Moshi Campus News – 27 May 2017

We are getting excited about Spirit Week, which starts on Monday. The ISM Student Council asked to hold a Spirit Week as a way of having fun and bringing unity to the school. Primary students are not expected to wear their ISM T-shirt on days when they are dressing up. All are encouraged to dress up each day as follows:

Monday, 29th May – pyjama day

Tuesday, 30th May – wear black and white clothes

Wednesday, 31st May – gender switch OR spots & stripes

Thursday, 1st June – clone day

Friday, 2nd June – class choice
The primary class choices for Friday are: EC: Princesses and Princes | P1/2 Circus Superstars | P2/3 Rock Stars P4/5 The Future Me | P5 Cool Day | P6 Nerds

Periodically, we ask all ISM parents, students, teachers, Board members and alumni, to complete a survey to tell us what they think of the many different aspects of the School. This information is then used to help us to identify our priorities for developing and improving the school in the year ahead. You should have received an email last week giving you the link to the survey. There are slightly different questions for the different groups, so please only use the link that you receive through your own email address. Many thanks for your help.
If you did not receive the survey link, please contact Grace Mkumbwa on gracemkumbwa@ed.ismoshi.com or myself on moshi@ed.ismoshi.com to request the link. This survey is only available until 5th June.

Our photos of the 2017 Graduation Ceremonies are now available online. Many thanks to Paula Alderblad, Salman Hussein and Kate Schermbrucker for sharing their photos.
Moshi Graduation: www.uwcea.org/grad17





Arusha Graduation: www.uwcea.org/grada17

Thursday 1st June will be the Global Day of Parents. I want to take this opportunity to thank all our wonderful parents who help to make this such a special community. When you help with reading, homework and reinforce messages from school; when you cheerily greet or thank your child’s class teacher; when you offer to help with the PTA or a Primary Club; when you suggest to come in and speak to your child’s class on their unit of inquiry; when you support your child at a sporting or musical event; you are helping us enormously in our work to provide the very best education for your children. Thank you ISM parents!
As I write this article the Primary Swim and Football Teams are arriving in Dar es Saleem to attend the IST Sports Weekend. We wish them all the very best in their competitions against other Tanzanian schools. Well done also to those who played Touch Rugby at Kennedy House School.
For Sale: There are still plenty of ISM T-shirts in stock in a variety of different colours. They cost TSh 10,000 each. There are also a few ISM caps left which are TSh 7,000 each. These can be purchased at the ISM Reception Desk.
For Sale: Class photos can still be purchased from the ISM Reception Desk. The money raised will be given to the Scholarship Fund. Many thanks to all of you who have already bought prints. Kate Schermbrucker, Head of Primary

Last weekend’s Graduation was a wonderful event, and after this weekend off we have the M5 Ceremony next Friday. This week the M5 will be looking back at work experience week and working with a local primary school on a service project. Then we have the Career Day on Thursday June 1st.
Currently the M4 and D2 students are in the middle of their end of year exams which will be finished by Tuesday. Right now, we also have students out on a OP trip to Meru Ash Cone.
Be aware that the end of the year is coming quick. Reports for M5 will come out On June 1st and the remaining reports will be released on Wednesday June 14th. On Thursday June 15th, we will have the end of year assembly followed by parent conferences. Have a good week Bob Cofer, Head of Secondary

We have 3 weekends to the end of the quarter, and actually the end of the academic year. We break for the long holiday on Thursday 15th June, and boarders are allowed to leave on that day. It is that time again that we remind parents to make transport arrangements for the break, if they have not already done so. Students are allowed to leave on Friday morning. For those using flights, kindly send transport details to the Head of Boarding, Rosemary Bango, on email address . This will allow the school to plan for transport to the airport. D2 graduates have all left the dorms, and we wish them well. M5 boarders finished their work experience this week, and will have a ceremony on Friday 2nd June in the afternoon. The M5 boarders can leave for home after the ceremony.
Boarders had a number of activities planned this weekend. Apart from town trip, on Friday afternoon, there were sports, movies, baking with several students and a disco.
Construction of the new dorm, Kisiwa (Island), is almost complete. This dorm will house the Diploma boys from August. Kilele/Kipepeo dorms that currently houses Diploma boys may be closed for renovation in August.
School Shop – Invitation to Operate Every year the school advertises for partners to run the school duka. Anyone who wishes to operate the duka for a year from August 2017 (including the current partners) can get in touch with the Head of Boarding on to get more details. Rosemary Bango, Head of Boarding

