Moshi Campus News – 7 Mar 15

Rugby Festival – Friday March 13th This week, we will be hosting the Bhubesi Pride crew, as they travel through Africa, teaching rugby to local school children, and children from orphanages and other NGO groups. The children coming to ISM will be the students who have been part of some of our CAS initiatives this year.
Our MYP Physical Education students will be having an Introduction to Rugby, in their PE classes next week; and our Senior Rugby Teams will also be a part of the training clinics. The week of training ends on Friday, with the annual Rugby Festival. The Arusha Development team will be here, and challenging our Senior Boys in a 10-a-side game. The Senior Girls will be playing a 7-a-side game as well.
Come on out and cheer on our Leopards, on Friday afternoon!

Our P4/5 class will be travelling to Marangu this week and will be camping on Tuesday night at Marangu Hotel. During their stay they will be learning more about plants and their bodies. Many thanks to all at Marangu Hotel for helping the class to enjoy this outdoor experience.

This week our primary swim team has the opportunity to participate in the Kennedy House swim meet. We will be taking a small team to this event on Friday 13 March, leaving school at 08.00 returning by 14.30. If your child has been selected they should have a letter & permission slip which should be returned with the TSh 15,000 for the bus transport by Tuesday 10 March. Medals for 1st places from last week’s St. Constantine’s Gala were given our in our primary gathering last Friday. We look forward to further success from our thriving swimmers this week.

During the M4 PE Swimming Unit, the M4s were given a tough Survival Swimming Challenge to complete. Dressed in long pants and long sleeved shirt, students had to perform the following as a continuous sequence:

• Enter the water using a slip in entry and tread water for 3 minutes.
• Swim 200m using survival strokes.
• Scull, float or tread water for 8 minutes.
• Swim slowly for 200m using survival strokes; changing every 50m.
• Remove clothing in deep water.

Over last year and this year we have significantly increased the number of competitive sports matches that our students participate in and this has been a huge benefit to the team members who now get many opportunities to practise and develop their skills in competition. Unfortunately many of these competitions take place in Arusha which necessitates a 2 hour bus ride each way. To cover the costs of this bus travel we have been charging students TSh 15,000/- each to/from Arusha and we are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused parents in paying frequent small sums of this nature. From next school year we will be asking parents of boarders to deposit a fixed amount, from which such expenditures can be drawn without you being frequently disturbed.

LENDING OF SPORTS EQUIPMENT
Currently we lend out sports equipment to students on campus, so that they can play sports during breaks, lunchtimes, after school, and on weekends. Students can sign out equipment, through the PE store. However, recently, many of our balls and other equipment have not been returned, or have been broken while signed out. This has had a detrimental effect on our sports and PE program.
From now on, the cost of replacement for all lost/not returned or broken equipment will be charged to students through their parents. This will be billed in the same way lost library books are billed; and students will not be able to receive report cards until the money has been received.
Thanks for your support.
Marika Farrell, PE/Sports Coordinator

After an initially difficult first few weeks, beset by punctures and mechanical problems, our Wednesday rides have recently proved more successful. This week we had a wonderful ride up through the banana plantations around Boro village and across the Karanga River, before returning to school. Students are really enjoying their trips out and about on the local trails; they are also building their confidence and endurance to tackle more challenging rides.
Geoff Buck
 

One of the reasons for the success of our Outdoor Pursuits programme has been its structured nature with the requirement that students must first take simple trips and succeed with these before they can progress through the various levels, eventually, if they choose, tackling Uhuru Peak on Kilimanjaro. We always have a minimum of two professional staff joining each trip in addition to a number of qualified mountain guides (at least one of which is an ISM employee). Our professional staff (teachers or boarding parents) are also required to progress through the various levels in the same way as students are and this ensures that those on the higher level trips are well experienced. All professional staff on OP trips are also required to be qualified in wilderness first aid and, to this end, the school provides such training annually for the teachers. We carry first aid kits on all trips together with water filters and also oxygen on the highest level trips.
Our next OP trip takes place next weekend (15th to 18th March) to Mawenzi Hut at the base of Mawenzi peak on Kilimanjaro. We wish all particpants the very best.

