Moshi Campus News – 17 March 2013

Dear Parents,

Thanks to all the students who performed so well at our choir concert last Wednesday. Congratulations also to those swimmers who represented the Moshi Campus at the Arusha swimming gala on Saturday. And finally, special congratulations to our D2 artists who mounted a superb exhibition this evening. The exhibition will be open all day on Tuesday, so you can still see it.

We have now enetered the last week of this quarter with still much to do. Many of our D1 students are in Pangani on field study, and the M4/M5 assessment week continues. There will be primary student-led conferences on Thursday (and hence no primary classes on Thursday – secondary classes continue as normal), and secondary parent-teacher conferences on Friday from 10:35am to 12 noon. More details of this week are given below.

Our formal assessments for M4 & M5 continue this week until Thursday, 21st March. Students have been given the schedule of the exams. These last two years in the Middle school are crucial as the students are trained to develop skills that will enable them to cope with the rigorous programme of the Diploma: managing time, devising strategies for learning content and being able to apply knowledge to answer questions are all vital skills students should have mastered by the time they reach the end of the secondary school, in our case the Diploma. The marks they score will be included in the reports they receive at the end of this academic year. For the M5 students, these grades will be considered when we send their final grades to the IB and it is important that they do their best.

Our D2 Diploma students will be presenting their Art Exhibition to the community on Tuesday, 19th March from 11am to 4pm in Karibu Hall. Please try to come and see the fantastic work that they have done.

The D1 students who study Biology or Environmental Systems & Societies are currently at the school’s house in Pangani from until Wednesday, 20th March. They are undertaking environmental studies at the coast.

Other D1 students who remain in Moshi have a special schedule for those days, including a lot of Physics classes!

These will be held on Thursday 21st March. Parents should have received notification of available times and have hopefull booked a slot by now. Remember that there will be no formal classes for primary children on that day. The students have worked hard to prepare their portfolios to showcase their work. This is the time to celebrate their progress over the year!

All parents of secondary students are invited to meet our teachers on Friday, 22 March 10.35-12.00 in Karibu Hall. This is an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress as well as their interim report (M1-D1) or full report (D2). Secondary reports will be issued on Thursday 21 March. If you wish to be sent a soft copy please email Mrs Totty Aris, Head of Secondary on

As normal we will be having a quarterly assembly to celebrate our successes and share some of our learning journeys. Parents are very welcome to join us for this event prior to the P/T consultations at 9am in Karibu Hall.
We look forward to seeing you.

A group of ISM students will be leaving on Friday, 22nd March to Switzerland on a ski trip. We wish them and the accompanying teachers all the very best for an enjoyable trip.

Whilst most of us will be enjoying a well-deserved rest in the school holidays, a group of 17 of our D1 students will be spending a full week in Dar es Salaam following practice sessions in preparation for their ACT tests next month. These tests are an important part of preparing to apply for university in the USA. We wish them well and hope that the practice helps to build strong results.

Boarders should return to school for next quarter on Sunday, 7th April and classes will start on Monday, 8th April. Please ensure that your child returns to school on time. If you would like us to meet your child at Kilimanjaro or Moshi airports on their arrival, please send the flight details to Rosemary Bango on as soon as they are known.

This year our Book door competition stepped up a level as the entries were all of a very high standard. Next time you come to school take a few minutes to walk around the school and admire the creativity and collaboration displayed on all the doors. The judges (all volunteers, Kurt, Richard and Rogier) had a hard task deciding who the winners were:
Primary 1st place – The Gruffallo (P1/2)
2nd place – Rainbow Fish
3rd Place – Chicken Licken

Secondary 1st place – Moshi’s Little Red Riding Hood (D2M)
2nd place – Fahrenheit 451
3rd Place – Asterix.

The winners were of course delighted and have been rewarded with a cake to share amongst the team. A special mention should be made to Annie Bigg (M1) who contributed her artistic talents to five doors! It has been a wonderful book week this year which was kick-started by an assembly full of spirit as students from EC all the way up to D2 dressed up as a book character. The Secondary reading competition winners will be announced in our final assembly next week. We look forward with anticipation to next year’s Book week. Thank you to everyone’s efforts in splashing Moshi campus with book ideas and colour.

Thanks to those parents and others who joined us for a successful presentation in the Tilapia Hotel in Mwanza today. We look forward to welcoming new students from Mwanza over the coming months.

