Moshi Campus News – 18 Oct 14

We look forward to welcoming all boarders back to school tomorrow, Sunday, 19th October. If your child will need transport from Kilimanjaro airport, please email Rosemary Bango on immediately, if you have not previously done so.
Classes will start as usual at 7:30am on Monday, 20th October.

Thursday, 23rd October is Diwali, the Hindu and Sikh Festival of Light. In ISM many students from all backgrounds have marked this clebration in the past by dressing in Indian clothing. Let us try to mark it also this year.

The Rotary Club of Arusha is holding a Cycle/Run/Walk for charity on ISM Arusha Campus on Sunday, 26th October. It starts at 8am and finishes at lunch time. This is a fund-raising event for various Rotary Club projects and promises to be a worthwhile and enjoyable day.

Next week we will be celebrating UN Day on Monday, 27th October in a special assembly to commemorate the cultural diversity at ISM. Please think about what your child can wear on this day, either their National Dress or National colours. Primary will be singing our traditional UN Day song, so please do stay after you drop off your child and join us in Karibu Hall for this assembly at 7.45 am.

The Moshi PA will also be meeting on Monday, 27th October after the assembly. If you would like to discuss any issues with the PA, you are welcome to join them for coffee in Bob Horton’s office between 8:10 and 8:40 that morning.

Trinity University in Texas, USA will be making a presentation to our students on Wednesday, 29th October. Trinity offers undergraduate degree courses in a variety of subjects and also offers a wide variety of scholarships and grant aid.

ISM is organising two events to celebrate Hallowe’en on Friday, 31st October; one for primary and one for secondary students. There will be a letter with more details coming home next week. If you are a parent of a boarder please encourage your child to bring a costume back to school. Costumes DO NOT have to be scary! If you would like to be involved in the organisation of these events please come to a meeting at the ISM Duka on Monday 27th October at 3pm.

As you may remember from an earlier newsletter, we had previously announced some late starts this school year. The late start scheduled for 28th October will NOT now take place. Therefore, all classes will take place as normal on Tuesday, 28th October.

Congratulations to all the students who took part in the Andre de Kock Memorial Horse Show during the holiday. Participants were Swantje, Aiden, Nina, Hannah, Lola, Nikoli, and Jessica. 16 ribbons were won by the team – including 9 firsts!
 

On 1st October the Primary School community came together for a wonderful day full of sporting fun and achievement. Proceedings began with a musical warm up with everyone taking part – teachers, assistants, children and parents. Then the older students cheered on the younger students as they ran their 50m and 100m races.
After this the EC students and P1/2 students went to the lower pitch to complete their fun sports. Meanwhile all the P3- P6 students launched into the Fun Team Games on the top pitch. These included the hoop game, hockey dribble, water game, sack race and bean bag race. Next came the more serious field events – long jump and bean bag throw. After break came the track running races – 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m and relays. Winners proudly wore their smart ribbons on their house T-shirts.
Parents entered into the spirit of the day when they raced hard against each other (100m); with a rather dramatic finish. We wish to thank all the mums and dads who came to support the children – it was a great turnout. Also thanks to the Parents Association for providing refreshments. Finally, at midday, the announcements were made – Kibo House came in first place overall with Meru coming second. Mawenzi came third but were only one point behind Meru. After this the children quickly got changed for a swim in the pool. What a lovely end to this enjoyable community event. Kate Schermbrucker PYP Coordinator

Greetings everyone, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the senior soccer girls for their efforts and contributions to the team this season. We had a slow start in the season finishing 5th in our first tournament at ISM Arusha Campus due to goal difference. We played 3 games, won 2 games (against Braebun and Okeeswa) and lost to St. Judes. Wining these games motivated us even more, making the team more confident. After the first tournament we had 2 weeks to prepare for the second one at St. Constantine’s International School. The squad was slightly rotated by 4 new players. With good team mentality, we played very well in that tournament. Our rank improved impressively in the league from 5th to 3rd place. We played against St. Judes in the semifinals. Due to minor defence errors (that I am confident we will fix next season) our journey in the tournament was brought to an end. We will resume competing in the league as 3rd place when we go to Braebun after the October break. The players have been developing team chemistry in the recent training sessions. This gives me confidence that we can win the next tournament. Once again, congratulations to the team!!!!! I wish you all the best next season.
Coach Obbrey

The U14 Boys Basketball Team competed at the SCIS tournament in Arusha on 27th September. The boys had a slow start to the day, and were defeated by Orkeeswa 15-17 in the opening match. Since we were playing double elimination, we knew we had to pick up our game! In our second game, we easily beat the host school 26-8. In our third game, we faced Orkeeswa again, and won by almost 20 points! This important win got us into the Championship Game against Braeburn. It was a re-match from the last tournament finals. Unfortunately, due to the hot sun, and missing lots of our shots, we lost. The boys played clean, solid basketball all day, and should be congratulated for their good effort and sportsmanship. Our next tournament will be hosted by Braeburn, on Saturday October 25th.
Go Leopards!

