Moshi Campus News – 7 Dec 2014

Tuesday, 9th December is Tanzania’s Independence Day and is a public holiday. There are no classes in school this Tuesday.

On November 25th (Moshi) and November 26th (Arusha), I had the pleasure of delivering a State of the School Address at the Parents’ Association Annual General Meeting. I have pleasure in attaching a copy of this address in the hope that you will find it interesting.
Bob Horton
Director

Our secondary drama group will be performing the farce, Funny Money, by Ray Cooney, on Thursday and Friday this week in Karibu Hall. All are welcome. The performance starts at 7pm each evening. Tickets cost TSh 5,000 for adults and TSh 2,000 for students and are available from Recption in school or at the door. This performance is not recommended for primary students.

Our Sports Weekend was a great success and we are very proud of our students both for their skills and awards in the sports, and for their sportsmanship and good hosting throughout the weekend. 3 days – 9 schools. Here are the gold and silver positions for each event:

Event	Champions	Silver
Senior Girls Netball	Orkeeswa	ISM A
Senior Coed Ultimate Frisbee	ISM	MIS
Senior Girls Rugby	Orkeeswa	ISM
Senior Boys Rugby	ISM	Orkeeswa
Senior Coed Softball	ISM	ISMAC
Senior Tennis	ISM	ISMAC
Senior Coed Volleyball	Orkeeswa	HOPAC
Swim Gala	IST	ISMAC
Junior Girls Football	IST	ISMAC
Junior Boys Football	ISM	IST
Intermediate Boys Football	Orkeeswa	ISMAC
Senior Girls Football	ISMAC	HOPAC
Senior Boys Football	SCIS	HOPAC
Junior Girls Basketball	Braeburn	Orkeeswa
Junior Boys Basketball	Braeburn	Orkeeswa
Intermediate Boys Basketball	ISMAC	Orkeeswa
Senior Girls Basketball	Orkeeswa	ISMAC
Senior Boys Basketball	Braeburn	ISM

ISM Moshi Campus has been active with Creative Action and Service (CAS) activities this semester. As we say goodbye to 2014 and move into 2015, we look back at a few memories from the CAS program. This term we watched woodworkers eagerly build benches and gadgets. We also saw secondary students keenly dance to hip hop and street music. The steel drum band was a new addition to the mix and let’s not forget this year’s school production “Funny Money”. The CAS program boasted a number of activities for the active mind including the Model United Nations and Debate and Dialogue at Watu Secondary School. ISM students can also be proud of committing themselves to service activities that included; teaching English at Rau Primary School, Roots and Shoots at Mji Mpya Secondary School, Painting Moshi Kindergarten, a partnership with the Bahath Center, and painting a mural near the tennis courts.
There will be no regular CAS (Creative or Service) activities for secondary students this week, 8th to 12th December. Instead of meeting for the normally scheduled Creative or Service activity, students will attend a “Service Learning Seminar”. During this seminar we will work in groups to share and reflect on our CAS experiences this semester. By the end of the week all students will have 1) Collaborative CAS reflections completed and 2) an essential agreement created for code of conduct when we work with local schools and organizations.
The Service Learning Seminars will take place in Room 32 as follows:

M1-M3	Monday, 8th December, 3pm-4pm
M4-M5	Wednesday, 10th December, 3pm-4pm
D1-D2	Thursday, 11th December, 3pm-4pm

A reminder that there are no primary clubs this week. Please check your class information below for timings for the rehearsals for the Primary Show. The Drama club will be rehearsing Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 2.00-3.30pm.
Q3 Clubs (January to March 2015) An email has been sent to all parents with an overview of the clubs. Please submit your child’s form at www.uwcea.org/clubs by Wednesday, 10 December. Some clubs only have limited numbers so second options may get picked.
Primary Show – Around the World in 80 Minutes All students will be needed for our rehearsal on Sunday, 14 Dec at 14.00-16.00. The play will be performed on Monday, 15 Dec at 18.30. We look forward to a fun production combining the talents of the drama club and class performances. Our PA have kindly offered to provide refreshments during the interval.

The brownies and guides are still in need of items for their ‘bags of love’ for the day care children’s holiday gifts. We intend to give these out after the ISM break so if you are travelling and can purchase any of the following we would be very grateful: toiletries, colouring books, pencils, crayons, markers, story books, sweets, clothes, small toys and soft toys. Please note that the children are 3 to 5 years old only. Please bring your donations to Ms Debbie or Ms Annalee by Friday 16th January.

