Moshi Campus News – 1 Dec 2018

We are in the middle of transitioning from sports to the arts.  With the completion of Sports Weekend, K-hall is being transformed into ancient Egypt for the Joseph’s Coat production.  Thank you to everyone who is helping in the preparation for this event.

I also thank everyone who took the time to complete the CIS survey and answer some of our other questions recently.  One item that come up from time to time is emails that are not received.  I would say a majority of the email addresses involved are for organizations, and I expect that they are being blocked as they are mass emails.  Personal email addresses tend to fare better, so if you find that at times you are not getting emails, please let us know and we will try and help solve the problem. 

We have two weeks left before the holiday.  In that last week we will have the traditional end of term assembly. This is usually on the Friday, but this term we will be moving it to Wednesday.  Due to flight and bus times our boarders seldom get to see the assemblies, in an effort to fix this, and based on feedback from staff and parents, Wednesday morning looks like a good day to try the assembly this term.

In the last week we also have conferences for Primary and Secondary.  The Primary will be on Thursday and the Secondary is on Friday.  You will get information about signing up for these in the next few days.  If you have thoughts on the Secondary conference structure and have not completed the survey, please do so this weekend.

Lastly, reports will be issued through ManageBac on Wednesday the 12th for Primary and on Thursday the 13th for M1 to D1 students.  If, as a parent, you do not have ManageBac access, please contact Grace as soon as possible.

Bob Cofer

Preparations for Joseph’s Coat are coming together. The countdown is on. On behalf of our children, teachers and the entire Moshi community we want to thank you all for your support. Please, could you send the 15,000 donation for your child’s Primary Choir T’shirt to your class teacher by Monday. The children have been working so hard and it promises to be an event we will all remember. We are currently negotiating with a locally based professional filmmaker to produce a DVD of the evening. Stay tuned for more details on that.

Please remember our rehearsal and performance times for the coming week.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

One of the most frequently quoted phrases in schools across the world is “it take a village to raise a child.” This is, as many of you may well know, an African proverb. Essentially, it means that it takes an entire community of different people interacting with children in order for a child to experience and grow in a safe environment. The idea being that the villagers would look out for each other’s children.

There is also a famous Swahili proverb which echoes this sentiment. “Asiye funzwa na mamae hufunzwa na ulimwengu” which approximates to whomsoever is not taught by the mother will be taught with the world.

Over recent weeks, these proverbs could easily be attributed to ISM with a slight edit…”it takes a village to run a Sports Weekend” or “it takes a village to put together a school production.”

The incredible commitment of countless individuals to the holistic learning experiences of our students is true testament to the wonderful “village” we have here at ISM. By all accounts, the Sports Weekend was an enormous success and, at the risk of missing someone out, represented the culmination of hours and hours of work by students, teachers, assistants, coaches, referees, catering staff, cleaners, maintenance staff, gardeners, nurses, drivers and, of course, parents.

“Joseph’s Coat,” which promises to be another jewel in the ISM crown this year, is another example of the power of collaboration and teamwork. Again, teaching and non-teaching staff, parents, volunteers and students are all coming together to create something truly special.

In years hence, when we all look back on our time at ISM, it is surely these events that will burn brightest in our collective memory. These are the times we will re-imagine in our stories. These are the photos we will revisit with friends and family. As a bit part player in both of these events, I genuinely feel that these occasions and others like them are what makes ISM special and I feel privileged to be involved.

Ben Morley

On the 28th Nov 2018 ISM students walked around the school with Kibo Sec. School students. We gave them a good and long tour around school showing them all the different areas around school. We didn’t just show them from the outside but we did take some of the students inside to get a quick look. To make this plan work we had to divide ourselves. So what we did was that ISM students paired up and 4 students from Kibo Sec. School had to go join a pair. Kibo Sec. School students were really good. They respected our environment while walking them around school.

This activity was inspiring to a lot of us. We as M5 students were able to take a big group of people that we still weren’t as comfortable with around our school. This helped us with our communication skills. This activity also taught us how we can give other people a chance to speak, which is a life lesson. We didn’t want to be the only ones speaking even though we were the ones taking them around school.

Vaileth

Correction: our last update may have implied that the Dining Hall had used bagasse plates for Sports Weekend, however, this was not possible due to cost implications.

This week our Litter Group began to clear the old plastic recycling point in the visitors’ car park. We’re half way! We are hoping to open up the plastic recycling point to the community by the end of January 2019. Until then we ask for nothing to be added to the cage. Thank you for your comprehension.

Meanwhile, those working on improving the school campus and making use of wastewater, were over at Kishari considering which plants would be best suited for their project. If anyone has any plants to spare we’d be very grateful! We’re particularly looking for plants that would last and would thrive in a wet environment. 

Our first consignment of plastic for upcycling left the campus on Friday. It contained plastic containers from the Dining Hall, washed by Eco Club students, and plastic salvaged from the old plastic recycling point. Thank you to parent, Chandni Aggarwal, for making arrangements for transport and to Anikaa and Tyler for accompanying the plastic on the bus to Arusha.