HOME OF THE LEOPARDS To all U15/19 Netball and U19 Rugby Players, The NTAA has decided due to exams, busy school calendars and the close of the school year not to continue the season for these teams. This is an unfortunate decision. However, it is in the best interest of the schools and the NTAA. In the end, our teams were in 1st place, and two 3rd places respectively which is a great result for out teams. One positive to come out of this the NTAA has moved up these team’s season in the next academic year to make sure it avoids the rainy season.
The NTAA has a new logo, this logo will be seen at all NTAA events, as well as on NTAA trophies and certificates.
The NTAA has completed its calendar of events for both Primary and Secondary Sports, please click here www.uwcea.org/sportschedule to see the proposed calendar. It’s quite exciting as it is packed full of opportunities for our students to participate in sports.
Please note ISM may not participate in all sports all the time, more information will be provided at the beginning of the school year in August. One new opportunity next school year will be Tae Kwon Do. More information on this new opportunity will be following in August.
Please click here www.uwcea.org/sports for the ISM Secondary School Sports Brochure. The brochure will outline our program for next school year and the sport offerings.
The Co-Ed Basketball Tournament will resume after a long break due to exams. There are 4 games to be played. Click here www.uwcea.org/sports_bball for the schedule.
Finally, plans are being put into place for next year and the ISM Sports Department is looking for volunteers within the ISM Community who could lend their expertise in a sport to our students, and be a coach for one of our Secondary School teams. Interested people should contact Scott Hibbard ().
Activities As always the ISM Sports Department wants to advertise three excellent after-school activities, so please find below information regarding swimming, tennis and horseback riding.
Swimming lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced with Coach Sabini. Those students and parents who are interested in arranging lessons are kindly requested to contact Coach Sabini in person.
Tennis Lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced players with Coach Charles. Those students and parents who are interested in arranging lessons are kindly requested to contact him at 0757606766.
Horse riding is also available and those interested need to contact Mr Priva at 0758053280 for more information regarding times, prices and requirements.
As the year progresses please keep up with all the info, news, and sports reports by reading the Moshi Campus News.
Go Leopards Scott Hibbard, (Head of Sport and Physical Education)

The selected players on the boys U11 and U9 football teams, and some of the Jr. Varsity swimmers made their way to IST Upanga campus for the Primary Sports Weekend this weekend. The competition features schools from Morogoro, Zanzibar, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, and Dar for a weekend of sports that ISM Moshi host every other year in February. Players were treated to a relaxing Friday at the trampoline park, Bounce, and a film, before heading to the school for a short workout.
Results were yet come come at the time of writing, but we will give parents full results in the newsletter next week. Ryan Sullivan  

MYP Drama Evening on Thursday, 8th June 2017 Our M3 and M4 have just concluded the choices of the art subjects for their next MYP grade levels. What this means that some of them will not be continuing drama in their M4 and M5. To mark this transition, it is our tradition to organize an exit performance to celebrate some of the skills they have acquired in drama. We hold this year’s drama evening on 8th June in Karibu Hall starting 6:45 pm. We would like to invite all of you to join us on this date as we show case some of the talent on the units they have been working on this this quarter. Each year group will be presenting short scripts that they have practiced this quarter. Each of the pieces have been sourced, planned, rehearsed or choreographed by the students. The students have learnt technical and performing skills such as auditioning, casting, blocking, stage configuration, physical action, proxemics (stage distance), music and dance. Here is a brief break down of what to expect from each group:

M1 Pandora’s Box: The M1’s will perform a version of the classical Greek myth of Pandora’s Box. Pandora is created and given as a punishment to mankind because Prometheus stole the fire to give to mankind. In the box is a host of horrific things and Pandora is instructed not to open the box. This is a story of what curiosity can cause in our lives.

M2 Communicating through dance: The group will be performing a dance they have choreographed around the theme of gardening.

M3: Romeo and Juliet: This group will be performing an abridged version on Romeo and Juliet, an old love story by William Shakespeare.

M4: Scripted Scenes: The group will be performing short pieces of between 4-10 minute each. You are all welcome. George Juma

The Governing Board of ISM met yesterday for their final meeting of this school year. The Board is responsible for the strategic direction of the School, for the finances of the School, for setting School policy and for the appointment of the Director. We thank them all for their hard work and for the difficult decision-making that has engaged them over the year past.

More details of the Board are given at www.uwcea.org/about-us/governing-board.

We have been very happy to welcome the new Director, Anna Marsden, to our campuses over the last two weeks. Anna has had a very thorough introduction to ISM and has attended many diferent types of meetings during her stay, visited classes, talked with teachers, students, parents and Board members, and attended two graduation ceremonies. Her two sons, James and Luke, have also spent the time in boarding on the Moshi Campus and have attended classes during their stay.
We look forward to seeing Anna again in August when she joins ISM officially as our new Director.