Secondary music students have had lots going on over these last few weeks of the term. All MYP students have been wrapping up their units by finishing compositions, performing dances to drum rhythms, or turning in projects on either self-designed instruments or the history of a traditional orchestral instrument. There has been great progress made in both their knowledge of larger ideas within music as well as specific music literacy knowledge and skills.
In the Diploma program, the D2 students had another recorded performance on Friday (for all the primary students) in order to add another piece to their performing portfolio, which is an important part of their internal assessment. For them, they now entire the final stretch of preparations for their listening paper in May and to complete their portfolios by April. The D1 students have finished their studies of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque time periods and are starting to move into the Classical period of western music history. As well, they are starting to do more critical listening activities where they are asked to analyse and pick out specific musical elements from pieces that are unknown to them. Both the D1 and D2 students are preparing for a combined Diploma recital in mid-February to showcase their performing skills. Look for more details to come in the new year!

Last Tuesday the boot-camp sports group organized a special “healthy” dinner to celebrate their hard work this semester. We were joined by chef Bernadette, who taught the students about healthy eating and kitchen hygiene, but also taught them how to prepare a healthy meal for themselves. The students got busy chopping vegetables, meat and fish and each prepared their own stir-fry with rice. Mr. and Mrs. Horton were kind enough to let us host the event in their home and we would like to thank them for their hospitality. It was a fun, educational afternoon and a great way to learn more about the importance of a healthy lifestyle.
Perhaps your son or daughter can prepare a healthy meal for you during the break to show you what they have learned. Ms. Farrell & Ms. Anine

Twenty two students were selected from P3, P4, P5 and P6 to make up two teams who played at the Kennedy House Rounders Tournament. They spent an enjoyable day competing against Braeburn, St Constantine’s and Kennedy House. Despite their relative inexperience with this sport the ISM children gave a valiant effort and improved in every match. The fielding became very tight and the games were quite high scoring. Well done to all the students involved and special thanks to Ms Inma and Ms Catherine for assisting with this trip. Kate Schermbrucker




 

In Chemistry, the M5 group have completed a unit on stoichiometry and solutions, and have now begun a unit on rates of reaction. On Tuesday we modelled the theory of particle collisions in Karibu Hall by having teams of students behave as different species of particle and, if they collided, they had to guess a number the other “particle” was thinking. We observed what happens if temperature is increased (walking faster), the volume is decreased (space available is smaller), activation energy is increased (you could choose from a bigger range of numbers) and the orientation of molecules is a significant factor.
On Friday, the M5s started carrying out a fairly classic chemistry experiment: measuring the rate of reaction between hydrochloric acid and sodium thiosulfate as concentration is varied. The students were given instructions on a sheet of paper, shown the equipment they’d need and were then provided with no other guidance, and did very well with almost nobody needing any extra help. They collected some data and will continue next week, carrying out repeats so that they can assess the reliability of their data. With some groups the problems of cross-contamination became evident as pipettes were swapped between reagent bottles, making the sodium thiosulfate precipitate sulfur prematurely, but the students have now learned a valuable lesson about keeping things clean in chemistry!

Monday, 15th December: Reports will be issued for primary students.
18:30 – Primary Show

Tuesday, 16th December: No classes for primary students. Primary Parent-teacher consultations at pre-arranged times. If parents bring their children they can be supervised at the playground.

Tuesday, 16th December: Normal classes for secondary students.
Reports will be issued for secondary students.
If you would like to receive a digital copy of your child’s report by email, please send a request to .

Wednesday, 17th December: 8am – D1 Raft Race – all welcome.
9am – School Assembly in Karibu Hall.
10:15 – Students free to leave school.
10:35 – 12 noon – Secondary parent-teacher meetings in Karibu Hall.
If your child will need transport to KIA, please contact Rosemary Bango on as soon as possible with full flight details.
The school office will be closed during the holidays between Wednesday, 24th December and Sunday, 4th January. Urgent matters in this period can be dealt with by email to Keiron White on .