First of all, I would like to offer a big congratulations to five of our Diploma Music students who gave a lovely recital this past Wednesday evening, in front of Karibu Hall. The weather was perfect and all of the musicians gave their performances their best efforts. For our two D2 young ladies, this was their last chance to perform before having to send in their recordings as their Internal Assessment. For the three D1 students, you will see them again next year as they will have another chance to perform at next year’s Diploma recital.
In the MYP program, all of the students are starting to wind down this quarter’s unit and are preparing for their summative assessments. M1s are learning about Samba and specifically how to play it individually on different instruments and as an ensemble. The M2 class is creating their own composition using body percussion: making sounds using only your body and perhaps some props like a chair or broom. The M3 class has taken a trip to Cuba and they are learning about Cha Cha Cha music and specifically, how to play it as an ensemble. The M4 music class is finishing up their unit on Jazz music and have each chosen a song to transcribe and turn into a jazz arrangement. Finally, the M5 class is also focusing on transcribing and arranging, but from a larger perspective than the M4 class. I am looking forward to hearing some creative compositions and arrangements in the coming weeks!

Our annual M5 Work Experience is coming up from May 4-8, 2015. If you are in the Moshi area and are able to supervise a student at your place of employment for that week, please email the MYP Coordinator, Marika Farrell, at .

Book Week is coming – from 16th to 20th March we will be promoting the pleasure of books and of reading through various activities in school. At the moment various classroom and office doors are being decorated to represent a book and there will be prizes available for the best dressed doors. More details in next week’s newsletter.

We are developing our contact details for every family and soon hope to be able to send urgent messages to parents via SMS. Please ensure that your contact details with the school are up to date. These can be changed quickly online at www.uwcea.org/contactdetails. If you haven’t updated your details recently, please do so NOW!

“The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and purpose in our personal lives.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? – this is one of the six Theory of Knowledge (ToK) prescribed titles that D2 students will write and submit this week and it requires a 1,200 to 1,600 word essay. The challenge of preparing a ToK presentation (www.uwcea.org/dip70) faces our D2 students in the coming weeks. Oral examinations in language classes are another task many D2s are completing in these weeks.
All sixty-five ISM D1 students (ISM Moshi and Arusha campuses together) engaged in a tremendously stimulating two-day ToK Symposium. Determining the knowledge issue from real-life situations and integrating ToK language into this process was at the heart of the students’ work. A site visit to two CAS sites – a local secondary school (see photos) where a debate on gender was conducted and an afternoon play session with children who live beside the Moshi city dump [see photo] – served as superb venues to foment deep thinking that enhanced the TOK symposium’s overall quality. A special thanks goes to ISM teachers Joel Gullickson and Ingrid Chavez whose leadership, ideas and involvement in this event enabled it to be a great success.
All five DP Music students – Sofia Kalaitzakis, Hazel Kioko, Faraja Mollel, Valentina Bräu, Kemi Mugangala – performed for the ISM community at sunset one evening and it was a wonderful concert of first-rate music (see photo) – a testament to ISM’s Music teacher Susan Kellerman.
Please remind your son/daughter in the ISM DP to ensure they get enough sleep. Each week we teachers observe that too many DP students’ self-management skills related to sleep are deficient and the consequences for academic performance are likely high. Read more in his relevant article entitled “Hard Lesson in Sleep for Teenagers” at: www.uwcea.org/dip71. Implementing the ideas shared in “The Power of Everyday Activity” (www.uwcea.org/dip72) should be another essential piece of their life as adolescents developing good habits for life.
D2 students start rehearsals this week for their Saturday May 23rd graduation at which time all will participate in singing their chosen class song which this year is Tyrone Wells’s ‘Time of our Lives’ (www.uwcea.org/dip73).
Teachers held their bi-monthly ‘DP Collaboration’ meeting this week focused on a reinvigorated focus on ‘Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the IB DP’ (www.uwcea.org/dip74) and DP teachers conducted a self-evaluation “audit” to reflect upon approaches to teaching and learning in their classrooms.
This coming week we will conduct interviews with top students from across Tanzania (as determined primarily by the National Tanzanian Form 4 exam results). We’ll select two students for a full scholarship for their two years of DP education. Our current D2 scholarship students – Sammota Chungu (to attend Harvard University) and Jasper Kajiru (to attend Stanford University) typify the outstanding quality young people ISM attracts.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick – DP Coordinator