Our interviews for scholarship students were held last Friday and we have selected two excellent students to join us for the new school year in August. We will look forward to welcoming Sammmota Chungu and Jasper Kajiru to ISM at that time. The other nine interviewees were also extremely strong students and the choice was difficult. Unfortunately we can only offer two places this year as current scholarship funds are insufficient for more, and it was very disappointing to decline scholarships for those other excellent candidates.

ISM’s IB DP students encountered again this week a rich array of learning opportunities inside and outside of the ISM classroom.

A thrilling co-ed intra-mural basketball mini-tournament on Monday and Tuesday called “March Madness” included nearly one quarter of DP students and some super basketball thanks to the efforts of our coach Greg Wagoner. The competitive athletic spirit was also in evidence in Monday afternoon’s faculty versus ISM DP boys football game in which the teachers won! Wednesday night brought a fabulous “Music under the Stars” concert where several groups sung and D1 students Salma Munde, Neema Ntilatwa and Lucky Yona and D2 student Sam Magesa shined as did the after-school CAS club of student teacher Kurt Ebsary known as the Cassations (who have now produced a CD that you can purchase!). Just to give you a further sense of the dynamism and options available to our students – Thursday’s typical after school CAS activities that I saw and was impressed with included D1s teaching ballet to young girls, others teaching English to ISM maintenance crew members and D1s teaching computer skills to local primary students. Moreover this past weekend’s Soccer 7s tournament was tremendous and dozens of DP students participated.

Recently a May 2012 IB DP student wrote me, “Honestly I miss ISM, I still find it the best place where you can really learn a lot out of your interest at your own best pace. I am talking of not only the IB system (I call it excellent) but also the sheer support you get from everyone around in your learning pursuits. When I sit and reflect on the time I spent in ISM, I realize that it was a privilege being a student at ISM.”

Many DP students have had assessments this week. As you may know D1 students are progressing with their Extended Essay.

It is great to see many DP students into an exercise routine and the importance of this is underscored by this article entitled, “Exercise May Help Protect Children From Stress” at: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/exercise-may-help-protect-children-from-stress/. It applies for sure to DP-aged students as well.

As you may know, ISM emphasizes academic honesty throughout the two-year IB DP. Cases arise every school year where students mistakes result in our need to enforce this policy. PLEASE emphasize the importance of academic honesty to your child. The real world is unforgiving on this matter as noted in this articled entitled “New Plagiarism Cases Cause Second Thoughts in Germany” at www.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/world/europe/11iht-educside11.html.

PLEASE find a way if at all possible to attend the parent-teacher meeting on the morning of next Friday March 22nd. I cannot overstate how important it is for parents to regularly visit ISM and get a sense of your son or daughter’s progress. Find a way please to make it to Moshi a few times a year if you are within an hour or two-flight range and can. It makes such a difference!

Regular lessons continue until Friday March 22nd and resume on Monday April 8th. Parents do a disservice to their child if they permit early departures or late returns. Irreplaceable D2 exam revision sessions amplify the importance of this for D2s.

As usual feel free to email or call with any questions/concerns.
Sincerely,
Rick Fitzpatrick – (Diploma Coordinator)

We have finally reached the end of this very busy term. Our M4 & M5 students will be continuing with their exams until Thursday 21st March.

M1-M3 – Students from these year groups will be continuing with their normal classes until the assembly on Friday 22nd March. We request parents not to take students out of school early as teachers still have assignments and tasks that they would want to complete. M5 students will be back in class on Friday morning.

M4 – Introduction to the Personal project
I will be giving the M4 students a brief introduction to the Personal Project on Friday morning. My aim is to start them thinking of what they would like to do as a product and also get them acquainted with the requirements of this important culminating task. They already have an idea of the types of products they could do from the M5 exhibition. Next term, I will meet them again in order to give them the PP students’ guides and start the thought process. Before they go off on the June break, they will be in a position to think clearly about their project. They will be expected to start brainstorming and planning during the holidays and record all this in their process journal . In August, they will meet the MYP Coordinator and finalise their product. After that, they will be allocated supervisors. I want students and parents to understand the importance of the process not just the final product. IB expects to see how each student has thought out the project – their process journal will be evidence of how they have recorded all their ideas and research right from day one. We also advise the students to be realistic in deciding on their product and also engage in something that they enjoy. Such a long project could easily become boring if the students did not enjoy what they are doing.