Just a reminder that all Secondary students must come to PE class dressed in appropriate PE clothes.
SHIRT – Students must wear an ISM T-shirt, for PE class. Students should purchase 2-3 of these shirts, to ensure there is always a clean one available for class.
SHORTS/PANTS – Students need to change into appropriate sports shorts. These should be either yoga pant style, or football/basketball/running type. Swimsuits, boardshorts and cotton casual shorts are not appropriate for PE.
SHOES – Students must wear proper cross-trainer style running shoes, with good support, and that lace up. Crocs, converse, vans, etc. are not appropriate for PE.
Please see photos for samples of shorts and shoes that students need for PE and sports. Please be sure to send back appropriate clothing for PE and Sports. If students do not have the proper kit, they will be put in detention.
Please speak to Ms. Farrell () if you have any questions.

The focus in this M2 unit is how literacy has empowered and enabled individuals to grow both in both material and (very broadly speaking) spiritual terms, and of the impoverished lives many people still live because of lack of access to education, specifically literacy. In the modern world, being illiterate means an individual is grossly disadvantaged, not only because of the jobs they can do, and the security that they can provide for themselves and their family, but also personally in terms of the opportunity for an individual’s personal growth and their understanding of who they are, and how they relate to other people. Starting with an extract from Smith, by Leon Garfield, as the initial stimulus, we then used information, thoughts and insights gained to practise the skills of discursive essay writing. Alastair Brandon

DP students return this weekend to the challenges and rigors of ISM’s holistic world-class DP education.
The second quarter of the D2 school year typically challenges students immensely. Innumerable coursework deadlines, university application work, regular assessments and preparation for the January D2 mock exams all combine to make this 2nd academic quarter of the school year particularly trying for DP students. Very regular parent contact is recommended.
D2 full diploma students are in the final stages of their Extended Essay which will be submitted this coming week. D1s will start work on their Extended Essay in late-January 2013 and should start these weeks seriously pondering potential subjects and topics.
D1 students face a more challenging diploma retention policy benchmark for the second quarter. They must attain 22 points total for their six classes and eleven points in their higher-level classes. If either of these is not attained, then a ‘Diploma Course’ (formerly called ‘Certificate’) level academic program must be arranged. Several D1 students were moved to ‘Diploma Course’ level after the first quarter grades and they did not attain the 20/10 benchmark. A reminder that the end of school year benchmark will be 24/12 so students who achieved well below this in quarter one must really improve to continue at full diploma level.
A class of 2014 DP graduate now at university wrote me this month and it was quite pleasing to read her comments: “I would like to firstly say thank you to everyone in ISM, there is no doubt without them I would not be here today. I am so glad I studied in ISM, the school made me confident and very open minded. When I go to class I go with such confidence, there are several topics and concepts that are discussed in my lectures that I already know or already understand, it’s such a great feeling. Also the little things like referencing and knowing how to use turnitin.com! All these basic things that ISM has taught me are things I’m not struggling with at all. I feel that not only the IB Diploma has prepared me but also the environment and the way ISM teaches helped me to face university.”
A small group of D2 students will be applying ‘early decision’ to top universities in the USA on October 31st – the deadline. A combination of our outstanding DP faculty combined with the fact that the class of 2015 has some very academically successful students in the school’s history means that we expect to have a series acceptances into several very top US universities by mid-December.
Parents would be wise to mark December 17th on your calendar. That Wednesday is the day we finish the second quarter and so that will be the date of our next parent-teacher meeting. Many parents who did not make the meeting earlier this month should organize your schedule to attend that one please. A reminder – do not remove DP students early.
Though this informative article concerns young children, its relevance for DP-aged students is likely indisputable – How Exercise Can Boost Young Brains – www.uwcea.org/dip42.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns regarding your son/daughter studying in our DP program. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick – DP Coordinator

