Moshi Campus News – 10 May 2019

There is a great deal happening over the coming weeks across the campus. Next week, we have the ongoing D2 exams, the M5 onscreen exams, the much anticipated PYP Exhibition, ABRSM music exams, an OP cycling trip, the Primary Sports Weekend at IST and a cross country meet at Braeburn in Arusha…and I am sure I have missed some things out!

A huge thank you to the teachers and support staff who work so hard to make this all happen…and, at the same time, make sure that learning continues in the classrooms.

Lastly, do not forget the Parent Coffee Morning on Tuesday at 7:45am in the Social Centre where Anna and I will share the latest updates.

Bob Cofer

In a break from tradition, we are starting with the Primary School today and, in particular, our P6 students. Next week, they will experience their PYP Exhibition. As I have written here before, in the final year of the PYP, students carry out an extended, in-depth, collaborative project known as the PYP exhibition. This involves students working collaboratively to conduct an in-depth inquiry into real life issues or problems. Students collectively synthesise all of the essential elements of the PYP in ways that can be shared with the whole school community.

This week, the whole of P6 visited ISMAC to be the audience for their P6 peers. They came away reassured, inspired and excited. They have been super busy ever since putting together their wonderful information boards, rehearsing speeches, honing presentations and so on to fade. If you are free next Thursday from 5:30pm, I strongly recommend that you come along and join in what promises to be a wonderful showcase of learning and community at ISM.

Remember, “through small actions everyone can make an impact.”

Ben Morley

It has been another great week of learning across the Primary School. Our P6s were over in ISMAC to view their PYP Exhibition and had lots of supportive and positive things to say. Well done, ISMAC! The P1/2s made their assessment booklets and shared them with the rest of the Primary students. Their creativity and knowledge were very impressive.

The P4s had a great time at camp and, despite the rains, managed to make great connections with what they have been learning in class. They visited Makoa Farm and learnt about different animals and how they behave in their environment. The week ended on a high note, as the P2/3s shared their learning experience with their peers. It was a wonderful opportunity to visit the ISM Community Garden to see the maize crops the students had planted. We look forward to our P6 Exhibition on the evening of Thursday 16th May and all are welcome to come along.

Dates to note:

Tuesday 14th May-Parent Coffee Morning
Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th May-PYP Exhibition

Cathy Wambua

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to ISMAC on Tuesday. Our P6 friends delivered some very interesting presentations on disabilities, robots, photography and art to name but a few. We appreciated all of their hard work in preparing for the PYP Exhibition and are looking forward to seeing them next week when they visit the Moshi campus to see our own presentations.

We hope you will join us at 5:30pm on Thursday 16th May.

We will start off promptly in Room 6, the P4 classroom, for a brief introduction and will then spread out to different venues around campus for the various presentations. The children should wear their school T-shirts or Exhibition T-shirts for the Wednesday daytime presentation to the ISM students and wear smart clothes for the evening presentation on Thursday.

Some of the P6 students have an ABRSM exam on Thursday morning and others will be heading to Dar for the sports weekend on Friday morning. Good luck to all!

We look forward to returning to a regular schedule the following week when we will begin our final unit of inquiry on the theme of Sharing the Planet.

Deborah Mills

This week, we have set up a theatre inspired by Malaysian shadow puppetry. It gave us the chance to think about the scientific method. Which materials cast the best shadows? What’s our hypothesis? Let’s test it. Were we right? Let’s think again. Jnr. Otter prepared for his first day of school… could he count the number of shadows on the screen? Would re-ordering the shadow objects help him to get the count right? Silly Otter… well… I suppose if he can get it wrong and keep trying new methods we should feel OK to do that too. How can we order and split up numbers to 10? What does 2+7 look like? How about 5+5? Working in teams helps us to learn.