Do you use Twitter? Are you following ISM’s Twitter page? If not – do have a look for us. You will learn all about what’s happening on both campuses, on a daily basis. We share stories and photos of all our latest activities. Keep up to date with all that’s going on in our community. twitter.com/uwcea

Update:

D1s will complete their of end-of-D1-year exams on Tuesday May 31st.

DP faculty have completed the ‘D2 Deadlines’ calendar for 2017-2018. This document aims to effectively spread out the many DP subject coursework deadlines to hopefully make D2 life more manageable and enable greater success on all of these tasks.

A steady stream of talented students in the incoming new D1 class of 2019 have enrolled and skype or face-to-face meetings are being held in these weeks between the DPC and each student to ensure that DP course selections are made that best fit each and that this follows consideration of each student’s goals and includes a reference to his/her current skill set.
Upcoming:

All D1 students will travel to Arusha for an important Science coursework-related field trip from Tuesday June 6th to Thursday June 8th.

D1s will participate in a praxis-oriented Theory of Knowledge/Extended Essay mini-workshop on Friday June 9th, Mon June 12th and Tues June 13th. As part of this the D1s will present a summary of their work to date on their Extended Essay.

Those D1s who score poorly on the end-of-D1-year exams may have to return for re-sit exams in the days preceding the start of school in August 2017. As per the ISM DP Retention Policy, “At the end of the D1 year, all full diploma students will be expected to have a minimum of 24 points (obtained by adding the end-of-year examination grades from their six subjects excluding ToK and EE). Any student achieving fewer than 24 points (or fewer than 12 HL points) at this stage will be required to take re-sit examinations before the start of the D2 school year in subjects and at times and on dates set by the Diploma Programme Coordinator. If, after the resit examinations, the total points score is still less than 24 points (or HL points are below 12), the student will be required to reduce their programme of study.”

Parents are kindly requested to attend the the parent-teacher consultations on Thursday, June 15th.

Ensure that your child in ISM’s DP arrives for the start of school on Mon August 14, 2017. Boarders should arrive the previous day. Every day of school missed is a serious problem – avoid it at all cost as their educational benefit from each ISM DP class day is huge.
Weblinks: On ‘having a sense of purpose’ – Facebook Founder Zuckerberg’s Harvard Commencement Speech this week – www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmYv8XGl-YU

On the Teenage Brain – https://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text

On Adolescent Sleep – www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/well/family/the-science-of-adolescent-sleep.html and www.ted.com/talks/wendy_troxel_why_school_should_start_later_for_teens
Rick Fitzpatrick, (Diploma Coordinator):

Over the next week the children will focus on their own story writing and we will encourage them to make a plan, with details of the setting, main characters, a problem and the solution. This will form part of their summative assessment, and will be presented in whichever way they choose. We will also be making conclusions by listing all the different devices that can be used to tell stories. If your child makes up stories at home please write them down and send them in as this is taking action! If anyone could come in and perform a puppet show the children would love it! We have lots of puppets and even a fabulous selection of finger puppets!
Numeracy

Addition and subtraction stories -EC2

Weighing activities using vocabulary such as heavy, heavier, heaviest, light, lighter, lightest.

Patterns including shape patterns
Literacy

EC2 – Mr O made by the Old Man in Letterland

EC1 – revisit the sounds s, i, n

Sticker stories – this is a great way to motivate children to make up their own stories. Look out for these stories going up on display.

Don’t forget that EC2 children can read online raz kids at home. Please make use of this throughout the long holiday to keep up their reading!

Maths The survey which the children designed and carried out previously has led on to them starting to create a giant, class pictograph. The students have drawn faces, to represent each community member, and started to add these in the correct columns. It is not finished yet, but do pop into the classroom and have a look if you get the chance. This week we will finish the pictograph and also complete some end of year maths assessment work.
Literacy/UOI The children completed some wonderful animal tales this week and worked in pairs to present these in colourful and interesting fonts using Microsoft Word. We focused on editing and improving our work through VCOP and by making use of the spellchecking feature.
P1/2 showed huge commitment and a willingness to take risks during Friday’s assembly. We will be repeating our physical comedy and a maths dance at Monday’s full school assembly – please come along if you can.
Using the Karibu Hall this week, we ran between different stations for quick-fire brainstorming in order to begin to plan our event. We will be providing a thank-you dinner for the ancillary staff who we’ve been meeting and learning about. The children came up with the things they would need, the possible highlights and the possible worries or pitfalls. They went on to decide how they would organise their planning into small teams with oversight and feedback between themselves. They will be planning this event from scratch, using their own ideas and methodology.
Next week we will continue with our event planning and prepare for a visit from the head of our cleaning team, Miss Asifiwe. Have a fantastic weekend, Mr Evans

