Moshi Campus News – 23 Feb. 2016

We did not yet receive any questions or issues from parents for discussion at the Parent Open Meeting originally planned for this week. In view of this, we will extend the deadline for letting us know of discussion points and the meeting will now be postponed to Wednesday, 2nd March.
All parents are invited to this meeting with members of the school and campus leadership to discuss current affairs within the school. The meeting will take place at 6:30pm on Wednesday, 2nd March. The issues discussed at this meeting will be generated from your questions. We think the productivity of the meeting will be maximised if questions/issues are sent to the Head of Campus beforehand. To that end, if you have a question that you would like answered, please send the question or subject to before 25th February, and we will prepare the necessary information and material to adequately address the issue.

The Kilimanjaro Marathon will this year take place on Sunday, 28th February. Instead of presenting a full school team this year, ISM is entering a number of different groups. Our M5 students are entering in order to raise funds for their community service project. Our boarders are entering with different teams from different houses. If you too would like to enter the full marathon, half marathon or 5km fun run, an entry form is available here:www.uwcea.org/wp-content/docs/archive_documents/kilimarathon_entry.pdf .
To submit your application form through school, please give the form, the necessary cash (see form for details) and a copy of your residence permit (if applicable) to Grace Mkumbwa in school by Wednesday, 24th February. She will then ensure that you are registered. It will also be possible for you to register yourself at Keys Hotel on Friday or Saturday, or at Kibo Palace Hotel in Arusha on Thursday.
We will be providing bus transport from the school campus to the stadium from 6am on Sunday morning and this will be available to any ISM community members who are taking part. Buses to the stadium (or as close as we can get) will leave half-hourly from 6am. Buses returning to school from the stadium will leave half-hourly from 8:30am. Many of our students will also be suporting the event by operating a water point to sustain the runners.
More details are available at www.kilimanjaromarathon.com.

Recent visitors to the school may have noticed a large elephant structure taking shape in the front car park. This is the ISM “Sparkling Elephant”, it is part of a CAS project to raise awareness of the dwindling elephant population in Tanzania that is suffering huge losses due to poaching.
The Sparkling Elephant will be taking part in a procession at the Kilimanjaro Marathon on Sunday 28th February, along with other sparkling elephants.
ISM will also be hosting a guest speaker, Shubert Mwarabu, who is a leading voice in the Tanzanian campaign to protect the elephant population. On Friday 26th February secondary school classes will finish at 12:00 and Shubert will address the students in Karibu Hall to give a presentation about elephant conservation and current developments in the battle to protect Tanzanian elephants. Students will finish at 12:35 as usual.

This week the whole school is gearing up towards our annual event – Book Week! As usual we will have an assembly to celebrate reading books, on Monday, 29th February all our students are invited to dress up as a character out of a book. 07.45 in Karibu Hall.


Throughout the week we will be Dropping Everything And Reading (D/E/A/R) and some surprise guests will be visiting the primary students to read to them throughout the week. If you would like to be a surprise guest and read to a class, please email and we can arrange a suitable time.

A number of boarders returned home for the long weekend and all were back and ready to restart classes this morning.
46 boarders plus boarding parents left on Saturday morning for a boarding trip to Pangani and returned on Monday afternoon.
On Sunday morning, 18 students among them 13 boarders left for the Model United Nations conference in Nairobi. They will be away the whole week and return on Saturday, 27th February 2016.
A number of activities were planned for the few students who were left on campus, including a movie night and a balloon fight.
Starting last Friday, 19th February, M4 boarders joined our supervised town trip. Only M5 to D2 students are now allowed to go for unsupervised town trips. Rosemary Bango (Head of Boarding)

