Moshi Campus News – 25 Jan 2015

This Wednesday, 28th January has been designated as a late start day on the Moshi Campus. 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. Please ensure that day students arrive in school a short while before 10:35am – we will not be able to supervise those who arrive too early. Boarders will have a late breakfast before starting classes at 10:35.

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, last week we 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 one more week.

Every year our students in P4, P5, P6, M1 and M3 take standardised tests designed for international schools and set by the Australian Council for Educational Research. These tests, in Mathematics, Reading and Writing, assess our students against those in other international schools around the world. For parents, they can give you a report on how your child achieved in the tests when compared with others in the same class elsewhere in the world. For the school these tests can help to inform us on the areas we are delivering well within the curriculum and also those areas in which we need to improve.
In the week of 26th to 30th January, we will be conducting online trial tests for students in the above classes. These trials will give each student an indication of the types of questions that will come in the main tests. However their main purpose is to help us determine our readiness to conduct online testing and to help ACER develop appropriate tests. Students will not receive any results from the trial tests.
In the following week starting 2nd February, we will be conducting the full ISA tests. These will be done using pencil and paper and results will be reported after about ten weeks.

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

On the afternoon of this 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.

For those families paying fees by quarterly instalments, the fees for the current quarter were due to have been received by us on 1st December 2014. In keeping with school policy, fees not received by that due date have been surcharged by 10%. If you have not yet completed payment of the 3rd quarter fees for your child, please do so this week. If payments are not received we will soon stop allowing students affected to attend classes. Questions concerning fees can be addressed to .

Fees for the 4th quarter are due to be received by us before 1st March 2015.

ISM (Moshi Campus) did extremely well in the Gymkhana Club Swimming Gala this weekend in Arusha coming 2nd place behind ISM (Arusha Campus) with only a 13 point difference and winning overall points in several age groups.
All the swimmers were on top form! Special thanks goes to Fred (for agreeing to stand down in a relay race to enable another student to have the chance to swim), to Oshin, Annabel, Sara, Delham and Dominic for courageously agreeing to swim in events above their age groups against older students, and to Kyle for pushing through and doing the relays despite not feeling well. Well done also to Emily for keeping calm and swimming a great breaststroke race despite losing her goggles on the dive.
Another fantastic sporting result for ISM!

This week M1-D2 students tried out the various service and creative activities. Students have now received the sign up form through their school e-mail. Students must officially sign up for creative and service activities by Sunday, 25th January. The most up-to-date schedule of creative and service activities is attached. 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

Lake Chala Camp (ISM with The Anglo American School of Sofia) On Thursday 22nd January, 39 students aged 9-11 from two international schools boarded buses and headed to Lake Chala. These were our own P5/6 class plus children who were here as part of our Visiting Schools’ Programme from an international school in Bulgaria. The next two days saw fantastic interaction and learning between the pupils and teachers in beautiful, natural surroundings.

On arrival at the campsite the children and staff unloaded all of the luggage and set up tents (a skill which the youngsters had practised previously on the school pitch). After absorbing the breath taking views of the lake, we ate a delicious lunch in the shade of the thorn trees. This was followed by a short question and answer session with a local guide before we walked down the steep cliff to the edge of the water. Some of the students were inexperienced in hiking whilst others were used to it. Children from both schools helped each other, e.g. by advising the non-walkers where to place their feet on the rocky path and giving them support and encouragement. Everyone succeeded in reaching the lake edge where we were rewarded with the cool lake air and some local wildlife – birds, insects and, of course, baboons! The children then chose to either sketch the views or ID birds using their binoculars and bird books.
In the evening we took another short hike to higher ground to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful evening with a new moon. After supper we sat around the camp fire and read stories and sang songs. The children did their best to sleep at night – many had never before camped and so for them it was a whole new experience.
At 6.30am we all awoke and had a quick tea and flapjack before hiking to another caldera. The children from Europe were particularly interested in the dry river bed which they had never seen before. We got back to camp as it was starting to get warm and ate a hearty breakfast. Then the children completed a series of tasks in order to learn more about the environment and each other. The visiting school brought traditional Bulgarian clothes for one student to try on and show us. We learned about their alphabet, language, dances, traditions and customs. The AAS staff and children then handed out souvenirs of Bulgarian rose oil and stitched handkerchiefs for us each to keep and enjoy. After packing up the tents we then drove back to school and sadly said our farewells. The joint camp had been worthwhile and rewarding on a number of different levels. It was a privilege to share the beauty of Tanzania with such warm and interested people from a different, yet similar school. Kate Schermbrucker