…and, while we are at it, what is culture anyway? Jnr. Otter is a little young to understand that concept, right? Maybe not. Where were we born? Where are mum and dad from? How about Grandma and Grandpa? Bibi and Babu? What do we like to eat in the many places we are ‘from’? What games do we like to play in different places? Where do we  feel that we belong? Where would we like to live when we ‘grow up?’ Where do our personal cultural identities lie and what do they mean to us?

Just some of the questions we have asked ourselves this week. Please discuss them at home. It is a very powerful way to help our children begin to understand where they are in place and time. We would love to see scrapbooks, photos, art work or anything else that comes out of your discussions. Links between home and school ‘work’ are essential (and scientifically proven) to improve future outcomes.

Swimming remains on Tuesdays. The pool is at actually at its warmest right now with residual heat, believe it or not. If there are clear skies (so we do not get too cold when we get out), then we will take every opportunity to swim. Lastly, the children are bringing healthy, enjoyable and varied snacks. Congratulations! Let’s continue trying our very best to keep the plastic packaging down to a minimum or, at least, as well as we can in terms of available choice, preferences and time constraints.

Owain Evans

The rains fuelled our talks about how we measure liquids. The children explored the meaning of capacity, volume, litres and millilitres this week. Thank you to all who helped us with the water comparison experiment at home. They enjoyed the work and shared their findings with each other in class. Please keep on the lookout for opportunities to measure liquids at home.
 

We completed our natural resources unit this week by sharing our booklets with various classes. The children were nervous at the start but shared their work with their peers from EC to P5. This coming week, we will be beginning a new unit.

Transdisciplinary Theme: Where We Are in Place and Time

Central Idea: Sources of historical evidence help us learn about the past.

Lines of Inquiry:
The ways individuals document their histories
Reflecting on past experience
Documenting our own histories
Making connections across time/generations

This is a wonderful time to start talking about your family history and your lives before the children were born. We will be asking you loads of questions as we build knowledge about the past.

Mboka Mwasongwe

Our class would like to thank all the parents who came out on Friday to support us during our rather untraditional Primary Gathering. The students have been working hard this week to complete flow charts, posters and gather information so they could present it to you.

Along with preparation for the Gathering, students have also been working on their summative assessments, where they are identifying a food of choice, the cuisine it comes from and creating bar graphs that look at how many ingredients in their food of choice are fresh and processed. We are hoping to complete this Unit of Inquiry by the middle of next week, after which, we will begin our next unit that looks at day and night, as well as seasons. More information on the next unit will be sent out to you soon.

Students have been working on multiple Math related activities this week as well. They have revisited addition and subtraction problems, continued to work on multiplication, as well as area and perimeter. An exciting part of our week has been solving superhero problems, whereby an anti-hero has taken on Mathhattan! Students have also continued working on their storyboards, with many students having completed theirs already. The completed storyboards can be found on SeeSaw, if you need another email with a log in, please send me an email and I will forward details on to you.

Swimming is ongoing and Coach Sabini has let me know he will inform me when swimming will stop for the year.

Elisha Jaffer

The P4s had a great time at Makoa Farm and Mweka campsite as they extended their learning in their overnight camp. They saw many different animals and learned about animal behaviour. Great thanks to Simon and Tara Mtuy for welcoming us and to Dr. Elisabeth Laslow and Beatah for the wonderful tour at Makoa Farm.

In the coming week, the P4s will be reflecting on their unit and finalising their assessment projects. We will also be taking Action, with the students collecting old blankets, towels and soft toys for the animals in Makoa Farm.

Cathy Wambua

The class is busy preparing to share their summative assessments next Tuesday. You are invited to join us at 12:00pm to see the variety of different projects the class has chosen to share their knowledge. We spent time this week putting together a card to honour all the amazing mothers of the P5 class, since this next Sunday is Mother’s Day in my home country.

Next week, the class will be having a special visitor share a tool that is used in medicine to see internal organs. On Wednesday, Dr. Henke will be visiting with an ultrasound machine. If you are curious, you can join us at 7:30am to see the presentation. Please inform me if you do not want your child to participate in experimenting with the device. Also, next week, we will begin our final unit of the school year. I am looking forward to finishing the school year with some positive action in our community.