First of all, a hearty Congratulations to three of our Diploma Music students on a successful recital on Thursday evening. This was their last chance to make recordings of live performances, which makes up their Internal Assessment. All three handled the stress of preparation and performance well and should feel proud of their accomplishments. The final stage of their work for this class is to complete the Listening Paper, which is during their exam time in May.
MYP musicians have also been working hard this quarter. Most classes are starting work on their final unit tasks, in order to show how much they have learned.
Two classes, M1 and M3, have been focusing on region-specific music: the Samba from Brazil and the Cha Cha from Cuba. For both units, students looked at the context in which each type of music is played, in addition to learning about the instruments used and unique musical parts that these instruments add.
M2 students are working on a performance-based unit as well, but they are using their own bodies as instruments. Body percussion has become a popular way to create and perform rhythm-based musical works, so the M2 musicians will be able to create their own composition and hear it be performed by a peer.
M4 musicians have taken a trip through the history of Rock ‘n Roll, learning about musicians such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, the Beatles, Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd.
Finally, M5 students are completing their ePortfolio unit, which is a unit on storytelling in music. After looking at composers such as Sergei Prokofiev and Hector Berlioz, they are now tasked with researching a musician of their choosing to critically look at how that composer tells a story through music. As well, they are developing their own musicianship skills by performing or creating a piece of music that tells their own story. We are looking forward to hearing the final result in a few weeks! Musically yours, Susan Kellerman, ISM Music Teacher and Program Coordinator

We have been looking at the unit Conservation and Biodiversity which has given D1 Environmental Systems & Societies (ESS) the opportunity to understand the impact of human activity on the environment. The unit has been very interesting as it has a direct link to one of the CAS activities the Sparkling Elephant Project, highlighting the rapid decline in the number of Elephants in Africa.
The D2 ESS students have been focusing on revision of the topics they have identified. They have been using different techniques such as creating a mind map for specific topics, writing both exam questions and markscheme for use by another class and answering exam questions.

The M1 class of 2015/2016 have chosen “Animal Rescue” for their class project. We have been in contact with Makoa Farm in Moshi and they have agreed to welcome us on 8th March. M1s will be accompanied on this visit by Ms Debbie and Ms Linda.
What: Class Project – Animal Rescue Where: Makoa Farm When: Tuesday, 8th March 2016 Time : 1pm to 3pm
Parents of M1 day students will be receiving permission slips which should be signed and returned to Ms Linda, the M1 Tutor.

As usual M4 students will be taking formal internal school assessments this year. The dates of these have now been confirmed as 25th – 29th April.

D2 students will submit their TOK Essays very soon and the TOK presentations have been completed. These two TOK grades along with the EE will form up to 3 bonus points in the calculation of the total points for each IB DP full diploma student. Should a student obtain an ‘F’ (Failure) mark in either the Theory of Knowledge class or the Extended Essay then he/she fails the IB diploma automatically. Learn more about TOK at: www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/theory-of-knowledge/what-is-tok/
This is a reminder of upcoming key dates about which parents of ISM diploma students may need a reminder: Fri March 18 – last day of classes for Quarter 3 & parent-teacher meeting Mon April 11 – first day of the 4th quarter Mon May 2 – start of official D2 IB exams at ISM Fri May 20 – end of official IB exams at ISM & D2 Graduation Dinner Saturday May 21 – ISM graduation Monday May 23 – Tuesday May 31 – End of D1-Year Exams
D2 History students recently re-enacted the pivotal March 1946 British India Decolonization Conference. (see photo)
Course selection meetings with M5 students and their parents are on-going for those joining the August 2016 incoming ISM DP class of 2018. Please refer any potential new IB DP student you may know to us.
This past week the NECTA exam (National Tanzanian Form 4) results were released and are available at https://maktaba.tetea.org/exam-results/CSEE2015/Olevel.htm. We have begun to receive applications for the two full academic merit scholarships that we will offer. In mid-March we will interview them and make the scholarship selection decision. For more details – see the school website at www.uwcea.org/scholar
This week a 2009 graduate visited the campus and highlighted how invaluable her ISM DP education was to both her university education and lining up her first job.
Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. Rick Fitzpatrick, DP Coordinator