Parents’ conferences: We look forward to meeting all our parents on Friday, it would also be great to see some parents of Middle school students at our assembly so you can witness the talents of our students school-wide. If you have any queries about the MYP, you are welcome to have a chat with me and I hope to be able to help you have a deeper understanding of the programme. I would also invite the new students to take this opportunity to see me if they would like clarifications about MYP.

M5 work experience: As I had mentioned in one of my newsletters, M5 students will be doing their work experience next term. To facilitate the planning of this important event, I would like to request parents who own businesses or companies to contact me if they will be willing to offer an opportunity for our students to work in their enterprise. My email: . I thank you in advance.

Our students have been very busy reaching their goals, I would like to share this thought with all of you:
“Successful people don’t do extraordinary things, but they do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. be the best in whatever you are doing and you shall be great and successful.”
Unknown

An excellent week to All!!
Jaimala Quinlan
MYP Coordinator

Lice Outbreak
Parents are still advising us about lice discoveries in their children’s hair. Please keep looking and combing. If your child has long hair it might be best to keep it tied up out of harm’s way. Lice are quite acrobatic and have been known to jump with prowess.

P5/6
As both Mr Scott and Miss Cindy are away this week, the class will be together again and Miss Patricia will be teaching them this week. Miss Patricia did a wonderful job with the P5/6 class last year when Miss Marlaina was away on maternity leave.
This week students will be working flat-out on their portfolios and reflecting about the camp and completing their camp journals. In Maths they’ll continue to work with data handling and will be completing Maths homework set on Mathletics.

On Tuesday Christopher’s mum will be coming to speak about making healthy choices in nutrition.

St Constantine’s Swim Gala
Congratulations to all our primary school swimmers who swam so well and did us proud. Our U8s won their division, well done!

Afternoon Clubs
These end on Wednesday 20th March. Remember there will be no tennis and no football on Monday and on Wednesday.

End of Quarter Assembly and last day arrangements:
The end of quarter assembly will be at 9am on Friday morning. Primary students may go home at 10.15am. However if you have secondary children as well, the teachers will be in their classes until 12 to supervise your child should you wish to meet the secondary teachers.
Cindy van den Heuvel
Head of Primary/PYP Coordinator

Early Childhood Preview

The last week of term will be spent on finishing our final assessment for this unit. Each child has made up their own story or chosen a familiar story to retell. They have also chosen how they wish to share the story with the class; acting it out on the stage, presenting a puppet show or shadow puppet show, painting pictures or using small world figures. As you can imagine this process takes a lot of time and will be the focus of our work this week as each child practises and then presents to the class.

We are also preparing for our student led conferences on Thursday. Please note that there will be no school that day and that your child should accompany you to the conference and lead you through activities as well as have a chance to share their portfolio with you. This is not a parent teacher conference but a child led conference. We will be asking you for your reflections on the conference but if you wish to make an appointment to see me at a later date please do not hesitate to do so.
As well as the portfolio the children will show you a maths game and a language activity. Please look out for the conference time coming soon!

Dont forget the end of term assembly coming up this Friday, 22nd March. More details to follow.
Annalee

P1/2 Preview

Book week was great fun. P1 and 2 won the Door Competition with The Gruffalo. We were delighted. We won a cake to share as first prize!

School Trip
P1 and 2 children are off on a trip to the Echtwel Estate on Tuesday 19th March. Melinda Etchtwel will show us around her estate and the children will learn about how land is used in different ways. Details about the trip went out on Thursday last week. I must have permission slips back by Monday please!

Student Led Conferences
Your children are very keen to share their portfolios with you on Thursday. I am so pleased I have had nearly all reply slips back. At the beginning of the week I will allocate a specific time for you to attend the conference on Thursday.

Language focus for the week
Writing: Recount of the trip. Using the language of time. (On Tuesday…Then I…Next I…Later…At the end). Using adjectives, (amazing, fantastic, wonderful, scary, huge…)
Thank you letter to Melinda.
Write sentence captions to match different types of land use. (Linked to UOI)
Handwriting: Patterns, writing numerals and a focus on the zig zag monster letters. (v, w, x and z) Some children are joining letters together.