This is a reminder tht the due date for payment of the 3rd quarter fees (for all families paying in quarterly instalments) was 1st December. If you have not yet paid, please do so immediately in order to avoid a 10% surcharge on the fees.
Unfortunately many families have not yet completed their payments on 2nd quarter fees. If you are in this position, your child will not be issued with a report next week and will also be asked not to return for the 3rd quarter in January. Please do ensure that you are fully up to date with fee payments. Questions about fees can be directed to our accounts office at

D2 students have commenced their prep work for their seven school days of mock exams that will run from January 16-26. DP parents should not remove their children prior to the last day of school – Dec 17th – and ensure that they are back for the first day of lessons by Wed January 14th. One cannot overstate how detrimental it is to their education when parents – often unwittingly – set up vacation schedules wherein school days are missed.
It is great to hear that many DP parents are planning to attend the end-of-semester one parent-teacher conference on the morning of Wed Dec 17th. Our job as educators is enhanced tremendously by parental involvement and these parent-teacher meetings are a critical element of this process.
This is another reminder that the ISM IB Diploma Retention Policy has another critical benchmark later this month as it states, “At the end of the second quarter, all full diploma students will be expected to have a minimum of 22 points (obtained by adding the reported achievement grades from their six subjects excluding ToK and EE). Any student achieving fewer than 22 points at this stage (or achieving fewer than 11 HL points) will be required to undertake a reduced programme with either fewer subjects or with fewer higher levels in consultation with the Diploma Programme Coordinator”.
Sadly, we have had several cases of academic dishonesty among ISM DP students this year. We are convinced that parental dialogue on this matter may help prevent similar cases in the future.
On-going poor time management associated with healthy habits (particularly with regard to insufficient sleep) prompts me to want to inform DP parents to kindly reiterate to them the importance of getting enough sleep to be successful in the day-time school lessons. Use this article if you wish – www.uwcea.org/dip62.
My hometown’s decision to move towards the IB DP is highlighted in this article that sets out why the IB DP is such a super credential: www.uwcea.org/dip63.
Feel free to contact me with any DP-related questions or concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick – DP Coordinator

Many thanks to all those parents and children who brought their pets into visit last week. We had a hen, dog, rabbit and tortoise and were able to find out what they eat and drink, how they exercise, where they sleep and who looks after them. If there are any other pets that could visit next week then we would be very pleased to see them.
The unit of inquiry is coming to an end. We are continuing with our pet brochures for our language work and finding more information out about how to look after guinea pigs, cats and dogs. Our large animal wall frieze is still work in progress.
We will also inquire into endangered animals and our responsibilities to try and prevent this happening. We have already talked about this issue and it is amazing what young children already know about it.
We will be having many dance practices for the play this week. Please see the note sent home with all the details about extra practices for your child to attend.
Our maths work will involve the children finishing their weight activities and we will also work on length and height, with children comparing and ordering heights and lengths. EC2 children will be measuring using non-standard units.

 

Information for Parents Just a reminder that there will be no Primary Clubs this week. Instead, P1/P2 will need to stay at school until 3:00 on Monday, December 8th and Thursday, December 11th. You will need to arrange a lunch for your child on those days just as you do on their club days. There will also be a dress rehearsal on Sunday, December 14th at 2:00 pm. Thanks for your help with this.
Looking ahead a bit, please plan to attend the drama performance where we will be singing on Monday, December 15th at 6:30 pm. Then we will have parent teacher conferences on Tuesday. Finally the last day of school for the semester will be December 17th.
Literacy Focus for the Week We will continue to read in our reading groups this week. Thank you for continu-ing to read with your child every day at home. P1 children will work forming CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words, and P2 children will work with compound words.
Maths Focus for the Week The Group 1 students will work on adding facts to 12 and making stories for those facts. Group 2 will be making stories for the fives multiplication facts.
Unit of Inquiry This week we will continue to work on seeing stories from multiple characters’ points of view. We will also start to organize our thoughts for writing our own stories. We will use a graphic organizer to accomplish that.
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: PE (wear PE shoes and a house T shirt) Thursday:Swimming (please send swimwear)

