Moshi Campus News – 2 March 2014

This Monday’s assembly at 7:35am will be led by the P2/3 class. We look forward to our parents joining us for this week’s assembly to share what our busy P2/3 students have been doing. All students (except D1) will attend this assembly.




Our primary leaf tree which shows the attitudes and learner profiles awarded to our primary students.

The PA Committee will again be meeting on Monday, 3rd March. If you wish to meet with the committee to discuss any issues, you are welcome to do so at 8am in the Director’s Office.

Our M3 students will be exhibiting and explaining the results of their scientific research on Wednesday, 5th March from 10:35am to 3:30pm in Karibu Hall. All are welcome.

Our secondary swim gala will be held on Friday, 7th March. There will be no regular classes for secondary students on that day, but all students are expected to swim or support their house. Students should wear house colours on Friday.

The primary swimming gala is the following week on Wednesday, 12th March.

The International Festival at ISM Arusha Camus is on Saturday, 8th March. Moshi Campus will be represented by a number of different music groups performing and our basketball players taking part in a competition. Parents are welcome to join all in Arusha. Events held on that day will raise funds for some projects on the Arusha Campus.

Stine completes the half marathon

HOW ABOUT THOSE LEOPARD MEN?!?! UNDEFEATED in the 2014 calendar year!!!
2014 ORKEESWA SHOWDOWN CHAMPIONS. STAT LINE for all three games played: Daniel M: 23 Points, 14 Rebounds, 9 Steals, 1 Blocked Shot; Siamito: 6 Points, 13 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 1 Steal; Twan: 16 Points, 9 Rebounds, 5 Steals; Leo: 23 Points, 21 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 1 Steal; David: 13 Points, 11 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 2 Rebounds.
THE LEOPARD LADIES made it to the Championship Game Saturday, 15 Feb @ Orkeeswa. Playing their 3rd game in continuous succession they gave Orkeeswa a fight but went down 14-6. STATISTIC TOTALS for ALL THREE GAMES ARE: Jocelyne: 1 Rebound; Gladybabez Marie: 5 Points, 3 Rebounds; Mkami: 7 Points, 3 Rebounds, 1 Steal; Stine: 3 Points, 14 Rebounds, 1 Steal; Susanne: 1 Rebound; Edna: 8 Points, 8 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 3 Steals, 1 Blocked Shot; Winnie: 5 Points, 20 Rebounds, 2 Steals. WAY 2 GO GIRLS!!!

The M1 humanities class has had an exciting quarter studying the Origins of Early humans that saw them go on a trip to Lake Manyara and try to address the question “How did early humans develop technology to help them survive?” In the past week the students worked on cartoon strips trying to explain how early man evolved from an ape to a bipedaled hominid.
M2 class focused on Medieval ages and in the past two months they have been studying how life was in the middle ages and will compare that time with our lives today. The students enjoyed creating different types of castles and the products are seen below. The task showed the interdisciplinary nature of the subject combining Art and Technology.
Stone Keep Motte and Bailey Castle Concentric Castles
The M3 students on the other hand have been studying the Geography of disease trying to get a better understanding and awareness of ways people contribute to the prevention, treatment and eradication of disease; and address ways one can prevent the spread of disease.
M4 students are seen below at the schools “Stevenson’s screen” about to get readings for humidity from the hygrometer inside. They are studying weather and climate and are focusing on the causes and effects of climate change.
Last but not least the M5 class is studying The League of Nations this quarter and for the past two weeks they have focused on the Rwandan Genocide in preparation for a symposium to be held later in April (the memorial month) in Arusha that will have three guest speakers.

We have been reviewing our charges for use of school facilities and are now going to collect some additional charges in order to put more funds towards support of the facilities themselves. As you may already know, parents and ISM students may use the swimming pool free of charge, but we charge all other users, who need to purchase a card from the main school office.
If anyone is using school facilities to offer a charged service to the community, we will ask the provider to contribute towards the cost of maintaining facilities. For example, we are now making a charge for those paying for tennis lessons in school. However we will not charge parents of ISM students for using the tennis courts for practice at times when they are not needed for students. Other visitors (who do not have children in the school) will soon be asked to pay a fee for using any facilities such as the tennis courts.

