Moshi Campus News – 29 Sep 2013

Dear Parents,

The last week has been a busy and disturbing one for many of us. Last Saturday we celebrated International Peace Day with a Peace Concert on the lawn outside Karibu Hall, but that day and much of the week was also marked by the terrible events in Westgate in Nairobi. Our thoughts go out to all those affected, especially the students and families in the international schools in Nairobi. Our M4 students undertook field study in and around Simba Farm in West Kilimanjaro. Some of our students are in Arusha this weekend for the national swimming championships, and many of our teachers are undertaking first aid training this weekend so that they are better equipped to lead trips and groups of students.

Tomorrow, Monday, 30th September the Parents Association committee will be meeting. If you would like to meet them or discuss issues, you are welcome to join them in Bob Horton’s office between 7:30am and 8:30am. The Parents Association can also be contacted by email on pa-m@uwcea.net

We are looking forward to the Fundraiser being organised on Friday, 11th October. This has been organised to start straight after the secondary parent-teacher meetings on that day and I hope many of you who live outside Moshi (as well as those more local) will be able to join us for the afternoon before going home with your children for the holiday. Good food and some entertainment is promised as well as a chance to meet other families and to support our planned improvements for Karibu Hall.

Last week, M4 from both Moshi and Arusha campuses went to stay at Simba Farm on the western slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro. This large farm (21 square kilometers) is the perfect place to conduct field work when answering the question “How does altitude affect climate and therefore vegetation?”

Students carried out a biomass comparison at two different sites, and once they had gathered their data, they were able to analyse it using technology provided by a local environmental NGO. It was hilarious to watch the students struggle with thorns and thick vegetation as they fought their way into the dense forest to collect their data! The group also used statistical analysis to determine the strength of the relationship between altitude and temperature data they obtained throughout the trip.

Even though the trip had a Science and Mathematics focus, students were also given the opportunity to practise some of the observational writing skills they have been learning in English this quarter with Mr Wright. After a rather challenging trek down to a river, each M4 student found a solitary spot to themselves and wrote about the environment they observed around them. Each student fully appreciated this rare opportunity to be alone and silent in nature and allow their senses to take it all in.

These field trips are always interdisciplinary in nature, and the way in which all of the different skills and concepts from various subjects come together in one place is central to the MYP philosophy. It was a pleasure to take this group of students away this week and I hope this brief exposure of field work will have been of great benefit to them all.
Mr Dombkins and Mr Applegate

The previous week our M2 students from both campuses enjoyed a successful week studying the history of Pangani and the coastal features.

ISM Arusha Campus is very pleased to announce up to four FULL scholarships available to students in M2 to M4 from next January. We are currently inviting academically able Tanzanian students currently studying in national curriculum schools to apply for 100% tuition scholarships in our Arusha Campus. If you know of any child who may be able to benefit from this opportunity, please go to www.uwcea.org/mypscholarship for more details and an application form. Applications will close on 31st October.

This Monday (30 September) will be a whole school assembly where the new student council will be presented to the school. They will take the SRC Oath and nominations for the Executive Committee for the Student Council will be announced. The final elections for the new Executive Committee (President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary) will take place in the last week of the quarter.

The final Quarter 1 Assembly will take place on Friday, October 11th at 09.15 in Karibu Hall. The whole school will participate and parents are welcome.

Last Monday’s primary assembly

The school calendar for the year 2014/15 has now been published and is available to download in PDF format from www.uwcea.org/moshi-arusha/calendar/.

The ISM calendar is available on Google Calendar and is regularly updated there. You can synchronise your Android phone, iPhone, Windows or other device to this, by searching for the ISM Public Calendar at address intsmoshi@googlemail.com and adding it to your device. (Please do not use this address for emails).

Senior Boys Football Match
The Senior Boys confronted the boys of Shiri School for the third time since we started playing them last year. It was a heated game, with much drama, including the obligatory complaints about offsides being called wrongly. ISM were in the lead at half time, being 2-1 up thanks to some excellent goal-keeping from Nikhil and a strong offence and defence. In the last 20 minutes Shiri managed to slot in another two goals bringing the result up to a disappointing 3-2 loss. They played much better in the second half and persistently pushed at the defence until they were able to get through. Nevertheless, the ISM boys put on a good show and played as a team, showing good sportsmanship and, of course, enjoyment of the game. We have since been training on a few aspects we identified in the game and hope to give Shiri a rematch with a different result soon!
Thanks to Mr. Brandon for refereeing the game, and all the students and staff who came out to support the team.
Coach Holt

D2 students who wish to register for the SAT test in school on 2nd November must complete their registration by Monday, 30th September.

