Moshi Campus News – 18 Jan 2015

May I remind you that Wednesday, 28th January has been designated as a late start day? This means that classes will start at 10:35am for all students on that day. Teachers will be using the first three hours of the morning to meet and analyse our progress, strengths and areas for improvement within the three IB curriculum programmes.

This quarter we have begun a full self-study of International School Moshi, reviewing all our practices, policies and results, with the aim of preparing a report to present to our accrediting agencies by the end of 2015. This is a lengthy and comprehensive process. To help this process, we would like to collate the views of you, parents of children enrolled in ISM, as to where the school is succeeding and where we need to improve. To this end we have sent you instructions on how to complete a survey on your views and opinions of the school. If you have not received these instructions, please email me on . The survey is accessible now and will be available for about 12 days.

MYP & DP CAS Activities Begin on Monday! Creative and service activities will begin on Monday, 19th January. This term we are pleased to offer over 34 activities! Our students have taken pride in initiating activities to develop their own sense of creativity and reach out to the local community. In an effort to more easily track students, registration for creative and service activities will be different from last term.
This semester students will take part in a try-out week from 19th January to 22nd. Then, on Friday January 23rd, all MYP and DP students will receive an e-mail with a link to sign up for activities. Please note the following:

• Students should decide on activities very carefully. Once a student signs up for an activity, they are required to attend all term (From Jan. – June).
• Take some time to chat with your child about the options. Consider what he/she can realistically fit into his/her schedule.
• M1 – M3 students are required to sign up for at least one creative / service activity
• M4 – D2 are required to sign up for at least one creative and one service activity

Primary Clubs Begin on Monday! A list of the students enrolled in each primary club is attached to this newsletter. Please contact Totty Aris on if you have any questions.

ISM SPORTS: LEOPARDS LEAP BACK INTO ACTION!

On Monday January 19th, the semester 2 sports program begins.

The Semester 2 schedule is attached here, and is also posted on the sports board.

All students should have signed up on-line for sports by now, and must do a minimum of 1 sport per semester.

Students must attend their sport every practice, otherwise a detention will be given.

If students are unable to attend due to illness, they must themselves find the coach before practice begins, and let them know. If students are unable to practice due to injury, they should still attend. They can participate in other ways such as refereeing, or helping out.

Sports run from 4:30-6:00pm from Monday to Thursday. Some sports train at other or additional times. Students must come on time. Three lates to practice will also equal a detention. If students are participating in a CAS that runs late, he/she may need to make a different sporting commitment.

Students should come for sports dressed in appropriate sports clothing that is needed for that sport. For example, Football – shin guards, cleats. Basketball – shoes with good ankle support.

Students who are selected to represent the ISM team in games, competitions and tournaments must be prepared to be committed for the entire season; both in time and with financial commitments. Students will only be selected for teams if they attend practice regularly, are at the appropriate skill level, and are in the appropriate age group.

Please be sure to speak to Ms. Farrell if you have any questions or concerns.

The Moshi Campus Parents’ Association will be holding their first meeting of 2015 on Monday, 26th January. Any parents who wish to meet the committee and discuss any issues with them are welcome to join in Bob Horton’s office between 8am and 8:30 on that morning.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, 27th January, four UK universities, Kent, Reading, Aston and Northumbria, will be presenting to diploma and M5 students in the school.
Waterloo and Carleton Universities from Canada will be visiting on Wednesday, 11th February.
Memorial University from Newfoundland, Canada will be visiting on Tuesday, 24th February.

Happy New Year from the Music Department! We are excited to be back at school and already getting into the thick of things with new units of study and topics that will hopefully be interesting and thought-provoking for all students.
As we are starting a new semester and many of our students’ CAS and after-school activities may be changing, it is also a time to renew our private music lesson schedule. If you would like your child to continue with private lessons from last semester, or would like to sign your child up to start taking private music lessons, please see the bulletin board outside of the music room (Rm. 12). There, starting next week, you will see posted the schedules for our private teachers, and can sign your child up on a first-come, first-served basis. List there are the instruments each instructor teaches, their availability, and their contact information. Currently, we offer lessons in drum set, African drums, piano, guitar, trumpet, saxophone, and clarinet.
Please remember that if your child wants to take private music lessons it is an expectation that he or she has an instrument at home (in good working condition) on which to practise daily. This is an integral part of learning to play a musical instrument. If you do not own one, there are a few instruments that the school owns which can be rented out for Tsh20,000 per month, with the expectation the the instrument would be rented out for the entire semester. You need only to contact me to get a rental agreement sheet and from there, we can begin the process of renting out an instrument to you for your child.
A complete listing of our policies and expectations for students taking private music lessons is posted on the private music lesson board outside of the Music Room. If you would like it in digital form, please contact me and I’d be happy to forward that to you.
All the best for a happy and healthy 2015! Miss Susan Kellerman

D1 Information Technology in a Global Society (ITGS) students are starting off this quarter by continuing their investigations into multimedia systems. At the end of last semester, students explored digital images. Students learned to work with bitmap and vector graphics. Graphic manipulation and logo creation were among the projects that students completed.
This quarter, students are beginning with a short video project. RSA Animate videos will be created by students so that students will gain experience in a variety of digital medias. Students will create a short informational video on an ITGS topic using the RSA Animate video technique. Find out more about RSA Animate videos here at www.thersa.org/events/rsaanimate.

