Moshi Campus News – 28 Sept 2014

We would like to invite families to come and join us for the Primary Sports Day on Wednesday, 1st October from 7:35am to 1:05pm. The students will take part in field & track events as well as fun team games. They will be competing with their house mates in Mawenzi, Meru and Kibo, with the emphasis on having fun and respecting each other. When all the events are complete the students will head to the pool for a well-earned swim (so please remember to bring swimming costumes).
Students should arrive at class at normal time for registration with their teacher. There will be no regular classes or clubs held on this day. EC students wil be ready to go home at 11:15 as usual.
What should students bring and wear?

• Appropriate sports/running shoes
• Appropriate sports clothes (including house t-shirt)
• A hat or cap
• Suntan lotion
• A water bottle
• A snack for break time
• A swimming costume and towel

Volunteers from the Parents Association will be selling refreshments from about 9.30 – 12 noon on Wednesday at the Primary Sports. This includes tea, coffee, juice, water, muffins, cakes and snacks. If you can help by baking something to be sold, that would be much appreciated. Please just bring anything you can make to the stand on Wednesday. Funds raised will be used to support PA projects in the school.

There will be no primary classes on Thursday, October 2nd. You and your primary child are invited to attend a three-way chat about your child’s progress and goals for this academic year. Your child will come with you and leave with you. This is a chance for your child to talk about school, your child’s teacher to give some input and you to listen and ask questions. At the end of Quarter 2 we will have a two-way conference when you can meet with your child’s teacher on your own. We also issue a full report in December..
Activities will be organised for the primary boarders when they are not attending their own 3-way conferences.

The M2 class are “Off to the Coast!” from Monday 29th Sept to Thursday 2nd Oct this week for a transdisciplinary study between Individuals and Societies and Mathematics, at the school’s Kiraha beach house in Pangani. The group will be joined by their Arusha counterparts for a fun filled study. By the look of things, the group is all set and ready to go.

Classes will end for this quarter on Friday, 3rd October. Boarders should return to school on Sunday, 19th October and classes will re-start on Monday, 20th October.
All secondary students will receive their reports on Thursday, 2nd October. For students in M1 to D1, these are brief interim reports designed to give you an indication of your child’s progress so far this semester. The D2 students will receive a full detailed report. If you would like a soft copy of your child’s report, please email .
As usual there will be Parent-Teacher meetings for parents of secondary students in Karibu Hall on Friday, 3rd October from 10:30am to 12 noon. All parents are very welcome to these meetings and we strongly encourage you to attend if possible so as to learn more of your child’s progress.
There will be an End of Quarter Assembly for all students on Friday, 3rd October from 9:15am to 10:15am. Parents are very welcome to attend.
Students will be free to leave school from 10:15am on Friday, 3rd October.
Parents of boarders are requested to advise Rosemary Bango on as soon as possible of any travel arrangements for their children. In particular, if your child is travelling by air, please email his/her air ticket and advise us if you want us to take him/her to Kilimanjaro Airport.

Over the past weeks in MYP, students have been focusing on fully understanding the basic terminology and elements of music – fundamental concepts that will underpin everything they do for the rest of the year and in years to come. M4 and M5 in particular have been looking at these elements through the lens of “What is music?” and how the idea of “aesthetically pleasing” music will mean different things to each culture, country, person, etc. Students were given the opportunity to create their own short melody from scratch, working in groups, and attempted to manipulate it in some way to push boundaries in terms of what would sound “good” to our ears. Students had varying degrees of success. However it clearly was a great exercise overall, as many students reflected that they now have a better appreciation for the work that it takes to create a melody that they are both happy with and is also notated correctly.

D2 students applying to universities in the USA may need to take SAT tests which are being held in Moshi on November 8th. D2 students applying to North American universities may need to take the TOEFL Paper-based test in school on November 15th. The registration deadline for these tests is 3rd October. If you think your child needs to take these tests, please let me, Keiron White, know.

We would like to remind all parents that non-Tanzanian students of all ages are required to have their own Class C Residence Permit in Tanzania and that the school is required by the immigration authorities to retain a copy of this permit in school. If you have not already done so, could you please scan and email a copy of your child’s current permit to me, Keiron White, on . Please also email if this is likely to be difficult for any reason, so that we can help resolve any problems.

