Moshi Campus News – 26 Apr 2019

This week we started the process of saying goodbye to another class of D2 students.  On Wednesday we had the dinner for the boarders and Thursday the sendoff that you can see below.  As I said to the group on Wednesday night, I remember clearly how they looked nearly two years ago in orientation with Mr Fitzpatrick going through all the requirements for the Diploma Programme. 

The confident faces of the last two days are a far cry from the look on their faces on that August day.  Many of the things that seemed so big they have now completed and with that comes a sense of accomplishment and pride. I think it is really important that they hold on to that feeling as they look ahead. 

After the exams and the holiday break they will find themselves in a similar position at university to that which they faced in August 2017.  Remembering that they were able to overcome the challenge of the Diploma should help them overcome the challenges of university, and as life seems to be cyclical, the challenges again when they finish university and start that first job. 

We often talk about reflecting back, but maybe we do not do it enough or at the right times.  If you take time regularly to think back to the past major accomplishments and how you were able to succeed, then you can use that to move you forward.

On that note, I wish you well in your preparation.  I hope you take full advantage of the support your teachers willingly provide and get into a good sleep and study schedule.  Remember, good luck favors the prepared.

Bob Cofer

Wednesday May 1st – No Classes

Let’s get the eco-brick bench finished!

Saturday, 27th April
8:00 am onwards

All are welcome but primary children should be accompanied by an adult.

We look forward to seeing you at this fun, community spirited activity!

Our next Coffee Morning is on Tuesday May 14th at 7:45am in the Social Center. We will start with an update about UWC and look more generally at events of the last few months and the months ahead.

Bob Cofer

Are you leaving Moshi?

Do you have household items that you want to sell?

Save the date!

ISM Brownies are holding a

Garage Sale

Date: Saturday, 1st June

Time: 10:00 AM  – 1:00 PM

Place: Karibu Hall, International School Moshi, Lema Road.

Come along and stock up on toys, books, household items etc.

More details to follow.

The PTAC met earlier this month.  The main agenda was to discuss the different options for the use of the funds raised over the last few years at PTA coordinated events.  We are pleased to say that all suggestions made by parents and received by the committee can be funded.  We are still finalizing the details but as a quick taster, the PTA has agreed to support the CAS bee project, a bandsaw for design lessons, possibly a climbing pyramid (to be confirmed), 2 large tents for shade (like those at Kennedy house) and will still have reserves for future CAS activity applications (as a matching fund) and perhaps to further the cross fit/activity course.

This week, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the D2 Final Dinner on Wednesday evening in the Dining Hall. This annual event is a special occasion to celebrate our D2 boarders in their final week of “official” school before they break for Study Leave and, in turn, their exams.

The tables were laid with flowers, sodas were served and many students came dressed to the nines and looking resplendent. A host of people accepted Ms Bango’s open invitation to say a few words and it was heartwarming to hear messages of appreciation, recollection, friendship, solace, farewell and advice. Students from P3 all the way to D2 shared the mic and, of course, our enormously committed and caring Boarding Parents also took the opportunity to farewell their students.

One of our M5 students talked about how the D2 cohort had inspired her and how one student in particular ignited her passion for poetry and the spoken word. This led me to thinking of one of my favourite poets, Robert Frost, a poet I studied in my D2 year many moons ago. I did not speak on Wednesday evening but, with a nod to our DP Coordinator, Mr Hemmens, I would like to leave our D2s with Frost’s pertinent “The Road Not Taken.”

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Friday’s Grand Walk was a fitting finale, I am sure you will all join me in wishing our D2s nothing but the very best  over the coming weeks…and beyond. Travel well, Class of 2019.

Ben Morley

It was an emotional day on Thursday when we waved farewell to our D2 students.

Final examinations begin on 3rd May and run until 24th May. Between now and the start of the examinations D2 students need to become fully immersed in their personal revision programme. Students are not required on campus during this period but all subject teachers are available during normal scheduled timings for consultation and revision help. Boarding students who choose to remain off campus during this time and day students, need to make sure they are back on campus ready for their examinations. Good luck to all our D2 students in their revision and final exams.

Anthony Hemmens

M3 – IDU Trip
This trip is slated for May 22-24 at Makumira University. The trip is organised by the arts and languages departments.

M5 Examinations
It is approximately two weeks before the M5 examinations begin. Preparations are underway in all the on-screen subjects. We request parents to partner with us in encouraging and giving moral support to our candidates as the examinations approach.