More details will follow as these arrangements become firm.

Our work educating tomorrow’s leaders in the ISM DP involves on-going learning of pertinent skills and relevant content. As is evident from the sample below one’s education in the DP at Moshi is akin to the knowledge required in the ‘real world’ as ISM’s DP classrooms include technology-incorporated, critical thinking-based lessons. Three-person teams in Geography make well-informed Geography presentations on “Energy”; Economics students are assessed with four extended-response questions related to monopolistic competition; French B students analyze the nuances of ‘The Little Prince’; History students critically analyze in writing the Algerian War for Independence; Reproduction, heredity and variation are studied in Biology; Math students work through equations in Trigonometry; Visual Arts students pattern their studio art pieces around a cohesive theme; Theory of Knowledge (TOK) students write an essay in response to this IB title – “When the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to resemble nails” (Abraham Maslow). How might this apply to ways of knowing, as tools, in the pursuit of knowledge?
In line with the above and by coincidence, this week’s most read article on the NY Times website is entitled: How to Get a Job at Google (www.uwcea.org/dip08).
D1 students identified their Extended Essay research question and now begin the in-depth research over the coming month and this will serve as an essential foundation to their work in the coming half-year on the EE.
D2 oral examinations and TOK essays are being completed these weeks and then full attention can be put onto the preparations for the May 2014 exams.
On another warm sunny and magnificently beautiful afternoon in Moshi this week, all forty-eight D2s posed under the trees in full bloom in their white shirt/dark pants outfit. Their May 24th graduation theme will be ‘Hollywood’ and their chosen class speakers will be Lilian Mubangizi (Swahili) and Peter Kraft (English).
Two IB DP graduates (2011 & 2012) studying presently at a top-ranked Canadian university conveyed this week how well their studies in the ISM IB DP facilitated their ability to succeed in higher education. We get this type of message regularly! This article conveys the same point – www.uwcea.org/dip09.
As usual feel free to email or call with any questions/concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick Diploma Programme Coordinator

We said goodbye to Siska on Friday who was a member of the class for about 6 weeks. We hope that she will transition well into her new school in the Netherlands.
Unit of Inquiry This week we will finish work on the life cycle of a frog and start on the life cycle of a hen. We will also measure our sunflowers and record the changes that we see. Last week we sequenced pictures of our pea seed growth which we watched grow very quickly in a glass jar.
Literacy New EC1 children will be introduced to Hairy Hat man making the h sound and Talking Tess making the t sound. EC 1 children will work on sounds with which they are unfamiliar. EC2 children will use magnetic letters to make CVC words with the short e sound and play sight word games to continue to develop their sight vocabulary.
Numeracy We didn’t start our work on 3D shapes last week so we will begin to explore those this week. Number continues at the children’s own level.
Portfolios. In less than 4 weeks we have our two way portfolio conferences when your child will demonstrate their learning. Work will be continuing on preparing for these conferences. They will be held on Thursday March 27th. Please watch out for further details soon.
On Monday 17th March there will be a ‘dress up as your favourite book character’ day. We will have a special assembly that marks the beginning of book week. Please begin to think about the costume your child will wear that day.

New Unit of Inquiry: Going Going…Gone Theme – How we share the planet Central Idea – Many species of animals are endangered and some are already extinct. Lines of Inquiry: 1. The basic needs of animals. 2. Factors leading to endangerment of species. 3. Humans responsibility to share the planet. We pulled apart the central idea and talked about what endangered and extinct mean. We browsed non fiction books and looked at some of the many children’s websites about this topic. This week we will focus on the needs of animals, particularly food.
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. Handwriting: Patterns, own name, numerals and One Armed Robot Letters (bhkpmnr) Phonics – Group 1: Introduce long vowel sounds, ay as in play Group 2: or as in fork and ore as in sore.
Maths focus for the week Mental skills will focus on counting on and back from any number. Quick recall of addition facts of 5, 6, 10 and 20. All children will continue to learn about data handling. P1s will go onto learn more about place value (tens and ones). They will find 10 more. P2s will learn to add multiples of ten to a number. They will also be introduced to multiplication. They will record number sentences using x and =.
Art – We will create camouflage 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

