Moshi Campus News – 2 Feb 2019

I would like to thank the parents that came on Tuesday evening to the PTA annual meeting.  It was evident in the meeting how much parents care about the school and the students.  There were many good suggestions on how we can continue to work together for the benefit of the students and the development of the campus.  If you would like to contact the parents that help direct the PTA’s efforts, you can email them at PTA@ed.ismoshi.com.  I also met with another group of parents who are volunteering their time as chaperones for different events and trips.  If this is something that would interest you please contact me.

As we turn towards February, please note the events below like Book Week, the blood drive and of course the Khanga Gala.  Additional events over the next few weeks include the Parents’ Coffee Morning on Tuesday the 12th and the recognition afternoon for semester 1 sports on Wednesday the 13th.

Please also remember that on Friday the 15th there are no classes as it is our traditional February long weekend.

If you would note the items below, this month may be the shortest, but it is as busy as any other.

Bob Cofer

The process for students to apply for Diploma scholarships is now set.  All applications for scholarships at ISM will go through the UWC Tanzania National Committee website. The selection of recipients will occur in the middle of March.  More details are available on our website. The deadline for applications is February 20, 2019.

Below you will find the schedule for the week. Click here for the details, including prices of the books at both book signing events.

We would be very glad to receive any second-hand books for our Book Sale. Please leave these in the box at Reception.

Book Week at a glance:
Activities running throughout the week:

• Secondary buddy readers visiting Primary
• #GetCaughtReading
• Short Story Competition
• Library Guessing Games
• Mystery Readers
• Kilimanjaro Book Award
• Donations of second-hand books welcome!

Monday 4th February

• 7.35-8.15am Book Week Assembly
• 8.15am onwards Nahida Esmail with students and parents
• Primary ‘dress-up’ as a book character
• Library Guessing Games begin

Wednesday 6th February

• Second-hand book sale all day at the Duka

Thursday 7th February

• 7.35am-9am Ben Morley book signing for Primary
• Second-hand book sale all day at the Duka
• Final day for submissions for #GetCaughtReading
• Final day for Library Guessing Games

Friday 8th February

• Midday deadline for submissions for the Short Story Competition
• Winners announced for #GetCaughtReading
• Winners announced for Library Guessing Games
• Kilimanjaro Book Award results announced

You will note there are opportunities on multiple days for students to buy books.  If you would like them to purchase books, please remember to have them come with money.

Laura Webb

Student initiated action is something that all IB schools should strive for. Action, of course, is something that we do but, more than that, action can become part of who we are. Within parts of the programme, the IB recently redefined the idea of action as agency. Agency is the power to take meaningful and intentional action and acknowledges the rights and responsibilities of the individual, supporting voice, choice and ownership for everyone in the learning community.

Agency is present when students partner with teachers and members of the learning community to take charge of what, where, why, with whom and when they learn. This provides opportunities to demonstrate and reflect on knowledge, approaches to learning and attributes of the learner profile. Students with agency have voice, choice and ownership, as well as  a propensity to contribute to and participate in the learning community.

This week, we witnessed student agency bearing fruit on Moshi campus at the first “Break the Mould” open mic performance night, arranged by, student-led group, A.W.O.K.E. (A Way Of Knowing). It was a fantastic evening of poetry and music, where students opened up their hearts and minds to share, often, very personal and powerful insights into their lives. Huge kudos must go to each and every performer who took to the stage (students and teachers alike), for being brave enough to take the risk of bearing their creative souls in front of a live audience.

The supportive and encouraging atmosphere in Rafiki Hall was a true reflection of our community. Hats off to the student organisers who made it happen and here’s hoping it becomes a regular feature on the ISM calendar going forward.

Ben Morley

This past week the D2 students completed the mock exams and grades will come to you through a ManageBac report on Monday February 11th.  Students will be getting more detailed feedback from their teachers in the meantime.  The D2 students are also completing language orals over the next few weeks as they start to wrap up the Internal Assessment components of the Diploma Programme.

The D1 students joined the M4 and M5 students on Thursday to meet representatives of Canadian universities in Rafiki Hall.  This was the last university fair of this school year, but they will see more at the start of the 2019-20 school year.  Please see some notes below about various projects these students are involved in.

This week we had a large meeting during our Eco Club session. We heard from Mr Cofer about the school’s future plans and how Eco Club can be involved in the development of these plans to help the school in being sustainable. The Eco Club collaborated with D1 Eco En Club and with M5 who are doing investigative journalism into plastic disposal.

The plastic recycling point is open in the car park – we welcome sparkling-clean donations of plastic!

Last December, the SEP started a small Kweme (Oysternut) nursery at the Community Garden and have also planted Kweme seedlings around the dormitories. We are happy to announce to the ISM community that more than 112 Kweme seedlings have finally grown to a perfect height and have been transplanted to various village areas around the Kilimanjaro region (around Uru mountains) on the 19th of January.

