Moshi Campus News- 2 Feb 2014

This week’s assembly in Karibu Hall is a primary sharing assembly – a chance to hear what your child is doing in his/her PYP unit. All parents are welcome on Monday at 07:40 and may join us for tea/coffee afterwards.

The next Parent Association committee meeting is this Monday. If you wish to meet with the Parent Association committee and discuss any issue with them, you are welcome to see them between 8am and 8:30 tomorrow in Bob Horton’s office.

We welcome you to join us for the M5 Personal Project Exhibition in Karibu Hall on Tuesday February 4th from 10:30am to 3:30pm. The M5 class is very excited to show you their products, and discuss their process and reflection. It has been a big project for them over the school year and we encourage your support on Exhibition Day! An invitation is attached.

We will be holding a presentation in Dar es Salaam to introduce International School Moshi to prospective applicants and their families. If you know any family who may wish to enrol their child in the school in August or who simply wants to know more about ISM, please invite them to attend at the Sea Cliff Hotel on Saturday, 15th February at 10am.
We will also be presenting at the Swahili House in Stone Town, Zanzibar, on Sunday, 16th February at 6pm.
Parents of current ISM students living in Dar es Salaam are invited to meet Bob Horton (Director) and myself (Keiron White, Head of Moshi Campus) for drinks at the Sea Cliff Hotel on Friday evening, 14th February. We will be happy to discuss any issues that you would like about the school. If you would like to join us, could you please email me on or text me on 0767-534766, so that we have an indication of numbers-

The M1 classes from both campuses are undertaking field study this week near Lake Manyara from Wednesday, 5th to Friday, 7th February.

The pre-trip meeting for all those going to the Pares Mountain OP trip will be on Tuesday February 4th, at 10:15am in Room 19. Students must attend if they are going on this trip. After the meeting, be sure to ask your child for the packing list, to ensure you have all the proper items you will need! The Pares trip is on 15th and 16th February.

ISM is having a long weekend holiday from Friday, 21st February to Monday, 24th February inclusive. There will be no classes on the Friday or the Monday of this weekend. Boarders are welcome to travel home for the weekend – however we strongly request that students do not leave school before 6pm on Thursday (20th) and that they return by Monday evening (24th). Students should not miss any classes or activities on other days. Parents who wish their children to travel home are kindly asked to inform the Head of Boarding in good time, for purposes of planning, and normal procedure will follow. You can reach the Head of Boarding on . If your child is using school transport to travel to/from KIA, we will charge $30 per student for the trip on Thursday night/Friday morning/Monday only; you will know that the usual charge in mid-term is $60 per student per trip.
For those boarders who are not travelling away from school, we will be organising a special boarders’ trip (details to follow). This trip will be compulsory for primary and Middle Years boarders (although optional for diploma students).

Swim Clinic Due to a clinic with the ISM Secondary Swim Team, the ISM pool will be closed on Saturday February 8th from 3:45-6:00pm. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Primary Swimming Team In addition to our Wednesday afternoon practices, we will also be running an extra session on Monday afternoons from 2.00pm – 3.00pm for those students in the team who can make it. This is in preparation for the St Constantine’s Gala and the Primary Sports Weekend.
Primary Swimming Gala We can now confirm that our primary swimming gala will be on Wednesday, March 12, 8.00-10.00. This will be a great opportunity for our swim team to have a competition before the St Constantine’s Gala on March 15. It will also be a fun inter-house competition for the whole of primary school.

ISM U19 Basketball Tournament ISM will be hosting their annual U19 Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball tournament, on Saturday February 8th, both in Karibu Hall and on the outdoor courts. Check the sports board later in the week for the tournament schedule, and come on out to support our teams! Go Leopards!

LOOKING FOR SOFTBALL PLAYERS! We are running a Wednesday afternoon Softball League, from 4:30-6:00pm. I am looking for ISM parents to help round out the staff team. We are hoping to have 4 teams altogether, who will play once every two weeks, until June. If you are interested in playing, please email Ms. Farrell at .