Part of Eco Club’s role is to record and celebrate all the great, green initiatives happening at ISM – please let us know if you are doing something to make ISM greener!

We are coming to the end of the second quarter, and wish to remind parents that school will close on Friday, 14th December. Boarders can leave the same day, and are expected back to school on Monday, 7th January for quarter 3.

If you have not already shared with us end of quarter travel plans for your children, please do so this week. Kindly let us know if your child will need school transport to and from the airport on these dates. Information about travel can be sent to the child’s boarding parent and to the Head of Boarding at rosemarybango@ed.ismoshi.com

We offer free transport to and from Moshi airport and Kilimanjaro International Airport on the scheduled closing and opening dates. Kindly note that the school does not provide transport to and from Arusha airport.

For many of our boarders this weekend is a recovery weekend from Sports Weekend.  A few will be participating in the swimming event at Arusha campus and others are heading off to Mt Hanang for the Outdoor Pursuits trip.  Next weekend we are planning the yearly trip to the Arusha Christmas Fair.

Rosemary Bango

M5 ePortfolio
The M5 students are doing their ePortfolio units and assessments in French and English Language Acquisition together with the Arts. The grades in these subjects together with the Personal Project will be submitted to the IB as final grades for the May 2019 examinations. On Monday Dec 10, those of them registered for French Language Acquisition will do a test after school. Details have been sent to the relevant parents and students.
We request for support and understanding for these candidates to enable them to be successful at the end of the year.

M5 PP Timeline
The M5 candidates have begun the final phase of their Personal projects by refining their reports. They will come home in December with feedback for their final reports. Draft 2 Reports are due on January 15 while final reports will be handed in on January 29, 2019. These reports must be accompanied by the Process Journals and evidence of completed products or outcomes. The grades for the PP will then be submitted to the IB. We request M5 parents to help students remain conscious of this important examination even as they celebrate the holidays.

Community Service
The MYP cohorts continue with service activities. The M5 students are working with Kibo Secondary school, M4 students are with Kili Centre, M2 students are working on Bee Keeping while M1 continue with school garden work. The M3 programme with the Nursery is facing challenges with scheduling and this will be sorted out in consultation with those concerned.

David Ochieng

The bee keeping CAS has taken a tremendous step towards achieving its goal of providing organic honey to our community! We got bees! Erected in the community garden 3 weeks ago, our hive looks busy with bees buzzing in and out. Mr. Mtuy and the M2 students are excited about this near successful venture and look forward to reaping the benefits in a few months time with our first jar of honey. Many thanks to Mr. Mtuy for sharing his expertise and guiding us through the process of starting our bee keeping venture. Well done to all our M2 students for their hard-work and enthusiasm.

Ben Kiema

This weekend the sports continue after a huge Sports Weekend last week.  Friday saw our Primary swimmers make the trip across to ISMAC to compete in the NTAA swim meet.  All our swimmers did very well, with medals, 2nd place and 3rd place certificates given out frequently to our competitors.  Saturday the Secondary swim team have made the same trip to ISMAC and will be competing in the Secondary NTAA meet and I am sure they will just as competitive as our Primary swimmers.  Good luck.  Again, a huge thank you to Christine Brandsma, Debbie Bachmann and Coach Sabini for all their work in preparing and organising our swimmers for the many events throughout the year. 

For the next 2 weeks we will be running a reduced training schedule for afternoon sports as we wind down to the December break after a busy semester.  Touch U13/U15/U19 will break until February to prepare for the tournaments in March and April. U19 Football and U13 football seasons are over for the year. U19 basketball and U15 football will continue until the break and then move to 2 training sessions a week in January to prepare for tournaments at the end of January and start of February.  Ultimate, Tennis and Volleyball will continue as scheduled.  

Robin Marsh

It was wonderful to see how much confidence the children in Primary have developed. The PYP Sharing Assembly was a great platform for giving the little ones a chance to share their learning with the parents. Thank you to all the parents who came to support the event. It has been a bittersweet end of the week as we said goodbye to our two very lovely student teachers; Merle and Louise. They spent 6 weeks with us and fitted in so well with the rest of the team. It will be hard to come in on Monday and not see them in the staffroom or around the school. For sure both of them will be sorely missed.

The P6 put up a very impressive Science Fair early this week. We had wind powered boats and electrical cars. They were very articulate with their explanations of how they went on to create their models. congratulations P6s.

The P2/3 reminded us in the Friday gathering how rich the Chagga and Maasai cultures are as they shared the different aspects of these two tribes. Thank you for enlightening us and entertaining us with your dance.

“Joseph” is coming along very well and we have had a Primary rehearsal on Wednesday this week. he Saturday rehearsal was well attended. It is great when children can practice and master their words and actions so that on the performance days they present with pride and confidence.