This week we say Goodbye to Isobel. She has only been with us for 5 weeks but we will miss her friendly, intelligent presence in the classroom. We wish her all the best and hope to see her again one day.
We have been getting ready for the Primary Show this week in P3. The children made their own Mexican Hats out of plastic pots, cardboard and crepe paper, and they are feeling very proud of their colourful creations. The Mexican Hat Dance is coming along nicely too and we are looking forward to sharing that with the rest of the school community very soon! Thank you to those parents who have already sent into school the costume for the show.
In English this week the children have been practising using vocabulary related to materials and their properties, and have written precise instructions for experiments to test different material properties, such as strength and absorbency. In IT they used a BBC website to further explore this: www.uwcea.org/pri01. We have enjoyed watching and discussing videos related to how materials are used to manufacture various products. In Maths we have been solving problems, using all four operations, relating it to measurements of different materials. They have collected data on their findings and made a bar chart to present results.
Language Focus for This Week: Instructions related to baking.
Maths Focus for This Week: Measuring and reading scales. Also: more data handling in relation to our material investigations.
Unit of Inquiry: Testing material properties out using simple experiments. Recording scientific experiments and drawing conclusions. Then asking more questions!
Please Remember that: Monday: PE and final homework pack. No spellings. Tuesday: Public Holiday. Wednesday: All P3 students in school for a 2-3pm show practice. Thursday: Swimming and library day. All P3 students in school for a 2-3pm show practice. Friday: Deadline for the costumes. All homework folders to be handed in. No Spelling test next week. Sunday (14th): 2pm Primary Show rehearsal.

Information for Parents The drama performance is coming soon. Students will need a white shirt for our class song. Please send the shirts in to class by Friday, December 12 so that we can tape on the red circles. The children are singing a Japanese song, so they will wear shirts representing the Japanese flag. Next week there will be a couple of days that our class will need to practise with the drama club.

Weds 10 Dec 2.00-3.00pm Drama Club + P3, P4/5 & P5/6 Thursday 11 Dec 2.00-3.00pm Drama & P1-6 Sunday 14 Dec 2pm. I will bring their shirts to Karibu Hall on this day.
The performance will be Monday, December 15th. Students should arrive at school by 17:45. The play will begin at 18:30.
Language focus for the week We have finished creating our figurative language flip books and they turned out very nice! Next week we will begin learning how to write different types of poetry. Hopefully students will work some of the figurative language that they learned into their poetry.
Maths focus for the week We will continue working on rounding numbers during the first part of the week. We will use the rest of the week to review concepts previously learned, especially working more with division since that is still something that is confusing for most students.
Unit of Inquiry The students will be sharing their poetry collections with the rest of the class next week and discussing their thoughts about each other’s choices. Students will reflect on what type of poems and songs are their favorite and why they prefer them.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday: No school Thursday: Swimming (bring swimming kit) Library (bring books)

This week the students worked in small groups to produce a short drama explaining the differences between people’s wants and needs. They collaborated successfully and used the knowledge that they had gained over the previous two weeks. They then performed the scenes to each other and provided feedback and advice for other groups.
The children have also been working on a unit related painting. Many have chosen to paint an African market place scene of trade going on in the local community. They have been thinking carefully about how to mix paint colours in the palette before applying them to the paper.
In IT (Information Technology) the students particularly enjoyed a lesson led by our student teacher Ms Elizabeth where they got to run their own virtual lemonade stand. They tried to make a profit despite obstacles such as bad weather affecting their business.
On Friday we visited the duka at school in relation to our unit on trade. On Monday I will be walking the whole class out of the school gates and turning right down Lema Road towards the fruit and vegetable stall on the corner. We will compare the fruit and veg stall on Lema Road with the school duka and looking for connections between the two.
We were sorry to say goodbye to Jasmijn on Friday as she makes her way back home to the Netherlands. We very much enjoyed having her join our class for these 5 weeks when she made many friends in the class.
Please could I ask parents to take special note of the information below because although primary school clubs have now finished for the quarter, we do ask that students attend a series of rehearsals in the coming week (including on Sunday afternoon). I would also like the P5/6 students to continue to put together a cowboy/cowgirl outfit to wear for their scene in Around the World in 80 Minutes.
Unit: Transdisciplinary Theme: How we organise ourselves Central Idea: Systems of exchange serve the needs of the community
Maths focus: We will be solving money problems using real menus
English focus: We will be writing formal and informal emails
Monday: Homework will be set for the week | Library session (all books to be returned to the library) Tuesday: Public holiday – no lessons Wednesday: Swimming session | all P5/6 students to attend rehearsal 2 – 3pm Friday: Homework due in | sport lesson | all P5/6 students to attend rehearsal 2 – 3pm Sunday: 2pm – all P5/6 students to attend dress rehearsal in Karibu Hall (please wear cowboy/cowgirl costumes – no shoes on stage)
What to bring everyday: Please bring a bottle of water to keep on the desk. A healthy snack for break times. A hat for break times, lunchtimes and sport lessons.

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