Dear Parents, Please come and see P2/3’s this coming Monday 29th. We will be presenting during the whole school assembly. This will be in Karibu Hall @7:35, and we have another important presentation coming up.
A reminder that Monday 29th begins Spirit week and it will be Pyjama day.
Next week P2/3 will be having swimming on both their PE days.
Last week in class The P2/3s have been making a water sense adventure game. They wrote clues for others to guess which sense they were describing. The class worked hard on not making their clue to obvious. In Math we have been reviewing a variety of math concepts. The focus has been on telling the time and solving multi-step word problems. In reading they have been developing their comprehension skills. The children wrote paragraphs and then typed them out on the computer.
The Week Ahead in class Unit of Inquiry During the week ahead the class will be finishing off their water sense adventure game and playing it in groups. They will also be considering what people do with water and how the water can have a positive and negative effect on living things (this has been a keen topic of interest for most in the class). Sharing the planet Central idea: Water is essential for life on earth.

Where we find water

Water cycle

What people do with water

How water shapes human and animal activity
Reading: The children are going to focus on reading to follow instructions. They will have to follow written instructions to complete different activities. They will also be reading their own Just right books as independent reading.
Writing: This week the children will be continuing to work on their paragraph writing and developing their ideas / details more.
Math: This week the children will be reviewing math skills that have been taught this year. We will be focusing on telling the time and symmetry. We will also be building on these skills for those children who have a good understanding of them.
The Week Ahead: Monday: Homework Tuesday: Library – SWIMMING Wednesday: P3 French Thursday: P3 French Friday: Homework to be returned – SWIMMING Please ensure that your child has indoor shoes / spare clothes including socks and suitable outdoor shoes. Thanks!
Useful website: https://primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/maths/interactive/numbers.htm All the best Clare Hibbard P2/3

This week the students developed a new scene for a Charlie and the Chocolate factory script. In groups they came up with creative plots for an additional scene in this play. They crafted some witty and exciting storylines. Next week they will be asked to write an original script on their own as an assessed piece. The students will then get a chance to act out some of these plays.
Besides reviewing concepts that students need work on, in Math/Science we discussed the term ‘Phyllotaxis’ and we looked at the connection between pattern in math and nature. The children found out that there are patterns all around us in nature that inspire designers and artists. They also created some challenging Lego puzzles so be sure to pop in and give one a try!
In Unit of Inquiry next week the students will put on their tinkering hats and begin to unpack the concept of “bricolage” as seen in language, music, art, design and architecture. They will look at how artists of every culture express themselves by mixing and remixing ideas and they will choose an area to inquire into.
We enjoyed having Tiago come in from EC to tell us about how he used the design cycle to plan and build an amazing ladder! Julie Bowen




 

The highlight of the week in P5 was undoubtedly working with Dr. Mac and Ms. Ogello as part of our inquiry into the circulatory system. These two enthusiastic DP science teachers, along with their lab technicians Ms. Mary and Mr. Justin, gave up 2 hours of their time to perform heart dissections, show the P5 children how to use a microscope and conduct investigations into pulse rates. The children had a wonderful time and they insisted their visit to the science lab could not possibly have lasted for 2 hours because the time went by so fast it only felt like 20 minutes – a sure sign they were having fun.
In Art this week we made pipe stem and aluminium foil sculptures of figures. Next week we will make a sculpture using mod roc (plaster bandages) and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two different media. In Maths we have been using our knowledge of multiplication and division as we looked at fractions. We will continue with this next week and will link our fractions work to decimals. In Language we have been working on developing our vocabulary and next week we will use the thesauruses and try to use more interesting words when writing. In our Unit of Inquiry sessions the children have had a brief overview of different body systems and have now identified one system they wish to explore in more detail. Next week the children will research their chosen body system using books, videos and the internet and will make a model to help illustrate their findings. Please talk to your child to see if they need help sourcing materials for their model – we will be able to find some things at school but it would be helpful if the children can also bring in things they need from home.
Please note that next week the 2 PE lessons on Tuesday and Friday will be swimming lessons as Coach Ryan is carrying out end of year assessments. Next week is Spirit Week with a different dress up theme for each day.
The week ahead: Monday – Pyjama Day plus library and new homework packet Tuesday – Black and White Clothes Day plus Swimming, French and Music. Wednesday – Gender Swap Day or Spots and Stripes Day plus Swahili Thursday – Twins Day/Clone Day plus French Friday – Cool Day (P5 Theme) plus Swimming, Swahili and Music. Return homework to school.
Deborah Mills, (P5 Teacher)

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