The team is grateful for all students who volunteered to water our precious Kweme seedlings. We are also thankful to Mr. Victor from Permaculture Foundation Tanzania for his assistance and fully admire his passion to encourage the Chagga community in Moshi to continue planting Kweme. We plan to set up another Kweme nursery and help individuals like Mr. Victor, who are passionate about Green conversation. Always remember — Plant a Kweme, Save a Tree!

You may not have noticed, but there is a new student kitchen on campus.  The purpose of the kitchen was to give students a place to cook for various clubs, classes or other activities.  It was inaugurated by a group of MYP students this past weekend who were making pancakes.  As well this week it was used by other MYP boys for a healthy cooking project in design.

M5 Personal Project
M5 students submitted their final PP reports last Tuesday. The exhibition PP exhibition will be on Tuesday February 12 as from 10:35am to 2:30pm. We wish to invite all members of the community to attend.

M5 Mock Examinations
The M5 students will take Mock Examinations from February 20 to 22, 2019. The schedule and details will be sent to the respective parents soon. Students will do on-screen examinations in English Language and Literature, Integrated Humanities, Integrated Science, both Extended and Standard Mathematics and the interdisciplinary examination. They will also take a paper-based Kiswahili Language and Literature exam. 

M1 IDU Trip
M1 students will be going to Lake Eyasi for an educational trip as from February 26-28, 2019. This trip involves Design and Integrated Humanities (I&S) subjects. Details of the trip will follow soon.

David Ochieng

The D2 students completed their mock examinations on Tuesday this week. To celebrate the end of mocks, the D2 boarders decided to have a fun filled evening in Kisiwa dorm. They cooked and shared a meal, and later watched a movie in the common room.

Students living together need to share space.  This means figuring out things like how to share the responsibility for tidying common spaces and shared rooms.  Sometimes this works well, sometime they need support. 

A few boarders left for an OP trip to Mt Meru on Friday 1st February and will be away the whole weekend. Others are at football and basketball tournaments in Arusha on Saturday.

There were several activities planned for the weekend on campus. These included indoor football, karaoke in Kiongozi, a pool tournament in Kivuli, gardening, a movie and a fashion show for primary boarders.

Rosemary Bango

Our U15 boys and girls soccer and U19 boys and girls basketball teams are competing in the second round of their NTAA tournament at International School Moshi Arusha Campus on Saturday as they look to improve their standings on the results ladder.  We wish them best of luck in their games and we look forward to the final round held here at ISM on Saturday the 9th February so make sure you have blocked out the morning on your schedule and come down and support our students.
That same weekend Primary and U13 swimmers will be representing the school in the Kennedy House swim meet on Saturday the 9th of February. 

As we will be hosting U13 & U19 basketball, U15 Soccer, an OP trip will be out and there are swimmers in Dar for the TALISS gala so our atheletes will be spread all over the country doing us proud.

Sports Celebration afternoon
On Wednesday, February the 13th we would like to invite all our athletes and parents to a celebration of their efforts during the first half of the year.  The event will start at 5pm and conclude at 6pm in Rafiki hall.  Light refreshments will be provided.

Primary and Secondary Swim Galas
After weeks of learning and refining the MYP students will be show casing their swim prowess in the Secondary swim gala on Tuesday the 5th of March 7.45am to 10.15am.  The Primary will have their showcase of swim skills the week before on Wednesday the 27th of February 10.35am to 1pm. Parents are invited to support their children and see what they have been learning in lessons.

Kilimanjaro Marathon – https://www.kilimanjaromarathon.com/
Don’t forget the Kilimanjaro marathon is coming up and it is not too late to sign up, check the website.  The MYP students have all submitted their training plans for the next 6 weeks and should be out there getting ready to take part in the 5km event and some brave souls are signing up for the 21km. 

If you are looking for training opportunities and some company or just looking to keep fit, there are several things happening on and around campus to help you prepare for the Kili Marathon.  There is the following to keep you on track:

• Monday 3.15pm Mr Foya run session,
• Tuesday 5.30am Cross fit and 4.30pm Mr Melhado run session,
• Wednesday 3.15pm Cross fit,
• Thursday 5.30am Cross fit and 4.15 Sports fitness club,
• Friday 5.15am run interval training,
• Saturday 7.15am Campus run with Ms Jaime/Marieke.

Saturday Soccer
For the football fans out there don’t forget that Saturday soccer is back on from 9am to 10.30am for PYP students.  These students had a friendly set of matches against Paradise Primary Acadamy today.  There were lots of smiles and fun all around and it was hard to convince the kids to stop.

Robin Marsh

Great job P4s and P6s for your great presentations at the Primary Gathering. The advertisements were very entertaining while the information shared by P4 was very enlightening. Book week is here and I hope I will see as many of you coming in to celebrate reading with us! Don’t forget to sign up as a mystery reader and join us for the assembly and gathering on Monday and Thursday respectively. The classroom doors are looking colorful and all looks set for next week. Book donations- we are asking for book donations which will be on sale on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. All monies collected will be spent on buying books for the children of Treasure of Africa.