We are drawing towards the end of our Q1 primary clubs. Thank you to our teacher leaders and especially our parent volunteers, Stephanie Costa, Nick Reynolds, Noah Ssengendo and Kacey Buckley for giving up their time to enhance our primary clubs programme. All clubs this quarter will end on Tuesday 30 September. Unfortunately, the Cookery club has already ended, students who stay on that day will play board games. Music Fun Club is the only club to continue on Wednesday as they are performing in the assembly on Friday and so they will have an additional session on Wednesday afternoon 2-3pm.
We have sent an email regarding the Q2 clubs, you can also follow the link to www.uwcea.org/clubs to submit your child’s choices. Please submit by the end of Monday.
We had hoped to start a Ballet club next quarter but the teacher has not returned yet; hopefully she will be here in January. We do however have a Dance Club run by our Diploma students. We also have a new drama club for students who wish to have a role in our forthcoming production ‘Around the world in 80 minutes’ as well as a new ‘Space & the Stars’ club for younger students. Many of the popular clubs such as athletics, lego and swimming will continue. Our Fun Science will also continue as a last minute addition; we have added this to the form. This time the science club will focus on a fun way of looking at body science. The Football Club will be choosing their competitive team in the first week of quarter 2; following that week the ‘team students’ will have an extra 30 minutes every Thursday to tone their skills towards competition.
You are warmly welcome to our celebration assembly on the last day of the quarter, Friday 3rd October at 9:15am, when we hand out a few IB Learner profile certificates. Our Music Fun Club will also be performing. School ends straight after the assembly, although if you are meeting with secondary teachers you are welcome to leave your child under the supervision of our teaching assistants.

Next quarter we will be celebrating UN Day at a special assembly on 27th October, and many students will also wish to celebrate Hallowe’en. Many boarders may wish to return next quarter with a national costume or something to wear for Hallowe’en.

D1 students all reviewed and signed the Diploma Retention Policy and the Academic Honesty Policy in their Life Skills class this week. The DP Retention Policy states that ‘At the end of the first quarter of their D1 year, all full diploma students will be expected to have a minimum of 20 points (obtained by adding the reported achievement grades from their six subjects excluding ToK and EE). Any student achieving fewer than 20 points at this stage, or who have fewer than 10 points in their higher level subjects, will be required to undertake a reduced programme.’ The minimum achievement levels for the second quarter are 22 points total and 11 points on higher levels. The minimum achievement levels when the totals of the end-of-D1 year exams are calculated are 24 points total and 12 points on higher levels. Parents of D1 students who have not made the minimum levels will be imminently contacted.
We hope that many D1 and D2 parents will journey to Moshi for the invaluable parent-teacher conferences on the morning of next Friday October 3rd. It cannot be overstated how critical this 1-1 contact is for all four stakeholders – students, parents, teachers and the DP Coordinator – that these consultations occur.
It is imperative that DP students not leave before the conclusion of classes on Friday October 3rd and return to ISM so that they are ready for classes on Monday, October 20th.
DP students eagerly await the release on Thursday October 2nd of the reports for the first academic quarter of 2014-2015. D2 students will receive a full report with narrative sections prepared by each teacher. D1 students will receive a report that lists the grade itself and the full report for D1s will come in December 2014.
Feel free to contact the ISM IB DP office via email to if you have any questions or concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick – DP Coordinator

This week we are finishing work on our final line of inquiry; “personal progress and development”. The children will be sequencing their three photographs and talking about how they have developed since they were a baby. We have the primary school visiting on Tuesday to look round our museum and ask the children questions about their photographs and artefacts.
On Wednesday it is Sports Day starting at 7:35am. I look forward to seeing all the children in their house T-shirts, shorts, running shoes and a hat. They should also bring a water bottle. Our EC races will be immediately after the opening ceremony and be finished by approximately 9.30am. Please come along to support your child.
On Thursday we look forward to welcoming you to the three way conference. Your time slot will be sent to you early next week. After the conference please spend some time looking at your child’s museum space and ask them questions about it. There is no regular school for primary on Thursday.
On Friday there will be an end of Quarter assembly at 9.15 that should be over by 10.15. School finishes after the assembly but we are happy to look after your child if you have secondary school conferences to attend.