CAS Students Visit the Family of Mr. Felician Last October our community was deeply saddened by the loss of Mr. Felician, who was a gardener at our school. Mr. Felician left behind six children who are now orphaned. Upon hearing the news, a group of students initiated a CAS project to raise funds to support his children through a sustainable project. With the kind support of staff members, students, and teachers, these students raised money to support the creation of a duka and small farm in the family’s village to be run by Mr. Felician’s eldest son. The duka is now up and running and providing a sustainable means for Mr. Felician’s children to support themselves. On Wednesday, the CAS group visited with the family at the duka. It was wonderful to see the chickens, cow, goats, and duka! We all enjoyed a nice chat with the family and shared a soda. According to the CAS students, it was a fantastic trip!

We are pleased that Mrs Linda Kileo has now joined our teaching staff, teaching Swahili to one of the M1-M3 groups (in place of Ms Majili). We welcome her and wish her well.

Unfortunately headlice have returned to our EC class and to P4/5. Please check your child’s hair regularly and take appropriate action. Please ensure all students with long/shoulder length hair put it up for school to ensure they do not inadvertently catch/ pass on any lice eggs.

D2 students started their mock exams last Friday, January 16th, and will continue for six more school days through to Monday, January 27th. The punctuality and determination of the class of 2015 is good to see. They realize how pivotal these exams for they know it is the only simulated practice exam session and it will be a key benchmark. D2 teachers meanwhile are preparing lessons, invigilating exams and marking exams. By 6th February, exam results will be shared with students.
This week some D2 students met with Mr Rustad (ISM’s university counselor – ) to finalize their UCAS university applications and D1s met with him to complete their university questionnaire and discuss ACTs, SATs, meetings with parents, costs of universities among other topics.
The fifty-two members of the DP class of 2016 got back to work Wednesday after the holiday break and all seem to be on track and seriously focused on their studies.
CAS starts this week for Semester 2. As a Diploma requirement it is essential that all our D1 & D2 students complete a Creative, Action (Sport) and a Service commitment every semester. All of our students are now signed up with a range of activities from running ballet sessions for the primary students, cycling adventures or learning how to ride to teaching our local staff IT skills. We have always been very pleased with the positive attitude of ISM students towards their ‘CAS’ that takes place Monday to Thursday afternoons and on the weekend in some cases.
ISM’s Model United Nations Club has been busy with intensive debating skill practice along with international affairs research as they prepare for their participation in the February East African Model United Nations conference to be held in Nairobi.
The role of critical thinking in the IB DP is central (and prepares students well for university) as noted in this article – www.uwcea.org/dip64.
As usual, feel free to email or call with any questions/concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick – DP Coordinator

Dear Parents, The new unit of inquiry has got off to a great start. We thought about this question, ‘What is a story?’ Answers included:

It’s something that you read – Swantje

It’s something that you can tell people – Kamili

It’s like a comic book – Oscar

It’s reading and looking at books – Khari
We also began to tackle the question, “Are stories only in books?” Steven said that stories can be on jigsaw puzzles and we immediately got out our ‘Goldilocks and the 3 bears’ puzzle. We also listened to the story and practised retelling it. Next week we are going to turn our home corner into the three bears’ house for acting out purposes. We will continue to look at different ways of telling stories. Don’t forget to send in your child’s favourite story if you haven’t already done so. He/she should be able to tell the class why it is their favourite story; does it make them laugh, do they like a particular character and why.
We are beginning to think about characters in stories and will use ‘Hot seating’ to enable the children to answer questions whilst in the role of a character in a story. How can you help?

See me about reading a story to the class – you can make up a story, read your favourite book, act out a story or do a puppet show. The children LOVE having their parents visit the class!

Send in Story CDs for us to listen to

Lend us dressing up clothes of story characters.
Literacy As you can see from the above, this unit is literacy based. We will continue to develop recognition of letter sounds, reading, handwriting, fine motor skills and word building where appropriate. This week the EC2 children will draw and write about why they think Goldilocks was wrong. The EC1 children will paint pictures of their favourite part of the story. We will think about the sounds q and v with EC1 children and sh with EC2.
Numeracy We will use the vocabulary of size to describe the 3 bears; for example small, medium sized and big. The younger children will compare the size of the bears using appropriate vocabulary and the older ones will measure the bears. We will continue sorting objects using a variety of criteria and working on addition and subtraction stories with EC2. Other number activities such as playing number games, counting, estimating and recognizing numbers are a major part of our maths every week and aimed at the individual child’s level.
Reminders

Library on Tuesday and Friday

PE T-shirts to be worn on Tuesdays

Swimming on Friday

Please check out my email about the new EC Community Page(blog) on google plus and accept my invitation. You will see pictures and comments about what is happening at school. Feel free to post comments. This community page is only open to EC parents and some ISM teachers.