The P1/2 had a fantastic Art Exhibition which blew everyone’s mind away. Well done to the whole team and especially to the students for this impressive showing.

Congratulations to the ISM Leopards for playing exceptionally well during the U9 and U11 friendly football matches against MFA school.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

You may remember seeing the test weights for the PYP KCMC Dream Team in last week’s newsletter.  The weights have been scaled down to size since then and are now better suited to the purpose.  This week the students went to KCMC and started the process of painting the weights while spending time with their new friends. These weights are for some orthopedic patients to help them keep strong. Thanks also to Ms. Durriyah for finding a donor wheelchair for the patients as well.

Books… Books…. Books…

I do love a good book.

It beats watching people open toy eggs on YouTube any day for me.

I won’t go through the many and varied fun activities next week apart from reminding you about dressing up on Monday. I’m torn between coming as ‘Mother Duck’ or ‘The Pied Piper of Hamlin’…

The picture here shows Henry sorting superheroes into a Venn Diagram. Think good vs. bad, dark vs. light and the shades of grey so often found in both nature and our own personality and behaviours.

Please have a good read of the events for next week.

Thanks to those of you who have helped arrange this lovely opportunity for the children… and if you haven’t signed up to read your favourite book to EC next week there’s still plenty of chance to come in!

Owain Evans

Thank you to all of you who had the chance to visit our art show. The children truly appreciated you taking the time to come and especially the wonderful comments you wrote for them.

We have begun the marathon of book week by reading books for the Kili-award as well as designing our door with a book cover. During book week, we will be doing an author study of Julia Donaldson. Her books are loved by children around the world. We will read and watch animations of most of her books as well as choose our favourite at the end of the week. Don’t forget to dress up as a book character for Monday’s assembly.

As part of our study of our community, we will be planning walks around school, focusing on little communities that form our school wide community. Our aim will be to choose an area which we can impact in a meaningful way.

In maths, we will be completing our look at shapes, focusing on 3-D shapes all around us.

Mboka Mwasongwe

P 2/3 has been multi-tasking this week. They have presented their learning from our last unit, while simultaneously being introduced to their new unit of inquiry. Students have been looking at words such as “unique”, “express” and “convey” in order to better understand our next unit on expressions.

Students have been looking into what makes them unique through class bus station activities. You can check our compliments out on the board outside our class. We will be looking at creating acrostic poems for a friend and for ourselves next week with the information we gathered.

We have spent 2 days this week working on our door for Book Week. Students have been excitedly painting and paper macheing in order to create a fabulous representation of a book we chose as a class. We’d like to thank Mama Gus for coming in and helping us out with this – Asante!

A reminder that next week is Book Week and Monday is Dress Up Like a Character Day!

Elisha Jaffer

This has been a tough week for the P4s, it felt like we were preparing for the P6 Exhibition! I am very proud of the students as they worked under pressure. They did well in their gathering, worked very hard towards their door display as well as kept up with all other engagements in other subjects.

We have started our new unit on explorers and this week we will be looking at different reasons people explored and the legacies people left behind.

We will be learning from the biographies and enjoying the story Arnold and Louis Gold Rush to tune into what we would need to explore. If you find your child asking for tools to dig up the earth to look for gold, just know it as the effect of the unit 🙂 In Math, we will be looking at coordinates and directions in mapwork.

Kindly send in book donations towards the book sale and we need more parents to sign up as mystery readers. So far I have 3 parents so we need at least 5 more.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

Have you ever trusted someone to lead you blindfolded? How about through a playground? The class had a trust building activity during PE this week where they led a classmate though the playground equipment while their eyes were closed. They learned listening skills and how to be a good communicator. It was interesting to see how they maneuvered through the obstacles, while working as a team.

The group chose “Where The Wild Things Are” for our door cover. We will hang it up Monday morning, after we put the finishing touches on it. The class gathered bark and leaves to build trees. They are invited to come early on Monday to complete it. We are looking forward to having guest readers from the older classes, and also reading to younger classes. We still have some space for parents to be Mystery Readers. Please come enjoy reading with our class.

Our new unit on Media is underway, and the class had a fun experience with trusting the internet this week.

Sarah Brummel

This week our art focus has been on getting our door ready for book week. The children chose to replicate the cover of the Guinness Book of Records 2019 and they have done a marvellous job! In maths we have been using protractors to draw scalene, equilateral and isosceles triangles and we will continue working with angles next week. PE this week was lots of fun. On Monday Mr. T organized a badminton tournament against the P5 class which the children thoroughly enjoyed and on Tuesday our new student teacher Mr. Frikk helped the children hone their basketball skills. Our inquiry into body systems has got off to a good start and we have some exciting science activities planned for the week after book week – see next week’s newsletter for details! Please remind the children to dress as a book character ready for Monday’s assembly and to bring in the book they reviewed for last week’s homework to share with the class on Monday.

Deborah Mills