Sarah Brummel

M3

The M4 class has been working with Kili Orphanage for more than a year. We have completed several big projects, such as building a sandpit and purchasing and installing a swing set. This year, during focus week (a 3 day project where we get to pick a service), we would like to further our collaboration with the orphanage.

One of our main goals is to give the children (aged 2-11) life experiences, such as swinging, which we have accomplished. Our next project is teaching them how to cycle. We are writing to ask whether you have any bicycles that are not being used that you could donate to the orphanage. We would really appreciate any help you can provide.

Please send an email to margaretbrunt@ed.ismoshi.com if you have any questions.

M4

Over the past few weeks, the M5’s have been taking weekly visits to the neighbouring Kibo Secondary School. As part of their class service project, the M5’s are working alongside the boys at Kibo Secondary to paint the walls in the boy’s dormitory.

As time has progressed, the M5 students have made great progress in transforming the old, dirty walls by giving them a fresh coat of paint. In the first few sessions, they sanded down the walls with sand paper to create a suitable surface to paint on. After this, they all got to work, painting the walls in white and blue. All of the supplies were bought with funding collected by the M5 class themselves.

With just a little more painting to get done, the M5’s are looking forward to visiting Kibo again to finish the rest of the project.

M5

Practical Music Exams will be on THURSDAY 16th May.

Please check exam times on the schedule outside the Music Room. Students need to arrive 30 minutes before scheduled time for warm up, tuning and preparation.

Piano, cello and violin students must remember to bring original music books and must not use photocopies.

Good luck, and remember, “Practice like you have never won, and perform like you have never lost.”

Mary Pantlin

M4 Personal Project
The M4 students have already been introduced to the Personal Project. They submitted their proposals on Tuesday 7th May. They will get feedback on their project proposals during Guidance Hour on Tuesday 21st May. Parents are encouraged to discuss these projects with their children to ensure any associated costs are within the family budget.

M3-IDU Trip
This trip is slated for May 22nd-24th at Makumira University. The trip is organised by the Arts and Languages departments. The letters and details for the trip were released on Friday 10th May.

M5-On-Screen Examinations
The M5 candidates will be sitting their examinations from next week. Details of how they will be supported by the teachers have been communicated to both students and respective parents. We wish them well and ask parents for support during this time.

M5 Work Experience Week
The M5 students will be off campus from May 27th-31st for their work experience week. We thank parents for their support in finding respective organisations/institutions for the students to work with this year. All of them are expected in school on Monday 3rd June for reflections on their experiences.

David Ochieng

Friday saw the completion of the first week of the IB DP Final Examinations; the scholars of ISM, our biologists, geographers, historians, linguists and literary critics, sat in Rafiki Hall and applied the brilliance of their knowledge and understanding to the examination questions posed by the IB.

As the Diploma Coordinator of ISM, I must commend all our D2 students for their exemplary conduct in the examinations. ISM continues to wish them all the best; all our hopes and aspirations sit with you D2.

Tickets for graduation dinner and ceremony are now available for collection form the school main office from Ms. Mkumbwa.

Anthony Hemmens

As you will know by now, both campuses are making preparations to welcome a significant number of new students into our Diploma Programme in August 2019. These students will be coming from literally all four corners of the globe and may find Tanzania a very different place in which to live. This is a very exciting time and a great opportunity for us all to learn more about the world from these new arrivals, just as they will learn so much from us.

The 2019 DP Orientation for all D1 students, incoming and renewing, starts on Wednesday 7th August 2019. Full details of the programme will be shared in due course. Student input, as always, is invaluable-please share any suggestions for activities for the Orientation with the Diploma Co-ordinator.