D2 students who wish to take the TOEFL paper-based test in school on 16th November must complete their registration by Wednesday, 9th October.

Secondary reports will be issued on 10th October at the end of the school day. D2 students will receive a full detailed report, whilst other classes will receive a one page interim report. If you would like a softcopy of your child’s report, then please email Totty Aris on tottya@uwcea.net. Secondary parent meetings will be held on Friday, 11th October from 10:30am to 12 noon in Karibu Hall.

Primary Three-way Conferences
The Primary students will receive a goal-setting report on 8th October. This will be used as the basis of the Three-Way conferences on 10th October. Please note there are no primary classes on 10 October as teachers are busy with the Three-Way conferences all day. Parents of day students will visit with your child and then take him/her home with you. A letter will be sent home a week before to organise the times. Primary Clubs finish for this quarter on Wednesday, 9th October.

A new stock of house T-shirts is now available from reception in school – both adult and child sizes.

We now have a clear picture of the clubs for quarter 2. Some parents were interested in contributing their time. I will have a meeting on Monday 30 Sep at 0800 -0830 in my room if you would like to volunteer and discuss the new primary clubs. Email Totty Aris on tottya@uwcea.net if would still like to contribute to the primary clubs programme.

During the next quarter of after school clubs we will begin an ISM Brownie Pack. This will be for girls aged 7 to 11 years old based on the UK Brownie system. Through weekly meetings, special events, day trips, sleepovers, camps and holidays, Brownies learn new hobbies, play music, explore other cultures and get adventurous outdoors. They can also extend their knowledge and abilities by working towards Brownie Interest Badges covering many different hobbies and activities from Science investigator to circus skills! Please check out their website for further details: www.girlguiding.org.uk.

If you sign your daughter up for this club you are committing her to becoming a Brownie for the whole school year, rather than just for one session of afterschool activities. There will be some small costs involved towards a simple uniform and other expenses. The maximum number in the brownie pack will be 18.
Please contact Annalee Horton by emailing annaleeh@uwcea.net if you have any questions about the Brownies.
Annalee Horton

For security reasons we do not normally allow students, parents or visitors to use the small south gate (between Kisanduku and the Kichala Health Centre) to enter or leave school. However there are a few families who live immediately south of the school campus. If you do live here near to the school and would like your child to use the South Gate, we will issue him/her with a special ID card permitting them to use the gate to enter school before 7:30am and to leave school at the end of classes or clubs/CAS activities. The gate may not be used at other times, nor may it be used by visitors or boarding students. Children using the south gate must carry their ID card with them (replacements of lost ID cards cost TSh 10,000/-). Those without ID cards will not be allowed through.

Please email Keiron White on keironw@uwcea.net if your child needs to use this gate and you wish him/her to receive an appropriate ID card.

Unlike the main gate, a watchman is not on duty at the south gate itself at all times and it may be necessary to wait for a watchman to come before your child can enter or leave.

All students from EC – P3 should be picked up at the primary block at the end of their club or school day. Children in P4-P6 may wait at the main school gate to be picked up. If your primary child walks or cycles home without an adult, we need to have a permission letter from you stating that you would like this to happen and that you will take responsibility for the journey. Could you please give this letter (in writing or by email) to your child’s class teacher?

This week’s MYP snapshot will be M4 History:
This quarter in History, M4 have been studying the Industrial revolution. At the beginning of the unit, Mr Fitzpatrick posed the question “How do revolutions alter life for citizens?”. Throughout the last 7 weeks, M4 have been trying to answer this question, in the context of ‘Human Ingenuity’ (their Area of Interaction).
On Friday this unit culminated in a series of impressive two-minute Industrial Revolution Historical Investigation presentations by all M4s. Students dressed up appropriately, and provided their teacher Mr Fitzpatrick with a clear picture not only of how diligently they have worked during the quarter throughout this unit, but also of how competent each is as a public speaker. Great work M4s!