Phonics:
1. CVCs (middle vowels) Focus on en, et, ed, eg, eck and ell words.
2. Long vowel: ee as in feet, ea as in beak.
3. Introduce aw as in straw , au as in sauce

Maths focus for the week
Mental skills will focus on doubles, near doubles and counting on and back. Also quick recall of the addition facts of 10 and 20. All children will learn about money and real life problems.
Group 1:
Recognise coins of different values. Find totals up to 20p/20c.
Group 2:
See Group 1. Find totals up to £1/$

Unit of Inquiry
New Unit: Land Ahoy!
Central Idea: People interact with, use and value the natural environment in different ways.
Lines of Inquiry:
1. How land is used.
2. Local land use.
3. Actions that benefit and harm the local environment.
We will draw maps and plans of Melinda’s estate to show land use.

Art – Collage made of natural materials
Create a picture of your favourite book character. (Paint, pastels, crayons…)

What to bring to school:
A hat for playtime and a healthy snack. (No hat, no play!)

Timetable:
Monday
No new reading books or homework will be issued.
Tuesday
Swimming (swimming costume, towel, flip flops, sun cream, swim aids such as arm bands if required)
Wednesday
Library (bring library bags ready to return books
Thursday
Portfolio Day
Friday
PE

P3/4 Preview

The last week of quarter 3 has arrived! It’s been a great quarter and a great year so far.
Unfortunately we will be saying farewell to Elsie who has only been with us this term. We loved your happy, positive nature, Elsie and we wish you well in your new school in Uganda.
Last week we also said goodbye to Mr. Rogier who has been taking us for PE for the past few months. We will miss his instruction, teaching and fun lessons. What a great contribution he made to our school in the time he was with us.

This is what our learning in class will look like this week:
UOI – “Exploration”
Central Idea: People explore their world; their methods and reasons are constantly changing.
Lines of Inquiry: Who explorers are
        How people explore
        Why people explore
        Consequences of exploration

We will continue watching a series of DVDs which focus on some famous explorers, their discoveries and inventions and their contribution to society. We will discover that exploration can happen in a variety of fields. In Art we will be studying some of the works of Kandinsky and how he explored colour and music and allowed these elements to influence his creations.

Writing – the difference between fact and opinion will remain our focus as we write some factual information about explorers.

Spelling Groups 1) CVC words -op, -og and -od (e.g. hop, dog, nod), 2) words containing -eet (meet), -ake (take), -ift/ist (lift, mist) 3) words ending in -er that have a double consonant which make the vowel before it says its sound instead of its name (e.g. better, summer) 4) words ending in -ation, -etion, -otion and -ution (e.g. station, completion, lotion and solution).
Language/grammar – past, present and future tense.

Maths – P3 Grids and coordinates – the 8 points of a compass, direction. Identifying and plotting points on a grid. Time – o’clock, half-hours and quarter hours (digital and analogue).
Tables 2x, 5x, 10x 11x 3x, 4x. Basic facts up to 10/20 (+ and -).
P4 Decimals. Converting fractions to decimals. Grids and co-ordinates – the 8 points of the compass, direction. Identifying and plotting points on a grid.
Tables – 2x, 3x, 4 x, 5x, 6x, 10x , 11x, 12x . Basic facts up to 20 (+ and -).

REMINDERS:
Student led conferences will be held on Thursday. There will be no formal school on this day. Letters went home last week regarding suitable times for parents and children to meet and discuss the learning that has been taking place over the past year. If you have not yet returned your form, please do so by Monday at the latest, so that we can coordinate sessions and confirm your appointment time. Please note that this is a student led conference and not a parent-teacher meeting.

ISM book bags and caps are now available for sale in the office.

Every day: Hats and polo shirts/t- shirts
Zip bags, home-school note books, reading books and reading logs
Healthy snack for break time

MONDAY
Homework – Only spelling and reading homework this week
P.E. – wear house t-shirts, shorts and trainers.
Bake sale at break time should you wish to support some of the secondary students in their venture to raise funds for the Day Care Centre, located on our Campus.

THURSDAY
No school – student led conferences.

FRIDAY
Spelling test
Whole school assembly – 9.30am. All parents and family welcome.
Students may go home at break time, but there is provision for them to remain until 12 o’clock, if parents are involved in Secondary meetings.

Looking forward to a great final week together. Have a wonderful holiday break and if you are going away, travel safely.
I hope to see everyone back on 8 April, well rested and ready for the last stretch of the year.
Miss Jann