D2 students completed their mock exams earlier this week and await their DP teachers’ feedback. By mid-February parents will be advised via email of their child’s results. D1s are finalizing their Extended Essay subject preferences.
For today’s ISM DP students wireless technology, smart phones, I-pads and online research are daily realities. Seen as tools for play and for study, these adolescents raise provocative questions. Two well-respected and serious DP students enquired this week about the question of ethics, internet usage and the online preparation for exams. Navigating issues pertaining to academic honesty and living with integrity in this rapidly changing hyper-linked world for these ISM DP students in 2014 is not easy and not always straight-forward. Please discuss these issues with your child in the ISM DP as your guidance is essential.
The forty-eight members of our D2 graduating class held their first planning meeting regarding the ISM DP graduation events on Friday May 23rd and Saturday May 24th. D2 parents should reserve these dates so you can join in the wonderful celebration! More details to follow in this space in the coming months.
Exercise continues to be an important element of the lives of many of our DP students but sadly far too many still do not have a serious regular routine of physical fitness. This article addresses a related issue. www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/science/obesity-takes-hold-early-in-life-study-finds.html.
Tanzania’s mobile and internet uptake is highlighted in this presentation – of World Bank development indicators.
ISM athletic teams (including the girls’ basketball team this weekend) play a critical role in the holistic development of each student as noted in this article – www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330445/Why-team-sports-really-improve-grades-Link-self-esteem-better-performance-classroom.html.
Looking off into the future, please mark your calendar and plan to attend the parent-teacher conference at the end of this 3rd marking period of the 2013-2014 school year. This important meeting with occur on Friday March 28th
Plans are evolving for an academic symposium on this year’s 20th anniversary of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. Do you know anyone with relevant and extensive professional experience who would be a great speaker to sit on a panel with other experts- Kindly email me if you do.
As usual feel free to email or call with any questions/concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick Diploma Programme Coordinator

Unit of Inquiry We have been amazed at how fast our sunflowers are growing. On Thursday we planted them in the ground with the help of the school gardener and the children recorded this in their growth diaries. Next week we will plant cress seeds and beans under different conditions to find out what living things need to grow and change. We also walked around the school campus to find and record living things.
We began exploring what ‘change’ means from our central idea ‘All living things go through a process of change’. We also began to brainstorm what a life cycle is. We used books, posters and puzzles to help us. Next week we will continue to inquire into life cycles by thinking about the changes that take place as we grow. Literacy EC2 children will find out about the blend ch and sort objects beginning with sh and ch as revision from last week. As we didn’t get to think about z last week we will find out about this letter too! The younger EC1 children will find out about sounds and letters in their name. EC2 children will also work on recognition of high frequency words through word bingo and other matching games. Writing activities will be involved with recording how we grow and change and also recording observations of the growth of our sunflowers. The older children will learn how to label their drawings.
Numeracy We will be using ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd)to order pictures for the different stages of a life cycle. Measurement naturally comes into our discussions about life cycles as we talk about getting taller as we grow. We will measure the sunflowers with cubes and record the information in our diaries. We will also work on weight this week as this is also a factor to think about as living things grow and change.
We look forward to seeing you on Monday morning at 7.40am for the Primary sharing assembly where we will show you how we tuned into the unit of inquiry by finding out about living and non-living things.
Don’t forget;

Swimming on Monday

Library on Tuesday and Friday

House T-shirts and trainers to be worn on Fridays for PE

PYP Sharing Assembly – Monday Parents and carers are invited to attend the Primary sharing assembly in Karibu Hall on Monday 3rd February. All primary classes will share some learning that is happening in their class. P1 and 2 children will demonstrate some sequences they have been creating in gymnastics. The assembly will start around 7.40am and will probably last around half an hour.
P1 and 2 Displays We have two new displays outside our classroom: Tinga Tinga art and also Shape Collage. Please stop and have a look!
New Unit of Inquiry: Everything has a Place Theme – How we organise ourselves Central Idea – People live and work together in communities. Lines of Inquiry: 1. Organisation of communities 2. Roles and responsibilities 3. Similarities and differences between communities We have discussed what a community is. We have talked about ISM as a community. We discussed the school being part of the Moshi community. We will go onto talk about a village community. We will ask Aiden about his grandparents’ village community and how it compares to Moshi.
Language focus for the week Write a recount of the weekend. Children will be encouraged to use the language of time. (First, Next, Then, After that, The next day…) Sentence and word level work will also focus on descriptive language. Write a simple story with a familiar setting. Handwriting: Patterns, own name, numerals and Ladder Letters (litujy) Phonics – Group 1: Words beginning with s blends, sc , sk, sl ,sp ,sw, st, sn, sm   Group 2: o-e as in bone (revise oa as in soap and ow as in snow)
Maths focus for the week Mental skills will focus on counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Quick recall of addition facts of 7, 10 and 20. All children will learn about odd and even numbers, number sequences and time. The children will read o’clock and half past on digital and analogue clocks. Some children will begin to read quarter hour on the clock.
Art We will create African sunset pictures.
What to bring to school: Every day: A hat for playtime, a healthy snack, water bottle and reading folder. Timetable: Monday

New reading books and homework packets including spelling lists will be issued.