Bob Cofer

A small message of congratulations to our very own Paul Malimi who has been accepted to present at Tanzania’a prestigious SAUT Conference. Paul will present on the theme of innovations in education and how this contributes to development. He will fly the flag for ISM and talk about how he incorporates service learning in a language acquisition classroom. Well done, Mr Malimi!

D2 students have continued to write their exams this week. D2  boarders are allowed study in the dorms during the exam period but must keep to the boarding rules.

Exams will end on Friday 24th May. That evening, there will be a dinner for the D2 graduates, their parents and the staff in Moshi town. The graduation ceremony will take place on Saturday 25th May in the school hall. D2 boarders are free to leave school thereafter.

Private Graduation Parties

Although the school organises celebrations for the D2 graduation, the students have usually additionally opted to arrange their own private parties off-campus. These are likely to be on Saturday 25th May after the official ceremony. These student-organised parties are not school events and we cannot, as a school, take responsibility for them.

For Parents of Boarders

Boarders staying in school that weekend will NOT be allowed to attend any unsupervised parties. If boarders do want to attend, they can only do so if their parents agree and they have been taken out of the school’s care by staying with another family for the weekend. Even if you have already indicated on the Parental Consent form that your child may sign out to friends at weekends, we would like to further confirm that it is acceptable on this particular weekend. If you have children intending to sign out for this weekend, could you please contact us with that confirmation? You may contact either the boarding parent or the Head of Boarding by whatever means that is most convenient (telephone, letter or email). Please note that we will confirm this via phone with both sets of parents. Boarders will be expected to remain in school for the weekend if we have not heard from you before WEDNESDAY 22nd MAY.

We would also suggest on this occasion, that you contact the host family directly to discuss what you feel would be appropriate arrangements, curfew etc for your children on the evening of the party.

Rosemary Bango

What a fantastic day of touch rugby last Saturday was. Our teams have improved out of sight over the last 4 weeks and dominated in all U15 and U19 games. The U15 girls had a very close tie, lost a nail biter 1-0 and won two games comfortably. The U15 boys had a simpler day out with two good wins and a narrow 3-2 loss to the eventual champions. The U19 boys continued their good form with a big win over Braeburn and a 2-2 draw with Orkeeswa, meaning they finished the competition in second place. The U13s had a tougher tournament with three losses. Our U19 girls were exceptional in their games, winning all three and, as a result, finished equal first on points…but were crowned NTAA Touch Champions due to a higher points differential! This brings to a close our last team NTAA event for the Secondary School, with only the cross country left to compete in for MYP and DP students this year.

Cross country training will continue next Tuesday at 4:15pm for any students wanting to participate from U9, U11, U13, U15 and U19. The race will be held on Saturday 18th May at Braeburn International School. There are extra training sessions available on Friday mornings at 5:30am and Saturdays at 7:15am for those students who want more group sessions. Please contact Mr Marsh if you would like to be added to the team.

See the table above for what is still to come this quarter.

Saturday Soccer

For the football fans out there, do not forget that Saturday soccer is back on from 9:00am-10:30am for PYP students.

Saturday Campus Run

Every Saturday at 7:15am there is a campus run around the perimeter of the school gate. Meet at the picnic tables by the P.E. block to join in.

Wednesday CrossFit

Community and student CrossFit is on every Wednesday from 3:15pm.

Friday Interval Training

On Friday mornings at 5:30am, there is interval training for those student and community members who want to increase their speed in distance running, ideal for the cross country team.

Primary Sports Weekend

The much anticipated Primary Sports Weekend at IST is only a week away. Full details have now been sent home with all participants. Training has been going well in rugby, swimming and soccer and excitement is building across the campus.

Please read through all the information very carefully, taking particular note of the 4:30am departure time on Friday 17th May and the packing list! Please make sure all permission slips are returned to Mr Marsh in the Design Room no later than Wednesday 15th May.

All the very best to our ISM sports starts. It will be an action packed and tiring weekend but, hopefully, a successful and enjoyable experience for all involved too.

Go Leopards!

Robin Marsh