This year in MYP science classes the students have been performing a lot of experimental work including investigating electricity and magnetism, observing reactions of different metals with acid and most recently, preparing a tissue sample using their own cheek cells to examine under the microscope. The students are enthusiastic about practical work and this results in lively classes with much discussion and movement. They are steadily improving their laboratory equipment handling skills and are also learning how to create clear tables and graphs for the data they collect. These skills are transferable to many areas as practical work requires attention to detail, accuracy, planning and logical thought.
Students are also sent outside the classroom to collect ecological and environmental data and the school campus at Moshi is an excellent resource for all kinds of scientific investigation: last semester the M3 class optimized a water rocket across the rugby pitch and by the time they were finished, it flew over 50 meters before coming to ground! This demonstration of forces was use as a starting point to introduce the concept of forces and movement.
On Thursday, 19th March, M3 will present their science projects at the annual science fair in Karibu Hall. Parents and friends are very welcome to visit their displays and to speak to the students about their work from 1:20pm until 3pm. Karibuni!

This coming weekend’s Outdoor Pursuits trip is a Level One trip to the Pare Mountains intended for older students new to the OP programme. The students will leave school on Saturday, 31st January and return on Sunday, 1st February.

D2 students are nearly finished mock exams as they conclude on Monday January 26th. The serious and focused work of the D2s in their mock exams has been apparent and pleasing to observe. The mock exams serve as an essential preparation for the official May IB exams. This section of the IBO website provides an informative overview of how assessment takes place in the IB DP – www.uwcea.org/dip65.
Our DP students’ array of CAS activities continue to grow and led by CAS Coordinator Ingrid Chavez there is an amazing set of extra-curricular options available. One cannot overstate how tremendously useful these CAS activities are in balancing out life for DP students whose rigorous academic work can be very taxing. In the late-afternoon hours of each weekday, students are deeply involved in the Action component of CAS with sports’ activities on the ball fields/courts and this highlights the truly holistic aspect of our educational program. The importance of sport also has an essential physiological component documented in this article recently – www.uwcea.org/dip66.
This is a reminder that you participate with us in communicating to your son or daughter in the ISM IB DP about the importance of academic honesty. Our policy can be found at: www.uwcea.org/wp-content/docs/archive_documents/achonesty.pdf.
D1 Life Skills students this week had a special treat this week as they benefited from the expertise of Mr. Brandon Trung, one of our Norwegian student teachers, who led the lesson on self-defense with Thai Kick-Boxing – a quasi-national sport in Thailand.
As usual feel free to email or call with any questions/concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick – DP Coordinator

Dear Parents, The focus this week will be on the story of ‘The three Billy Goats Gruff.’ The children will act this out in the playground and also retell using puppets. Please take a look at our beautiful refurbished puppet theatre which is ready for use. We have begun to make a list of ways of telling stories. So far the children have come up with the following:

• Read stories in a book
• On a computer
• On TV/DVD/IPAD
• Acting them out
• Singing a story song
• Listening on a CD

Information for Parents
I have had several parents volunteer to bring some snacks for our Authors’ Tea. It looks like we are all set. I know it is not possible for everyone’s schedule, but I hope all parents make an effort to attend at 12:00 on Tuesday. The children are very excited about showing off this big project.
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 with “sh” words, and P2 children will work with “ew” words.
Maths Focus for the Week This week we will focus on measurement. We will work with scales to learn about the weight of different items. We will compare and record weights. We will also estimate weights of different items.
Unit of Inquiry We are excited to begin a new unit this week. We will start looking at materials and structures. During the next six weeks, we will learn about different materials and their properties, suitability of materials for structures, and the design cycle. This unit will be very hands-on, and we are looking forward to doing a lot of building.
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 Remember the late start at 10:35am PE (wear PE shoes and a house T shirt) Thursday Swimming (please send swimwear) Friday Show and Tell