Information for Parents As it is the last week of the quarter, our schedule is quite different for this week. On Wednesday, we will have our Primary Sports Day. Please make sure your child wears his or her house shirt that day. House shirts are also needed for Friday for our end of the quarter assembly.
We will have conferences on Thursday. On Monday a letter will go home letting you know your scheduled conference time. There will also be a goal sheet attached. Please look it over, write any comments, and send it back before the conference day. That will help us use our conference time wisely.
The children will be released at 10:15 on Friday after our assembly. Please arrange for your child to be collected early that day.
There will still be a homework packet next week, but there will not be a spelling test on Friday.
Literacy Focus for the Week In our journals this week, P1 students will work on proper sentence structure. P2 students will work on telling a story. The P1 students will be working on letter sounds and reading short words. The P2 students will be doing a lot of reading and working on blends er and ir.
Math Focus for the Week Children will be working on adding strategies this week.
Unit of Inquiry We will start a new unit this week in which we will learn about homes around the world. We will start by asking some questions about why people build houses and what types of houses are in the world.
What to Bring to School: Children need a hat for playtime and a healthful snack every day.
Timetable Monday: Library (we will choose new books) Wednesday: Sports Day (house shirt, proper shoes, sunscreen, and a hat)

This week the children have been working with rhyme in English, whilst in Maths they have been adding and subtracting multiples of 10 and 100 from a given starting number and partitioning numbers in order to add and subtract. In unit and IT we have begun researching our physical world: continents, countries and where in the world we are from. During PE lessons we have been recording our throwing and jumping distances, and practising our strokes in the pool.
Language Focus for This Week: Poets and poems from around the world.
Maths Focus for This Week: More addition and subtraction strategies, both mental and written.
Unit of Inquiry: The children will begin to research and find out more about their own choice of ethnic group. I would welcome any parent participation during this unit. Come and tell the P3s about your traditions and culture. If you would be willing to give a presentation, read a story or express yourself in any way (!), please let me know and we can arrange a mutually convenient time.
Please Remember that: Monday: PE and homework folders sent home. Friday: All homework folders to be handed in. Spelling test day. Next Wednesday is our Sports Day. House T-shirts and colours please, as well as running shoes, hats and sunscreen. Next Thursday is our Three-Way-Conference day – make sure you booked a slot! Friday is the final day of the quarter.

Information for Parents This week will be a very busy week. We will have our Primary Sports Day on Wednesday. Please make sure children wear their house shirt and trainers that day. We will enjoy free swimming at the pool when the sports events are finished, so please send their swimming kit to school that day. I look forward to meeting with all of you on Thursday to discuss your child’s goals for the year. We will not have homework packets or spelling lists next week.
Language focus for the week We will continue our study of nouns, focusing on the difference between common and proper nouns. We will go on a hunt for features of non-fiction material and review how we can use them to better understand what we read.
Maths focus for the week We will look at various timetables and use them to collect data and answer questions. We will be working more on elapsed time and solving time-based word problems.
Unit of Inquiry This week the children really enjoyed going to various stations to begin tuning into some of the vocabulary and concepts in our new unit of study. Activities included a water wheel experiment, creating a computer collage, watching an energy presentation, and using web sites to find information. Next week we will present our PowerPoint presentations about types of physical geography to wrap up our last unit. We will also do some mind-mapping activities and generate questions about our new unit.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday: PE (Wear PE shoes. House shirts are not required since they will need them Wednesday.) Wednesday: Primary Sports Day (Wear house shirt and trainers. Bring along swim kit.) Thursday: No School for children (Three-way conferences)

Last week the students have been tuning into their new unit about the solar system. They did this by carrying out thinking routines such as See, Think, Wonder and 3-2-1 Bridge. These train the students to think more deeply into an issue, e.g. to think about what they really know or can work out.
The children also worked in threes to come up with a TV news report drama based on the 1969 moon landing. First they had to read and process the information, then come up with a script and finally practise their plays. They delivered their finished work to an audience of their peers who provided each team with feedback.
The P5/6s have also been identifying the features of a newspaper. On Friday they wrote their first newspaper article based on what they have learned so far.
The boards in and around the classroom are vibrant with timelines from our previous unit. They are causing a lot of excitement from both older and younger students. We invite parents to come and have a look at their own child’s work as well as that of their classmates.
Current Unit (Central Idea): Life on Earth is dependent on how the solar system works.
Maths: Reflecting, translating, rotating shapes.
English: Every week the students have three short guided reading sessions where they either work in a small group with the teacher or they work independently on a structured task related to the text.
Monday: Homework will be set for the week | Library session | Clubs as normal Tuesday: Last day of clubs for this quarter Wednesday: Primary Sports Day | No classes | No clubs Thursday: 3 way conferences (teacher – parent – student) | No formal school | No clubs Friday: Homework due in | 9.15 Assembly | 10.15 Primary School ends | End of Quarter 1

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