Primary Swimming Gala – Friday, February 26 – House Spirit Day All our primary students are excitedly looking forward to our Inter-house swimming gala this Friday. The day will start at 8am with a warm-up and fun races. Parents are welcome to join us from 10.00 when the EC races will start and the serious swim races take place. The gala will be finished by the end of school 12.35. Please ensure your child comes to school in their PE House T-shirt.
Kennedy House Swimming Gala – Wednesday, February 24 After a tremendous effort at our Primary Sports Weekend we are delighted that our Swim team has been invited to a friendly swim meet at Kennedy House, Usa River on Weds Feb 24. We have included as many students as possible for this event, and students have already received their letters and paid for the transport. They will leave at 0730 and be back by 13.30. They need to wear their green athletics T-shirt/ISM green T-shirt. These are also available from reception for TSh 8000/-.
St. Constantine’s Swimming Gala – March 12 Looking ahead on the calendar, the next swim gala in Arusha will be in March. We cannot take all our students to this event as their are limited races. Letters to the students picked for the swim squad will go out at the beginning of the March.
Primary Clubs – Quarter 4 We are now finalising our programme for Q4. So far we haven’t got a packed programme, so if any parents are willing to volunteer to run a club we would greatly appreciate their time.
Muddy shoes A reminder that students should have a spare pair of shoes in class for the rainy season so that they are not traipsing mud in and out of the classrooms.
Student Led Conferences – Thursday, March 17 – save the date Please try to keep Thursday March 17 free so that you can attend our Student Led Conferences. Every child will have an allotted time to show you their learning journey in their classroom. The children prepare for this in advance and are very excited about sharing their portfolios with their parents. We will send out a letter at the beginning of March to organise the times. There are no formal classes for primary on that day, just the Student Led Conference.

Unit of inquiry The children will start to think about their summative assessment this week. They will choose a living thing, either plant or animal and research it’s life cycle. They can present it in any way they like; paintings, drawings, PowerPoint, making models, making non- fiction books. This process will be ongoing until the end of this quarter. We will also find out about the life cycle of a frog this week. Our bean and sunflower plants have been transferred to the EC garden and we are hoping that they will continue to flourish!!
Literacy We will be decorating our door for book week. Watch out for our ‘book cover’ beginning to appear. The writing this week will be taking place in the flower shop set up in our classroom. The children will write orders and make cards to accompany the flowers and plants. The EC2 children will continue to find out about the long vowel sounds made by Mr I and Mr O. EC1 children will work on sounds they are unfamiliar with.
Numeracy We will continue learning about money as the children buy and sell flowers and plants. We are also working on our portfolio piece involved with measuring our bean plants.
Please check your communication book with details about swimming lessons and the swimming gala on Friday.
   

Information for Parents Book week is quickly approaching. We will have a lot of fun activities during the week of February 29. On that Monday, we will have a dress up day. The children should dress as a book character that day. Of course dressing up is optional, but most of the children do dress up so they can participate in the book character parade. Please use this week to talk to your child and plan a costume for February 29.
Language focus for the week This week both groups of children will focus on making rhyming words. This will help us with the writing we are going to do during book week. We will also continue to read every day in small groups.
Maths focus for the week We will read and write story problems this week. The Group 1 children will work with adding and subtracting stories, while the Group 2 children will work with adding, subtracting, and multiplying stories.
Unit of Inquiry We are finishing up our summative assessment powerpoint presentations about communities. We will now shift our focus to rules and organization in communities. We will look at rules in school, organization in families, and laws in cities.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday: Bring your library bag. Friday: Swimming

I was proud of the way the students communicated with their audience in assembly on Monday morning. They explained well the units we have covered in P2/3 so far. I got some pleasing feedback from other teachers and parents, so well done P2/3 children! Thanks to all the parents who came to watch.
On Monday we enjoyed a visit by Mr Buck, the secondary science teacher. He came in to tell us about his previous career as a pilot. The students asked good questions and enjoyed listening to the answers and seeing Mr Buck’s photographs.
The children lead us on an exploration of the campus for one of our unit lessons. We searched for different types of transport and then brainstormed reasons why they were there, i.e. how they benefited the community. We also managed to interview the driver of the TPC bus and one of the teacher’s whose car was parked.
This week we also started preparing for our summative assessment task. The children are working in groups to prepare a presentation to show another primary class. These presentations are all to do with road safety.
Unit: Transdisciplinary Theme: How we organise ourselves Central Idea: Transportation systems are directly related to the needs of a community. This week we are looking forward to visiting Moshi Airport on Thursday to learn about a 2 seater aeroplane from the man who built it.
Mathematics Focus: Multiplication
English Focus: Writing good quality questions
What to bring to school every day: A hat, water bottle, a pair of indoor shoes and a healthy snack.
The Week Ahead: Tuesday: Extra swimming session | Library session | Homework will be set Wednesday: Kennedy House Swim Gala (invited students only) Thursday: Moshi Airport field trip | PE lesson Friday: Homework due in | Primary Swimming Gala (all students) Sunday: I hope to see some of you at the Kilimanjaro Marathon
Kate Schermbrucker – P2/3 Teacher and PYP Coordinator