Welcome back for Quarter 2. We look forward to some exciting new clubs as well as continuing the favourites. Please be reminded to pick up your child promptly at 3pm after clubs.
For parents looking ahead to organising travel/flights for the end of Q2: Our primary show which involves all our primary students is on Monday, 15th December in the evening. The Drama club will be playing the main parts and each class will have a performance as part of the show.
Tuesday, 16th December is a parent-teacher consultation when there will be no formal school for primary students and Wednesday, 17th December will be our final day of school. Totty Aris Deputy Head of Campus

Dear Parents, I hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing break. Many thanks for attending your child’s conference before the holiday. I hope you found it a useful meeting. This week we begin our new Unit of Inquiry under the transdisciplinary theme of ‘Sharing the Planet’. The central idea is: We share our planet with animals and try to interact with them in responsible ways. We will begin to look at the Central idea and make sense of the important words such as share, planet, animals, interact and responsible. I will also be assessing the students’ prior knowledge through discussion and play. We will look at posters, books, photographs, magazines and play with animal figures. The maths focus this week will be sorting and classifying animals and we will begin to work on a large scale animal habitat display.
Throughout this unit we will be encouraging the children to be caring about animals, knowledgeable about what animals need to survive and what we need to do to be responsible for them. We will also be encouraging the appreciation of nature and wildlife, respect for animals and their habitats and curiosity about animals’ needs and behaviour.
How can you help?

• Send in any leaflets you may have from safari parks or other places where your family has seen animals
• Offer to come in and share your safari experiences
• Send in photographs of your safari experiences for show and tell
• Allow us to borrow any favourite books about animals, both fiction and non-fiction
• Encourage any friends that work with animals to come in and talk to the class
• Arrange to bring in a pet and talk about how you look after it

Information for Parents I hope everyone had a good break. I’m sure the children are ready to get back to school to see their friends. I am excited about getting back into the classroom with the children and watching them continue to grow in their learning. Please help your child transition back into school by returning to the routine of reading every day and keeping up with homework.
 
Literacy Focus for the Week In our journals this week, P1 students will work on proper sentence structure. P2 students will work on telling a story. Both P1 and P2 students will be working with rhyming words this week. We will also continue with guided reading groups.
Math Focus for the Week Children will be working with 2D and 3D shapes this week.
Unit of Inquiry We will continue to learn about homes around the world. This week we will focus on why people build homes. We will learn about wants and needs, and we will study the needs that people have that a home provides.
What to Bring to School: Children need a hat for playtime and a healthful snack every day.
Timetable Monday: Library (we will choose new books) Wednesday: PE (wear PE shoes and a house T shirt) Thursday:Swimming (please send swimwear)

Information for Parents I am looking forward to seeing everyone back this week. I hope that your break was refreshing. This week we will continue the themes that were started prior to break. There is a family survey as part of the homework this week. We will be moving into data collection and will use the surveys to help us learn how to gather and display different types of data.
Language focus for the week We will continue our study of nouns, focusing on the difference between common and proper nouns. We will read nonfiction articles, focusing on finding the main idea and understanding cause and effect.
Maths focus for the week This week we will be looking at temperature. We will learn how to read a thermometer, the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit, and negative numbers.
Unit of Inquiry Students will learn about several different forms of energy this week. We will be using an energy web site to complete a scavenger hunt on the computer, as well as working in groups to learn more about a specific energy source and creating posters to share with the rest of the class.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday: PE (Wear PE shoes and house shirt) Thursday: Swimming (bring swim costume, towel, flip flops) Library (we will choose new books)

In the final week of the quarter the P5-6s showed themselves to be responsible and cooperative leaders of the Primary School as they set the tone for Sports Day. They encouraged their teams to cheer and support each other and kept everyone organised and in good spirits. They ensured the younger students knew where to go and when.
They were also very caring towards the Early Childhood children who they interviewed about their summative assessment museums in the EC classroom. They asked them a series of questions and showed real support and encouragement towards these 3-4 year olds. Having read their reflections I know the students felt surprise at how quickly the first quarter went and at how much they achieved in just 8 short weeks.
Quarter 2 will be just as busy. We are all looking forward to the ‘finding out’ stage of our unit on the solar system as we want to answer the many questions which arose at the ‘tuning in’ stage.
Current Unit (Central Idea): Life on Earth is dependent on how the solar system works.
Maths focus: Reflecting, rotating, translating shapes
English focus: Writing newspaper reports
Monday: Homework will be set for the week | Library session | Clubs begin Wednesday: Swimming session Friday: Homework due in | PE lesson
What to bring everyday: Please bring a bottle of water to keep on the desk. A healthy snack for break times. A hat for break times, lunch times and sports lessons.

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