award winners (Most knowledgeable – Jasper Kajiru/Elise Jansson; Most Caring – Twan Duinmayer/Dennis Musanje; Most Open-minded Frieke de Raadt/Carlotta Margheri). Reference was made to the recently deceased great South African leader whose 12-minute video biography is here: www.nytimes.com/video/world/africa/1247465446832/nelson-mandela-1918-2013.html.
As usual feel free to email or call with any questions/concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick Diploma Programme Coordinator

Happy New year! I hope you enjoyed your holiday. I am looking forward to seeing your children back at school on Wednesday 15th January at 7.30am. We will welcome four new students; Chantelay Jacobs, Ella Balestra, Siska Arpots and Chase Natai. We are also looking forward to seeing Tsadia Bercuvitz who is returning to ISM after some time spent in the US. For the first few days we will concentrate on getting to know the new students and helping them settle into the class. We wish them a very smooth transition into our school community.
Unit of Inquiry Our third unit of inquiry this school year is about Life cycles. The central idea is, ‘All living things go through a process of change.’ This week we will begin to look at the central idea together and find out what the children already know about ‘life cycles’ and ‘change’. Next week’s newsletter will contain more detailed information about this unit and how you can be involved as a parent.
Language The children will be encouraged to share their favourite holiday memories. Please help them by talking about what you have done together during this long break from school. We will read the story of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle which will help us tune into our new unit about life cycles. Our art work this week will be focused on this book.
Numeracy Last Semester we began to think about number stories involving simple addition. We will continue to use manipulatives to develop an understanding of ways to represent addition.
Things to remember this week PE on Friday. Please could your child wear their Sports house T-shirt on Friday for PE. New parents can purchase these in the main school office. Please ask if you do not know which house your child is in. New students will need:

• A healthy snack and bottle of water
• A change of clothes to be kept at school in a named plastic bag
• A pair of indoor shoes to be kept at school

Happy New Year! Welcome back, I hope you all had a great break. We start Quarter 3 with a short 3 day week. We welcome a new boy to P1; Joeke Arpots. We will begin our new unit of inquiry, Everything has a Place, in Week 2.
Language focus for the week Write a recount of your holiday. Children will be encouraged to use the language of time. (First, Next, Then, After that, The next day…) Retell a simple story sequencing events in the right order. Handwriting: Patterns, own name, numerals and Caterpillar letters. (c a d g o q ) Phonics: All children will learn about ck words. (ck as in duck)
Maths focus for the week Mental skills will include counting forwards and back to 20 and beyond. Recall addition facts to 10 and 20. Count in 2s, 5s and 10s. Fast recall of doubles. All children will revise basic addition. Fast recall of facts to 10/20. Revise place value (tens and ones). Read, write and order 2 digit numbers.
Art Paint pictures of your holiday.
What to bring to school: Everyday: A hat for playtime, a healthy snack, water bottle and reading folder. Thursday

• Library (We collected in most library bags at the end of last quarter. New books will be chosen)
• New class reading books will be issued.
• Primary Clubs will start Thursday 16th January.

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome back to the third term. I trust that you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday break. This is what our learning in class will look like this week: UOI Unit 4 – Where We Are in Place and Time – Biomes Central Idea – There are a wide variety of environments on our planet made up of living and non-living elements. Lines of inquiry – Types of biomes           Location of different biomes           Interactions of living and non-living things           Human responsibility to share resources with other living things           Preservation of natural environments We will unpack the central idea and locate and identify the different continents, oceans and main lines of latitude.
Maths – Miss Jann’s Group – Equivalent fractions, improper fractions and mixed numbers. Miss Debbie’s Group – Fractions – what they are and how to identify them
Language – Writing recounts of the holidays Completing our anthologies from last term Spelling – group 1 words that end in -ious e.g. envious, various group 2 -ei as in eight e.g. neigh, beige group 3 Consonant blends scr, sl and sn e.g. scrub, slip and snail
Reminders Every day: School T-shirts or polo shirts, zip bags (reading book, reading log, spelling book – many of these were not returned at the end of last term, so please make sure they are sent to school from day 1 and every day thereafter), a healthy snack for break time. Wednesday: Only spelling and reading homework this week. Thursday: Library. Please remember library bags and any books that are due back for return/renewal. Friday: Spelling test Swimming – please remember costumes, towels and sunscreen and goggles if your child uses them.
Looking forward to a great first week of term together. Miss Jann

Greetings and best wishes for a happy new year! I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing break wherever you decided to spend it. It will be lovely to welcome all the children back this coming week and begin a new year and unit in positive fashion. We will begin the week by warmly welcoming three new arrivals into P5 and will commence our new unit, ‘Wild Weather’. This unit will incorporate our three day field trip at the end of this month. I will send a letter home with the children on Wednesday concerning the details of this.
UOI – ‘Wild Weather’ Central Idea: Weather changes as a result of environmental factors and human influences The children will undertake a pre assessment to evaluate what they already know, devise their own research questions and explore the first line of inquiry.
Reading and Writing The children will be revisit their winter break both verbally and in written form whilst we will also begin research into changes in weather patterns brought about by atmospheric changes and take notes on these.
Maths We will look at comparing fractions, decimals and percentages before undergoing a revision test on the fractions’ objectives that we covered in the last semester.
P.E. – is on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday will once again be swimming.
Library – although our designated library slot is on Mondays, I will try to find a convenient time for the children to take out books this week.

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