Moshi Campus News – 4 Jan 2018

I hope everyone has had a restful holiday and wish everyone a Happy New Year.  At this point we are about at the halfway point in the year, but it is getting to the crunch point for the D2 students.  Despite the shortened week, these students will kick off the month with Mock Exams starting on Thursday the 11th.  Also this month, we have Primary and Secondary Swim Galas; Outdoor Pursuit trips; the PYP Exhibition Camp; an M1 IDU trip to Manyara and finally to close the month Book Week.

For secondary students, we will start the second semester activities in the second week back.  For most students this is a continuation of their activities from the first semester, but it is also an opportunity for them to try something new.  More information will be coming from Mr Hemmens and Mr Hibbard soon.

I look forward to seeing everyone next week.

Please note that the first week back has a shortened schedule.  

• Boarders arrive on Monday, January 8th
• Classes start on Tuesday, January 9th
• No classes due to Zanzibar Revolution Holiday on Friday, January 12th

I hope you had a wonderful break.

We would like to remind all parents paying fees by instalments, that the 3rd quarter fees were due to have been received by us last 1st December. This week all overdue fees will be surcharged by 10%. Please ensure that you make payment of any outstanding amount (if applicable) immediately so that your child’s place in classes is maintained.

Welcome back!  We hope you are ready for more academic challenges and a continued rich set of experiences in this the second semester. Here is a photo from a recent Science lab.

The D2 students will take their mock exams on six school days from Thursday January 11th to Friday January 19th.  During these days D2 students will not attend regular classes.  The practice or ‘mock’ exams provide an indicator of students’ performance on the IB May exams in each DP subject and help students to focus their remaining study time.

Next week the D1 students start their ‘Research and Writing’ class.  This will provide tips and guidance on this process of research and writing for the Extended Essay. Your D1 son/daughter must begin thinking about their Extended Essay – the 4,000-word independent research and writing project. This class will provide the required intoduction and then a supervisor will provide technical support. Here is the e-link to the guide – https://bit.ly/2wsnp5Q. The process starts in January and will conclude in November 2018. A complete draft will be submitted in September.

Rick Fitzpatrick

Parents
We appreciate your support during this quarter and thank all of you who attended our closing assembly and Parent Teacher Conferences.

M5
M5 students have come home with their Personal Project Draft 1 Feedback. Some of them are lagging behind and should have used the holiday to catch up. The second draft of their report is due on Tuesday January 15. Parents are requested to assist them to get all the final resources as may be necessary.

Work Experience
As part of our experiential learning programme, all M5 students will undertake a one-week work experience from May 21-25, 2018 after their IB examinations. We advise parents to work with their kids to search for institutions and/or organisations for this exercise.  The choice shoud be based on the children’s career goals. We need the names and contacts of the organisations by Feb 1, 2018 in order to write introductory letters.

Graphic Display Calculator (GDC)
All students in M5 must have their GDC. In case your child doesn’t have one, kindly buy it for them.

M4 and M3
The classes above will make subject choices in languages, mathematics (Extended and Standard) and the arts (Drama, Music and Visual Arts) at the end of the next semester. Making correct decisions on subject choices helps students have the right choice of subjects at the Diploma. Details will be released later to the parents. We request that the reports and grades be used to guide these choices.

David Ochieng

Boarders will return this semester on Monday, 8th January and classes will begin at 7:30am on Tuesday, 9th January. If your child needs transport from Kilimanjaro Airport, please contact Rosemary Bango as soon as possible.

The ISM Sports Department wishes everyone a Happy New Year and looks forward to an excellent start to the new year.

All practices will resume the first full week of school and all students need to be prepared to begin.

The NTAA will start on January 27 with our U15 football and U19 basketball teams in action. ISM will also be hosting the NTAA Primary and Secondary Swimming Galas on the 19 and 20 of January.

We look forward to the rest of the academic year.