Unit of Inquiry
We will continue with our summative assessments over the next few weeks, with the children planning, writing/ retelling their stories. The children are also reflecting on their favourite way of telling a story. So far, many children have chosen making sticker stories as their favourite. Why not try this at home! All you need is a variety of stickers that your child can make a picture with. (try and limit them to about 6 stickers) Then ask them to add some more details to their picture with crayons or markers and write down your child’s story. It’s a great way to encourage children to be creative with their story telling.
Literacy EC1 will be introduced to the sounds i made by Impy ink and m made by Munching Mike. EC2 will revisit sh, ch, th and wh for a portfolio piece. Most of our literacy is obviously integrated into the unit of inquiry over the next few weeks as children develop speaking and listening, writing and being creative with their story telling.
Numeracy We will be carrying out some assessments for the portfolio this week. The children are very excited about showing you how they learn about numbers when you come to the two-way conference at the end of term.
We will also continue to work on capacity in our sand and water play. Number skills are developed each week at the individual child’s level.
Important information regarding book week You still have a week to prepare your child’s favourite book character costume. There will be a parade on Monday March 16th and all children should be in costume on that day. If you would like any help with this please let me know as soon as possible. We do have some costumes in the classroom to loan out.

Information for Parents
This is just another reminder that next week is book week. On March 16th we will have a book character parade, so please start preparing your child’s costume.
Congratulations to our Music Fun Club on their performance at the Arusha International Festival on Saturday. They did a great job with their dance and represented our school well.
Literacy Focus for the Week This week we will continue to read every day in our reading groups. We will also learn about sequencing in stories. We will order events in stories we read as a group and as individuals. Then we will write short stories working on good sequencing.
Maths Focus for the Week We will work on collecting and organizing data this week. We will take surveys, organize data, and display it in bar graphs and picture graphs.
Unit of Inquiry Last week the children had a great time on a nature hike around campus. They each collected a basket of items and brought them back to the classroom. This week we will spend some time sorting the items and looking at which of them come from nature and which are man-made.
What to Bring to School Children need a hat for playtime and a healthful snack every day.
Timetable Monday Library (return your books) Wednesday PE (please send proper shoes and a house T shirt) Thursday Swimming (please send swimwear) Friday Show and Tell

P3 have been particularly enthusiastic in Maths this week. They have been using coins in a variety of real life contexts including: shopping at a fruit and vegetable duka with Tanzanian Shillings, adding up totals from shopping lists, giving change from a till and sorting out coins from around the world into different currencies. In English they have focused on nouns and adjectives, and have realized that using a variety of adjectives, as well as choosing appropriate adjectives, is important.
The children are developing enthusiasm for our new unit as well. They have been looking at photos of products at different stages of production, sorting and sequencing them, and have communicated what they see, think and wonder. They have already come up with some thoughtful questions to inquire into.
Reminders: Please be reminded that on the 16th March the students should dress up as a book character. I am looking for people from the school community to come and read a story to the children too on the 16th, 17th or 18th March. Please let me know if you would be willing to do this (in any language!).
Also, please ensure that you have seen the P3 camping letter and that you send in the return slip and money as soon as possible. Thank you.
Language focus for the week We will review verb use and tenses, with some of the children going onto looking at “Wow” Verbs that are more exciting and give more impact. Also we will look at adverbs: what they are, how they are used and how we can use them in our own writing appropriately and effectively.
Mathematics focus for the week We will continue with Money – the relationship of the different coins and bills in Tanzanian Shilling, as well as other currencies. Addition and subtraction skills will be developed through doing money-related calculations, based on real life situations.
Unit of Inquiry Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Organise Ourselves Central idea: The production of goods is a human-made system which impacts lives. We will be finding out more about the production of goods including: bread, chocolate, milk and wool.
What to bring to school Hat , Water-bottle , Communication book (everyday please).
Timetable Monday: PE and homework set. Thursday: Swimming and Library. Friday: Homework due in.