Earlier this month, I shared some information about the developments within the PYP. I have attached a link here to some information that outlines the major changes in the Enhanced PYP. We have already started promoting the Agency within our classes and it is very pleasing to go around and see children making decisions, leading activities and advising each other on different things. Kindly read the article which will give you a better idea of what the Enhanced PYP (EPYP)  is.

Wishing you all a restful weekend.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

This week’s favourite book was Little Beauty by Anthony Browne. It tells the story of a captive gorilla who learns sign language and lets her keepers know that she is lonely. They give her a kitten and the two become best friends.

The children were amazed to find out that this story is based on a real gorilla, Koko, who was taught sign language at Harvard University in the 1970’s. We watched the beautiful interactions between Koko, her kitten and her keeper. Koko could express happiness, sadness and a range of emotions.

She signed “want nuts”, “Koko good gorilla”, “want chase and play” and the children were entranced by the idea that an animal could be so much alike to themselves.

We acted out the relationship with a friend, one the gorilla and the other the keeper. How does it feel to be inside another animal’s shoes? Do we share many of the same basic needs, reactions and even emotions? If we agree, then how does this affect how we treat animals?

How can we act best to share the planet with them?

Owain Evans

This was a week of reflection. The children were reflecting on the semester as they were completing their part of the reports. They were also reflecting on the unit which they have just completed.

Next week, we will be starting an exciting unit! We will be looking at how we express ourselves. Our central idea is creativity can be nurtured through inspiration, imagination and application. I am excited to see how the children will respond to the idea and where the inquiry will take us.

Our lines of inquiry will be as follows:

• Identifying imagination
• How we use our imagination
• Investigating what inspires people
• Applying imagination to creative endeavours

I would like to give you a heads-up. We are planning a learning trip to TPC for the 10th of December. Further information will be send to you in the form of a letter this coming week.

Show and Tell: Atuganile and Christian

Mboka Mwasongwe

P 2/3 has been tirelessly working towards perfecting their performance for their assemblies. They did a fantastic job presenting on both Monday and Friday of this week. They spent all of Tuesday researching and drawing Chagga and Maasai houses and cultures in order to be ready for Friday. P 2/3 has been extremely Principled in being able to prepare for both these performances amidst multiple math assessments.

It is a sad day for us in the classroom as we say goodbye to Jack who has been visiting us from Ontario for the past 2 weeks. It has been lovely having his energy and enthusiasm in our class. We would also like to say goodbye to Ms. Merle. She has been a great addition to our classroom. All the students, Ms. Durriyah and I are going to miss her after she leaves.

Thank you to parents who came out to support us during assembly today. An honourable mention to Jasmijn who came with a sick bag and a strong sense of determination to perform!

Elisha Jaffer

Well done to the P4s for the confidence they displayed during the PYP Sharing as they talked about the materials unit. We would like to thank you, P4 parents, for your support. We have also been busy finalizing our Summative Assessment and we are now ready to invite our parents to come in and see what we have been busy with.
We have enjoyed being with our student teacher Louise whom we have said bye to. She heads back to Denmark to continue with her studies and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

On Monday (3.12.2018), you are welcome to our unit celebration from 7:45 a.m. in our classroom. We will leave out the samples of work up to 9:00 a.m. for parents that can only join us later. We hope that most of you can join us.

This coming week, we will go over addition and subtraction of numbers with decimals. As we start our new unit of Rituals and Traditions we will be looking at different narratives and finding commonalities and differences between narratives from different cultures.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

This week was quite productive in the P5 classroom. The class started out the week serving the school by removing litter after Sports Weekend.

Students were busy with their summative assessment creating games that illustrate what they learned over the past quarter. The games are brilliant and diverse, and we will test them out on Monday. I think the class is quite excited to share their games. They look great!

Next week we will be focusing a lot of time editing and typing their narratives, or stories about Migration. The class has been very inspired with this project. If you are experienced with a computer keyboard and want to help with typing next week, we would appreciate your help. Some of the students have rough drafts over 10 pages. As I said earlier, they were inspired!

Sarah Brummel

We had a very exciting week in P6 preparing for our science fair and sharing our energy transformation projects with the community. All of the PYP classes attended our presentations, as did M1, D1, and many parents and teachers. Thank you for taking the time to support the  P6 children – they were very proud of their work. We ended the unit by constructing Rube Goldberg style machines to show energy transfer. The breezeway on Thursday was full of our contraptions, constructed from hot wheels tracks, marble mazes and some materials kindly loaned by Mr. Marsh in the Design department. We will now move on to our next unit on the Media. The children will help to construct the central idea and lines of inquiry which will be great practice for their Exhibition later in the school year. Our work on decimals has gone very well this week. We have been using decimal notation in measurement and raced cars down ramps on Friday, recording the results in metres and centimetres and then in metres with a decimal point. Next week we will be applying our knowledge of decimals in another practical way by working with money in our class “shop.” P6 demonstrated great team spirit for pyjama day. We will start collecting money for the Joseph production t-shirts on Monday.

Deborah Mills