Following eight months of work, D2 full diploma students submitted the final version of their Extended Essays (www.ibo.org/diploma/curriculum/core/essay) on Monday. We celebrated this notable achievement with an ice cream celebration on Wednesday after lessons. D2 Rafikiel Seyvunde spoke on behalf of her peers and thanked all D2 Extended Essay supervisors for their support in the quest to finish the 4,000 word research project. Particular appreciation was extended to our DP Economics teacher Mrs Rosemary Bango and English/Theory of Knowledge teacher Mr Alastair Brandon as each of them supervised a half dozen students!

I observe – as is common at this juncture each school year – rising stress levels among D2 students. The reason is simple. The D2s already routine rigorous academic program is further challenged as this and the upcoming several months are when coursework assignments are due. These coursework assignments are an essential part (about 25% of the final grade on average) of each of the six IB DP courses. While it may be unavoidable that additional pressure be felt at this time of year, DP students can lesson the effects of the stress by developing a healthy daily routine that includes adequate sleep, consumption of plenty of water and exercise. Parental reminders of DP students in this regard would be invaluable.

Parents of D1 and D2 students ought to enquire of their children about their results of recently taken assessments as on many days this week tests were administered.

More DP students appear to be participating in the Outdoor Pursuits trips that are a wonderful complement to the rigors of academic life at ISM. Parents will want to encourage their sons/daughters to get involved in this aspect of our program.

A handful of D1 and D2 students continue rehearsing for the school-wide musical production ‘I would do anything for you’ that will take place in mid-December.

Initial scheduling plans are getting underway for the mock IB exams for all D2 students from January 16-27, 2014. Plans for the December/January break for all D2 students need to include considerable time dedicated to review for these critical practice exams that are often a key indicator of how the May results will be. Again, this is a reminder to parents not to undermine your child’s education by removing them early or returning them late after holidays as every day of DP lessons is essential. Your cooperation in this regard with our ISM faculty is appreciated.

The healthy athletic habits of many of our DP students and the nutritionally balanced meals our borders receive appears to match what is happening globally which mimics developments outside as research is showing that: Teenagers Are Getting More Exercise and Vegetables https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/teenagers-are-getting-more-exercise-and-vegetables/.

The caliber of teaching ISM DP students experience is undeniably first rate. Mr Holt’s Environmental Systems and Societies engaging lab on soil permeability. Mr. Wright’s English Literature fascinating lesson on the characteristics of poetry versus prose fiction with video clips and discussion on the Martin Luther King “I have a Dream” speech and the Italian (dubbed into English) movie “Il Postino: The Postman” with literature great Pablo Neruda. Ms. Jacob’s stimulating DP Music lesson on musical melodies from Latin America energizes her students to learn more about world music – a key component of the syllabus. The common thread is our ISM DP students truly are receiving a ‘world class education’ at this special location where we enjoyed many days this week of great views of the snow-capped Kili.

Our modality of teaching encourages critical thinking but also creativity – an aspect presented interestingly in this series of articles – ‘Is Creativity Endangered?’ from the NY Times Room for Debate – if you have time skim some of these thought-provoking short opinion pieces which I think mimics to a degree the ISM DP experience. www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/09/15/is-creativity-endangered.

This piece by one of America’s foremost thinkers also covers territory that connects to the ingenuity we actually do engender, we hope, in our work as ISM IB DP educators of tomorrow’s leaders – ‘When Complexity Is Free’ www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/opinion/sunday/friedman-when-complexity-is-free.html.

Feel free to contact the ISM IB DP office via email if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Rick Fitzpatrick
Diploma Programme Coordinator rickf@uwcea.net

Important reminder
Please check your communication book that went home on Friday for details about swimming. We start the swimming programme this Monday.

Unit of Inquiry
As this unit is coming to an end I am in the middle of assessments and work on a portfolio piece with each child.
After the October break we will start our second unit of inquiry under the transdisciplinary theme of ‘Who we are’. The central idea is, ‘We use our senses to explore and discover the world around us’. More details to follow in the next newsletter.

Literacy
The sounds of the week will be p and e. Peter puppy makes the p sound and Eddy elephant makes the short e sound. Activities will include;

• Performing puppet shows and making our own stick puppets
• Making pancakes
• Reading books about elephants, both fiction and non-fiction.

Unit of Inquiry
We have made a good start on our new unit of inquiry. P1 and 2 children already know a lot about plants and seeds and are very enthusiastic about learning more. We will focus on the first line of inquiry and look at different types of plants. We will consider strange plants, plants we eat and poisonous plants. We will also set up some simple experiments.
Central Idea: There are certain conditions that are necessary for plants to grow.
Lines of Inquiry:
1. Types of plants.
2. Growth cycle
3. Conditions and requirements for healthy growth.