Information for Parents We had a very fun week of exploring and tuning in to our new unit of inquiry. Students had fun working in groups to trace a body outline onto paper and then draw where they think the various organs and body parts are found. We will examine our posters again at the end of the unit and see if there are things that we would change or add new parts that we didn’t know about before.
We are heading to Marangu Hotel for our camping trip this week. We are all excited to learn more about plants and our bodies on outdoor learning opportunity.
Book Week is coming the week of March 16th. We will have a book parade on Monday the 16th, so start thinking about possible costume ideas!
Language focus for the week We will continue to review author’s purpose and will identify the author’s purpose for books that we are currently reading in class. Students have begun working on a class blog related to our reading and will add to that as part of their homework this week. They are very excited about sharing their thoughts and ideas about reading with others!
Maths focus for the week Students continue to work on their pattern-themed art projects. The posters are turning out really well and it is fun to see how different they all look. We will look closely this week at finding patterns in tables and stating their rule. We will also begin to learn about probability.
Unit of Inquiry We will work on finding out more about various body systems this week and how they work together within our bodies. We will focus on the skeletal and muscular system this week to see what their function is and how they are connected.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday & Wednesday Camping Trip to Marangu Hotel Thursday Library (bring books) Swimming (Bring swimming kit)

We are excited about the week ahead for P5. In regards to our unit, we will be using old trash to make new beautiful things. We will consider what it would be like to be people who create less trash. We will also begin looking at the biggest threats to the environment and what harm they have caused.
In Maths, we will practise double digit multiplication and division. We will also be graphing information that relates to our unit.
In English, we will practise the skill of inference in reading and use this as the basis of our writing assignments. We will also focus on the proper use of dialogue in writing.
Preparing for Book Week will keep us busy but don’t ask too many questions. The class has decided to keep our door as a surprise until next Monday! Students will discuss costume needs at home.
Our schedule: Monday – Library, please bring books to exchange. Wednesday – Swimming, bring your suit and a towel. Friday – Return completed homework. Sports, wear appropriate shoes and don’t forget your hat and water bottle!

The P6 students have been working intensively on their PYP Exhibitions. This week they found out their groups (based on their passions). Each group then had a challenging time working out their transdisciplinary theme and central idea. They have also been brainstorming their lines of inquiry – but these still need some extra work before they are finalised.
This week the children also found out who their mentors are. The mentors are teachers who have volunteered to assist a group. Although the class teacher (Ms Kate) guides the children on their Exhibition journey, the mentor acts as a friendly advisor. Each group will meet their mentor once per week to show them where they are up to. We held a ‘Get to Know the Mentor’ Party in our classroom on Friday morning.
The children have now all got school email addresses. Previously we had discussed the rules for using these accounts, i.e. they must not say anything by email that they would not say in front of a teacher at school. This week they learned how to collaborate online to make documents and give each other feedback. This will be very useful when they start to carry out research and need to work with their groups.
Next week we will continue to think about actions and how we want to be assessed. The ‘finding out’ stage of the inquiry will also begin, e.g. carrying out research, setting up interviews, thinking about possible field trips etc. This is a very exciting process for everybody involved. Please do come and take a look at the noticeboards outside the classrooms which show photographs, work etc. Please leave a message by writing on the comments sheet. The children appreciate this kind of encouragement.
COMING SOON: Book Week starts on 16th March. Students should be thinking about their costumes. They can dress up as characters from their favourite book.
Monday: Homework set Wednesday: Swimming session Friday: PE lesson | Homework due in

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