We hope to see as many parents as possible on Monday morning in Karibu Hall. It is our class’s Assembly and we will be presenting on the wonderful things we’ve learned and done during our Simple Machines unit. The students have worked hard to prepare for the Assembly so please join us!
Please think ahead with your child about the next school assembly on March 17th for Book Week. All students have been told that they should consider a book character who they would like to dress up as in costume. What fun!
We have another great unit ahead- Tanzania! We will start the unit this week by considering where Tanzania is on the globe. This will give us the chance to talk about continents and oceans before narrowing down to Africa. Over the course of the unit we will be considering the geographical and cultural traits that make this country so unique.
MATHS – Students have made good progress with their ability to count sums of money and to put together the proper coins needed to make a sum. P2 group will begin the concept of regrouping when adding double digit numbers.
LANGUAGE – We will read more non-fiction and look at atlases. We will discuss the text features of maps and how to properly read them. I feel obliged to insert a joke here from my husband about my ability to read a map when we are exploring new places but I promise that I will not lead your children astray. We will discussing making mental images when reading fiction and we will do several activities incorporating the book for our Book Week door. We will also review Long O phonetic patterns this week.
Monday: 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.

Congratulations to all the members of P3/4 who took part in the Primary Sports Weekend swimming gala and/or soccer tournament. We were very well represented and the children did our school and themselves proud.
This is what our learning in class will look like this week: UOI We have just one or two things to finish off on our Biomes unit (summative assessment task and the viewing of some DVDs) and we will then be starting Unit 5 – How we organise ourselves – “People Helping People”. Central Idea: People around the world are engaged in helping others in need. Lines of Inquiry: Identifying people in need         The motivation to help others         Empowering people to help themselves         Structure and function of humanitarian organisations We will unpack the central idea and begin to look at who the people in need are and how we identify/recognise them.
Maths – Miss Jann’s Group -Assessment on money. Units of measurement and the relationship between these units, beginning with length, height and distance. Miss Debbie’s Group – Measurement – estimating metres and centimetres, measuring length and comparing length.
Language – Anecdotal writing and recounts. Reading comprehension and word studies. Grammar – degrees of comparison and homonyms. Spelling – Group 1: words ending in -ition e.g definition, nutrition Group 2: Words with double consonants e.g hopping, sitting Group 3: consonant digraphs i.e. two letters together that make a new sound, but not the usual sound of the letters
Reminders Our ice cream sundae times table challenge Please encourage and assist your child to learn their table for the week, so that they can make the most delicious sundae possible at the end of this term.
Every day: School T-shirts or polo shirts, zip bags (reading book, reading log, spelling book all need to come to school every day), a healthy snack for break time. Monday: Whole school assembly in K Hall 7.35am. Homework handed out. Wednesday: P.E. – gymnastics. Please wear shorts or tights and school or house t-shirts. Long hair should be tied up. Thursday: Library. Please remember library bags and any books that are due back for return/renewal. Times tables test – 3x Friday: Homework due in. Spelling test. P.E.- swimming
Looking forward to a great week together. Miss Jann

Last week we pinpointed the nature of the P6 Exhibition inquiries and P5 began their unit on Law and Order.
UOI – P5 Unit 5 – ‘Law and Order’ Central Idea: Different communities and groups establish different rules by which they operate The children have finished establishing class rules and will next week focus on laws and punishments from the past and find out what punishments still exist.
P6 Exhibition Unit – ‘Shaping positive change’ Central Idea: A rapidly changing planet requires modern approaches, thinking and action The children will begin their research which rather was rather restricted this week due to a lack of power in the IT suite at crucial times. They should be encouraged to carry out research at home or in their spare time.
Reading and Writing For P6 Language lessons will be consumed by work on the exhibition now which will involve much reading, note taking and writing up. P5 will be drafting laws and latterly comparing them with instructions.
Maths Last week we categorized and described properties of 2D shapes and various triangles. Next week we will begin to explore the properties of 3D shapes; to verbalise them, draw them, label them and make them using nets.
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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