PE (wear your house T shirt and shorts for gymnastics) Tuesday

Swimming (swimming costume, towel, flip flops/crocs, swim aids such as floaters if necessary. Goggles and sun cream are optional.) Thursday

Library (Bring library books in your special library bag to return and then choose new ones)

New class reading books will be issued. Friday

Spelling Test

Happy Year of the Horse! We made dragon puppets in class last week to recognize the Chinese New Year.
We have another reason to celebrate in the week ahead- Tuesday marks the 100th Day of School! Our creative writing and math lessons will focus on this milestone of our school year. If your child has an example to bring in of something that is in a set of 100, we would be happy to incorporate that into our fun. (i.e. 100 bottle caps or 100 marbles).
Please do join us on Monday morning for the PYP Sharing Assembly. It should begin around 7:40 in Karibu Hall. Our class will be describing what we are learning about Simple Machines with a song, some examples, an experiment and an amazing feat of strength!
Unit of Inquiry – We will focus on the screw and the pulley in the week ahead. If you happen to have an example of a pulley at home, please send it in on Monday or Tuesday. Here are a few pictures of small groups doing one of the three experiments we did concerning inclined planes.
Math – Measuring length, width, height using centimeters and meters will continue this week. We will review place value as well with the intent to begin learning about carrying over in double and triple digit addition.
Language – We will write up the results of experiments this week using the Scientific Method. Reading groups will focus on retelling stories with proper sequencing. The Spelling chunk of the week is -eed and we will also be doing a review of all Long E phonics.
Homework – One of the pages of homework that will be sent home on Monday involves our Unit, Math, and Procedural Writing. Your student should be able to explain the steps of the assignment.
Monday: PYP Assembly at Karibu Hall; Library, please bring your books and bag. Homework sent home. Wednesday: PE, remember to wear your sneakers and a hat and bring your water bottle. Thursday: Swimming, bring your suit and a towel. Reading books swapped out, bring your Reading Log as well. Friday: Spelling test and return completed homework.

Week four already and into a new month….. time is flying by! This is what our other 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 wrap up our study on the rainforest by considering in greater depth how these environments are threatened and what we can do about it. We will reflect on what we have learned about the rainforest and then move on to looking at other biomes. The children will choose if they would like to work in a small group or on their own and will begin researching a biome of their choice.
Maths – Miss Jann’s Group – Money – using money in real life situations. Different currencies around the world. The relationship between coins and bills in various currencies and linking this to place value, fractions and decimals. Miss Debbie’s Group – Money. The relationship of coins and bills in various currencies. Using money in real life situations.
Language – Factual writing and writing reports. An imaginative story about getting lost in the rain forest. Spelling – group 1- que as in antique e.g. cheque, opaque group 2 the second of the three sounds of -ed e.g. farmed, banged group 3 Consonant blends -nk, -nt, -st e.g. wink, tent, dust Grammar – using apostrophes to denote ownership and in contractions. E.g. elephant’s trunk (the trunk of the elephant) and isn’t (is not)
Reminders Your child may have mentioned our ice-cream sundae times tables challenge. Each week we will be focusing on a different times table and if when tested, the children get 100%, they will earn a part of an ice cream sundae e.g. 2x may get them a cherry, 5 x a bowl, 10x a scoop of ice cream, 3 x a spoon and so on. At the end of the term we will make these ice cream sundaes in class. Please encourage and assist your child to learn their table for the week, so that they can make the most delicious sundae possible as their reward. This week’s table is 10x. (We have already done 2x and 5x)
Every day: School T-shirts or polo shirts, zip bags (reading book, reading log, spelling book all need to come to school each day), a healthy snack for break time. Monday: Primary sharing assembly in K Hall at 7.35am. All parents, family and friends welcome. P3/4 will presenting their song about habitats. Homework handed out – spelling, reading, Maths, language Wednesday: P.E. Please wear house/school T-shirt and shorts or tights (no jeans, skirts or dresses). No need for trainers, as we will be barefoot in the hall for gymnastics. Please see that long hair is tied up. Thursday: Times tables test – 10x. Library. Please remember library bags and any books that are due back for return/renewal. Friday: Hand in homework Spelling test Swimming – please remember costumes, towels and sunscreen and goggles if your child uses them. Class Camp – our annual class camp is scheduled to take place on February 18/19. Letters, packing lists and consent forms will be sent home this week. Please complete and return to school at your earliest convenience. Request – I am collecting large plastic water and/or soda bottles (1½ – 2 litre size) so that we can make biomes in a bottle. If you have any, please send them to school. Thank you! Looking forward to a great week together. Miss Jann

Last week we enjoyed a wonderful few days at Simba farm. It was a pleasure to take your children who made me very proud with their excellent behavior. We returned to take ISA trials tests on Thursday and Friday ending what has been quite an exhausting week for all of us.
UOI – ‘Wild Weather’ Central Idea: Weather changes as a result of environmental factors and human influences The children will learn more about how changes in the atmosphere affect weather and begin to consider how human actions might also influence weather patterns.
They will conduct some simple experiments and use data from the field trip within Maths also.
Reading and Writing The children will practise writing up experiments using different sub-headings and scientific terminology as they draw conclusions from their experiments.
Maths We will use data gained on our field trip relating to air temperature and wind speed in data handling activities sourcing the mean, mode, range and median in sets of data.
P.E. – is on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday will once again be swimming.
Library – will be on Monday morning. Please remind your child to return any finished books.

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