We have completed the series of ISA tests and the students gave it their best. It was a good first experience for the P4s. Over the course of the week, the students were taking action by picking up litter around the ‘duka’ area. It was also our turn to MC during the Primary gathering. The chosen P4s did us proud and the Grade 6s were very entertaining with their French skit. Congratulations to Scarlett, Amaya and Jelte for receiving the Green Leaf Awards.
Language Arts – we will be looking at collective nouns. The students will be also be winding up the unit on Report writing. The reports will be used as part of the Summative Assessment for the environment unit.
Math – students will continue to learn about various ways fractions can be represented. Others will move on to equivalent fractions and how these can be simplified using a common divisor. We will need to revise our multiplication and division fact triangles in order to solve some of the fraction problems.
Unit of Inquiry – we will be looking the different ways humans can take responsibility towards sharing resources with other living things. The students will also be working on their Summative Assessment project.
Book Week – we are in high spirits preparing for this annual celebration, which starts on Monday, 29th Feb. It is also the day we will come dressed as book characters. Kindly help your child think of their costume ahead of time so they can be better prepared.
Polite Reminder:

All students are expected to bring their hats for outdoor play.

Information for Parents We have wrapped up our stand-alone maths unit on decimals, fractions, and percentages this week. I am really pleased with the inquiry skills that the students showed and they were able to communicate their knowledge very well. We have a busy week ahead following a day off on Monday. Some children will be traveling to Kennedy House for a swim gala on Wednesday and then we will all participate in our primary swimming gala on Friday.
Language focus for the week We will celebrate reading this week by preparing out door for Book Week. The children reflected last week on which genre they would like to explore next and chose science fiction. We are reading a very funny story right now about a boy that discovers an alien. Ask your child to tell you about it! This week we will read a story about a young girl that invented an app for mobile phones.
Maths focus for the week We are going to take the short academic week as an opportunity to practice and review multiplication and division skills. We will reflect on which times tables we know well and what is left for us to learn and then apply that knowledge to multi-digit multiplication and division.
Unit of Inquiry We will begin working on our summative assessments this week. Students will be working either individually or with a partner (their choice) on developing a game or story that teaches children digital literacy skills. We are working on planning a digital citizenship week to teach others about our learning.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Thursday: Swimming (bring swim kit) Friday: Primary swimming gala (bring swim kit)
   

We had a busy week trying to prepare for our Summative Assessments which turned out to be a complete success! I am so proud of how we ended this weather unit, it was such a learning and growing experience for us all. We were able to finish our weather poetry books, our brochures and we learned simplifying and reducing fractions. The students have been working extra hard with following the rules and expectations of the classroom. It was truly a really great week and I’m looking forward to the start of our new unit.
This Week: Unit of Inquiry: The central idea of our new unit is: People’s beliefs influence their behavior and the lines of inquiry include; what we believe, how beliefs influence the way we behave and our rights and responsibilities as we interact with other people. With our new central idea I would like to explore what the students have in mind and direct them in topics of discussion following our new lines of inquiry.
Language Arts: I would like to start by looking at different types of texts found in different types of cultures from around the world.
Maths: We are going to switch our fractions focus to ratios and we will be finding more understanding of how these can be found in different cultures involving people and etc.
Notices:

The Kennedy House Swim Gala is Wednesday the 24th of February. Please send with your child to school on Tuesday the money for this event if your child has been invited.

Primary Swim Gala is Friday the 26th of February and there will be no lessons on this day.

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