Information for Parents
We had a short but busy first week back at school. We were able to share the stories that we have been writing at the Primary Gathering on Friday. Our stories are nearly made into completed books. The children are excited to share them with the parents as well. You will receive a proper invitation next week, but I want to let you know the date so you can plan ahead. We would like you to attend our authors’ tea on Tuesday, January 27th from 12:00 to 1:05. I will bake some cookies for the tea, but I was hoping a few parents could volunteer to also bake something to bring and share. Please let me know if you are interested in doing that. I think this will be a special event for the children.
Literacy Focus for the Week We will continue to read in our reading groups this week. Thank you for continuing to read with your child every day at home. P1 children will work forming CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words, and P2 children will work on “oo” 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 continue to work on simple multiplication.
Unit of Inquiry We will finish our unit about stories this week. The children are illustrating their books, and we will bind them this week.
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) Friday Show and Tell

We have been sharing holiday experiences this week. It’s really great to see the student back; they all seem very happy and refreshed.
We are coming to the end of our Unit of Inquiry on Materials. We reflected on our learning so far and wrote acrostic poems describing materials. The children are putting together their summative assessment projects, which they will orally present to their peers at the beginning of next week. In Maths, now that we have an understanding of what multiplication means, we have been learning our times-table facts.
Language Focus for The Week Poetry writing, inspired by materials and their properties. The children will develop an understanding of similes and metaphors, and will be encouraged to use their own in their poetry writing.
Maths Focus for The Week The children will practise calculating pairs of multiples of 5 that total 100 and will be solving division calculations through multiplication strategies. From Friday onwards, the children will be receiving a 10-questioned mental maths test on a weekly basis. The focus over the next few weeks will be on the times-tables that are practised via class and homework tasks.
Unit of Inquiry Completion of summative assessment and reflection of unit.
Notices I will be away from school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week. I am attending a PYP course in Dubai as part of my professional development. While I am away, the class will be following lessons that I have planned and prepared.
On Monday the 26th of January, P3 will be presenting some poems and songs during the morning assembly in Karibu Hall. You are very welcome to come along and watch.
Please be reminded that: Every day: Communication books should come into school. Monday: PE and homework folders sent home. Thursday: Swimming and library day. Friday: All homework folders to be handed in. Spelling and Maths test day.

Information for Parents We had a great first week back. The students jumped right back into their learning and routines. We will be wrapping up our unit of inquiry next week by having an open mic session in our classroom for students to read their poetry. Parents are invited to attend on Friday, January 23rd from 11:45 until 12:35. Our class will also be performing in the assembly on January 26th.
Language focus for the week We will be doing a lot of creative writing next week as students are busy composing poems and songs for their summative assessment. We will review adverbs and study compound words for our spelling test on Friday. Students will also have a chance to share information about books that they are reading with their classmates.
Maths focus for the week We are focusing on money this week. We have practised working with US and British forms of currency. Students will have an opportunity to work with Tanzanian shillings next week and will also write some of their own story problems using shillings.
Unit of Inquiry We will be completing our unit this week by finishing our summative assessments and celebrating our learning through an open mic session in the classroom. The students have shown great creativity in this unit and are excited to share their work with everyone.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday PE (wear trainers and a house shirt) Thursday Library (bring books) Swimming (Bring swimming kit)

The students seemed excited to be back in school and to see all their friends after the long break. There has been a lot of activity in the classroom. The children have been very motivated to get going with their summative assessment preparation. Over the past few days they have worked in their small groups to research, plan and set up their events for next week. They are going to offer goods or services in exchange for items for the Bags of Love. The Bags of Love are bags of presents for the Day Care students. The P5/6s enjoyed visiting the Day Care Centre on campus as well as the Primary School classrooms to advertise their stalls or events. The groups each made appointments with the various class teachers in order to speak to their pupils. They also typed up letters to the Primary School parents explaining which items their children should bring in on Tuesday for the Bags of Love. Each group has been following an action plan that they created in order to be well organised and ready to go with their event next Tuesday morning.
Current Unit: Transdisciplinary Theme: How we organise ourselves Central Idea: Systems of exchange serve the needs of the community
The week ahead: Monday: P5/6 are joined by 16 students and 3 teachers from visiting school AAS (Anglo-American School of Sofia, Romania). Our students will get to know the AAS students and show them around the school etc. All the students will practise getting ready for the Lake Chala trip, e.g. by putting up a tent on the school pitch. Tuesday: Summative Assessments take place Wednesday: Final day of this unit | swimming lesson Thursday & Friday: Lake Chala overnight camp (P5/6 students & AAS Romania students).
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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