Last week we completed the summative assessment in our Materials Unit, and took part in activities designed to reflect on our learning. In Maths we have been practising those all-important timestable facts and have applied this developing knowledge to help us solve division sums. In English, we have applied our knowledge of Material properties to write successful poems. We started learning about Invasion Games in PE, with the children exploring both attacking and defending roles.
Many thanks to Ms Kasey and Ms Linda who helped deliver the lessons while I was away.
Language focus for the week Next week we start a new unit, and there is a new focus in English. We will be reading news reports and identifying the basic features of reporting and journalism.
Mathematics focus for the week Our focus in Mathematics over the next few weeks is direction and movement. The children will be using coordinates to find and place points.
Unit of Inquiry On Monday morning the P3 children will be presenting just a few of the poems that they have written in their English lessons. You are welcome to come and watch.
After that, we begin a new unit… Transdisciplinary Theme: Where we are in time and place. Central Idea: People explore their world; their methods and reasons are constantly changing. We will be tuning in throughout this first week of the unit. We will find out what we already know about Explorers, as well as ascertain questions and direction of interest we have in the topic.
Please note: This unit is being taught earlier in the academic year from what was mentioned in the original P3 handbook. We will cover all units by the end of the year, I just had a swap-around.
What to bring to school Hat , Water-bottle , Communication book (everyday please). Timetable Monday: PE Thursday: Swimming and Library Friday: Mini-tests day and homework handing-in day.

Information for Parents We have had a busy week preparing for our assembly on Monday. We hope that you will be able to join us to see what the kids have been doing during our poetry and songs unit. The children are very excited about our big finale! Students in P4 and P5 will be taking the ISA exams on the computer this week. This is a practice test to see how the computer test goes. The students will be taking the paper test at a later date. The testing will begin at 7:30 most mornings, so please make sure students arrive on time for class.
Language focus for the week We start our new unit this week so we will be doing some vocabulary develop-ment and reading some background information about our new topic.
Maths focus for the week We will be studying multiplication and division over the next several weeks. We will begin the study by reviewing our basic facts and completing some single digit multiplication and single quotient division.
Unit of Inquiry The central idea of our new unit is: Plants sustain life on Earth and play a role in our lives. Our lines of inquiry are: caring for plants, products derived from plants, and how plants contribute to live on Earth. We will begin by tuning in to the new topic by completing some mind maps and developing important vocabulary.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday PE (wear trainers and a house shirt) Wednesday Late start (classes begin at 10:35) Thursday Library (bring books) Swimming (Bring swimming kit)

It has been both a busy and rewarding week. On Monday we met and got to know the 14 visiting students from our visiting school: the Anglo-American School of Sofia. Children from both schools worked together on a series of activities where they got to learn about each other; including finding out about each other’s schools and countries. They spent part of the day practicing how to put up and take down tents in preparation for the joint camp which took place on Thursday and Friday at Lake Chala (see separate article).
On Tuesday the P5/6 students completed their summative assessment task for our unit entitled systems of exchange serve the needs of the community. The children set up stalls with their group members and had pupils who they had invited from other primary classes visit them. In exchange for donated items they offered a wide variety of fruit, cakes, sweets and games. The donated items have been collected to put into the Bags of Love. These bags will be given as a special treat to the children of the Day Care Centre. The P5/6 students felt proud to collect so many items and do something very positive and helpful for our local community. They also took great satisfaction from watching their ideas and plans come together so effectively. I would like to thank all of the primary children, parents and teachers who contributed towards this summative assessment, e.g. by donating items.
Next week we are looking forward to starting our new unit. It will be another busy week because the children will be taking practice International Schools Association (ISA) tests on Monday and Friday. The tests are in reading, writing and mathematics and give us a snap shot of the students’ skills and understanding. The results of the final tests will be compared to the tests they have completed previously and will do in the future. They help us to track the children’s learning and progression. They are not tests that the students should study for. Last week we went through some practice papers together and discussed how we would go about answering several individual questions.
New Unit: Transdisciplinary Theme: How we express ourselves Central Idea: People use many ways to influence others
The week ahead: Monday: ISA practice tests | Homework set Wednesday: Lessons start at 10.35 | Swimming session Friday: ISA practice tests | Homework due

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