Scott Hibbard

This is our list of Outdoor Pursuits for the second semester.  You have likely already received an email with this information.  Please contact Isaac Foya if you have any questions.

I hope you and your family have had a relaxing holiday and that those who celebrate Christmas had a fun time. I went to the UK and enjoyed Christmas in Winchester with my mum, sister and brother.

We are now looking forward to another busy and fun quarter ahead. Lessons will begin at 7.30am on Tuesday. Please bring the children in a few minutes early as they will be excited to see their friends and catch up with their news in the playground. You will need to collect your child at 1.05pm on the first day back (11.15 for EC). Clubs only begin on the second day, i.e. Wednesday. You were given a slip of paper showing your child’s Quarter 3 clubs at the parent-teacher conferences. This will only be a three day week, because Friday 12th January is a public holiday.

Kate Schermbrucker

Happy New Year everyone.

As we move into 2018 and a new unit of enquiry, I’d like to take this chance to congratulate and celebrate our fabulous EC teaching support team. Miss Grace, Miss Mary and Mr. Emmanuel concentrate on building strong and caring relationships with our children. They support us all daily with their hard work, professionalism and genuine love for working with the age group.

I feel very lucky to work alongside them and very proud to see the hard work, dedication and care that they show the students.

We are looking forward to seeing you all soon. The school delivery-container arrived recently with some ‘presents’ for the classroom, which I am sure the children are going to enjoy when they return.

All the best,
Owain Evans

Happy New Year! Welcome back to school.

Thank you to all who managed to attend the conferences on the Thursday before closing school. Some of you expressed your desire to participate with our current unit, please contact me so we can schedule you in.

This week, we will share our holiday news and write out important highlights. If there are any items your child would like to bring in for show and tell, please feel free to send them in.

Being able to tell the time is a milestone. In maths, we will be learning how to read the time on the analogue and digital clocks. This will be a great time to purchase a watch for your child if you have not done so already.

We will be reviewing the sounds we have learned as we prepare to build on them in the coming week.

• Tueday: P.E.
• Wednesday: Swimming

Mboka Mwasongwe

Dear P2/3 Parents,
Welcome back. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I would like to welcome our student teacher Makayla Andrews all the way from Des Moines USA. Makayla will be working with us up until mid-February.

This week the children will be setting goals for the new year and reflecting on their areas of improvement. We will be starting our Family History scrap books and researching where we come from.
In Math, the children will be looking at addition of two or three-digit numbers. Some will be working with the skill of carrying when adding and others will be looking at adding with missing addends (6 +__= 10).

We will be reviewing reading groups and children will be working reading strategies for their reading level.

• Monday: Holiday No School
• Tuesday: Library and PE – No Clubs
• Wednesday – Clubs begin
• Thursday: Swimming
• Friday:  Holiday No School

Clare Hibbard

I hope the children have enjoyed a restful holiday and I look forward to seeing them on Tuesday, 8th January.

We will be continuing our exploration of our responsibility in virtual environments by acting out some more role plays about possible scenarios the children might encounter online (see photo.) The children finished their writing on the theme of, “Obviously the best pet is …” just before the break and will be starting a new piece of opinion writing on a subject of their choice. Our focus is bias and how we can be manipulated by others into holding a certain point of view. In maths we will work on division. Clubs will start on Wednesday.

Deborah Mills

Dear P6 families,

Happy 2018! I hope you have all had a pleasant break and that your child is ready for the quarter.

We continue with looking into traditions, culture, language, religions, food and all aspects of diversity. The students will have a chance to learn more about different groups of people from around the world. We will explore different signs used in various languages and find out how numbers are written differently.

In Language we will be writing narratives and practicing the different parts of speech that we have been learning about. In Math, we will explore the different symbols used and find out how they help us solve mathematical problems.

We would also like to invite parents to share their migration stories. Children always love to hear the adventures their parents had. Let me know through email if you are interested in coming in.

Cathy Wambua