Class Trip
We have an outing to a nursery planned for Thursday of this week. (3rd October). Christine Kleinveld kindly invited our class to visit her nursery to find out all about what conditions are nessessary for plants to grow and survive. I will send a letter out at the beginning of the week with details of this trip.

Swimming
We will begin class swimming next week. Our Tuesday PE lesson will change to a swimming lesson. Mr Sabini and my self will take the swimming lesson. I hold the ASA Level 1 teacher’s swimming certificate from the UK. We will carefully assess the children’s ability and group them. If your child is a beginner and needs arm bands (floaters) then please send them along in their swim bag. The children will need a swimming costume, towel and shoes to walk to the pool (flip flops or crocs are good). Sun cream and goggles are optional. Please name all items.

Art
We have started observing and sketching different plants around campus. Again Anine (art teacher in secondary) has given us some great art ideas for this unit. We will study the artist Georgia O’Keefe who was famous for beautiful close up paintings of flowers. We will look at some of her paintings then draw and paint some flowers close up.

Language focus for the week
Write a recount of the weekend. At the end of your weekend, you could talk to your child about what they did, to give them some ideas about sentences they could write.
Storywriting: Retell a well known story, Jack and the Beanstalk.
Handwriting: Patterns, own name, numerals and continue the One Armed Robot Family (bhkmnpr)
Phonics: Group 1 – Continue to revise middle vowels making the short sound. ( a as in cat, e as in pen, i as in tip, o as in dog and u as in cup). Introduce sh, ch and th.
Group 2 – Learn about words with the spelling pattern ee as in feet and ea as in beak.

Maths focus for the week
Mental skills will include counting back from 20 and beyond. We will also focus on finding 1 less.
All children will continue to learn about subtraction. Relate subtraction to taking away and counting how many are left.
All children will learn about 2D(flat) and 3D(solid) shape. They will name and describe shapes. They will make models, pictures and patterns with shapes.
2D Shape: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon and octagon.
3D Shape: cube, cuboid, sphere, cone, cylinder and pyramid.

What to bring to school:
A hat for playtime and a healthy snack.

Timetable:

Monday

• New homework packet issued. PE (wear trainers and a house T shirt)
  Tuesday
  
• Swimming (swimming costume, towel, flip flops/crocs, swim aids such as floaters if necessary. Goggles and sun cream are optional.)
  Thursday
  
• Library (bring books to return and then choose new ones).
  Friday
  
• Spelling test and return completed homework packet.

The big news for our class is that we will start swimming during our PE slot on Thursday!

Unit of Inquiry – We kicked off our ‘Friendship’ Unit last week with a delightful book by Kevin Henkes called Chrysanthemum. The unit will provide many opportunities for making connections to literature as we consider the following lines of inquiry:

• How we develop relationships
• How relationships affect us
• Roles and behaviors within relationships

Who can believe that there are only 2 weeks left of this term!!!
This is what our learning in class will look like this week:

Unit Of Inquiry
Unit 2 – How the World Works – “Up ‘n Moving”.
Central Idea -There are a variety of energy sources which cause objects to move in a variety of ways.
Lines of inquiry -Forces and energy

• What energy can do
• How we use energy
• The Scientific Procedure

This week will see us explore the first line of inquiry in our new unit.
UOI – ‘Peace and Conflict.’
Central Idea: Finding peaceful solutions to conflict leads to a better quality of human life
The children will share their own perceptions and ideas about peace and begin to discuss current conflicts occurring in the world that they are aware of.

Reading and Writing
In language we will discuss and practice the use of alliteration and continue our focus on metaphors and similes. Reading groups will take place on Tuesday and Thursday. The unit work will give us the opportunity to reinforce the taking of notes from a text and rewriting these in our own words.

Maths
The children have been using different strategies to subtract and have also been exploring the relationship between addition and subtraction through algebra. This week we will consolidate the use of column subtraction and rehearse more word problems involving both addition and subtraction.

P.E. – is on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday will be the first swimming session for P5 and 6. Please ensure that your child/children bring their swimming clothes and a towel on Thursday.

Library – is on Monday. Please remind the children to bring back books for exchange/renewal.

Scott Hawkins
scotth@uwcea.net