M5 Community Service at Kibo Secondary
The M5 students began the paint works at Kibo Secondary on Wednesday April 24. They will resume this work on Wednesday May 8.

M5 Candidates’ Timeline

• May 14 – eAssessments begin
• May 24 – eAssessments end
• May 27- Work Experience Week begins
• June 8 – M5 Ceremony

David Ochieng

We will get cross country training under way next Tuesday at 4.15pm for any students wanting to participate from U9, U11, U13, U15 and U19.  The Race will be held on the 18th of May.  There are extra training sessions available on Friday mornings at 5.30am and also Saturday at 7.15am for those students who want more group sessions. Please contact Mr Marsh if you would like to be added to the team.

See the table below for what is still to come this Quarter.

Saturday Soccer
For the football fans out there don’t forget that Saturday soccer is back on from 9am to 10.30am for PYP students.

Wednesday CrossFit
Community and student CrossFit is on every Wednesday from 3.15pm.

Friday Interval Training
Friday mornings 5.30am there is interval training for those student and community members who want to increase their speed in distance running, ideal for the cross country team.  Starting after the long weekends have finished, 3rd May.

Go Leopards
Robin Marsh

It is not too late to sign up for the level 2 Cycle trip coming up on the 17-19th May.  This trip is going to be held locally around the outskirts of the Kilimanjaro National Park with some great forested terrain and some steep and challenging descents. Note: not only will this trip be great fun it is going to be a more technical and challenging ride than the level 1 trips as it will be designed to prepare you to do the level 3 and 4 trips coming up next year.  Please contact Mr Marsh at robinmarsh@ed.ismoshi.com or Mr Foya for more details to register you interest in participating as soon as possible.

This was an extremely short week of classes. We had yet another long weekend, as Friday April 26th is a public holiday. Apart from the usual town trip for boarders on Friday, secondary boarders are going to Arusha to watch a movie on Saturday. Primary boarders will spend their afternoon at Kili Wonders hotel where they will enjoy a lot of fun activities.

The D2 students had their clap out session yesterday in the morning, before heading to Arusha to watch a movie. This marked their last day at school, and the beginning of their study period before they write their final exams.

During the study period D2 boarders will be allowed to study in their dorms but are encouraged to come to school for consultation with their teachers. All D2 teachers have their normal class times set aside for work with D2 in addition to extra time on request.

Private Graduation parties
Although the school organizes celebrations for the D2 graduation, the students have usually additionally opted to arrange their own private parties off-campus. These are likely to be on 25th May after the official ceremony. These student-organized parties are not school events and we cannot, as a school, take responsibility for them.

For Parents of Boarders
Boarders staying in school that weekend will NOT be allowed to attend any unsupervised parties. If boarders do want to attend, they can only do so if their parents agree and they have been taken out of the school’s care by staying with another family for the weekend. Even if you have already indicated on the Parental Consent form that your child may sign out to friends at weekends, we would like to further confirm that it is acceptable on this particular weekend. If you have children intending to sign out for this weekend, could you please contact us with that confirmation? You may contact either the boarding parent or the Head of Boarding by whatever means that is most convenient (telephone, letter, or email). Please note that we will confirm this via phone with both the sets of parents. Boarders will be expected to remain in school for the weekend if we have not heard from you before WEDNESDAY, MAY 22nd.

We would also suggest on this occasion, that you contact the host family directly to discuss what you feel would be appropriate arrangements.

Rosemary Bango

We had a relaxed atmosphere across the Primary section as students and the teaching team enjoyed another short week. The children continued to explore through their units and make new learning connections.

The P6 students are consolidating their findings in their chosen issues as they near the end of their exhibition journey. They continue to give their inquiries their best and have some very impressive “Actions” going on.

It was a bittersweet ending of the week as we said goodbye to the D2s who have now began their study leave. We wish them all the best.

Dates to note:

• 1st May- Worker’s Day
• 9th and 10th May- P4 camp
• 14th May Parent Coffee Morning
• 15th and 16th May PYP Exhibition

Cathy Wambua-Saha

In ISM we use a lot of technology and for a lot of the time we are checking our emails and phones and looking at laptops. This isn’t a good thing because too much screen time causes sleep disorders and neck pain. If you’re looking at a screen and not being active you might become obese.

I am researching “Technology impacts our lives with a variety of consequences,” for my PYP exhibition and one of the questions I’m asking is, “Does the world need a big break from technology?” On 24th April I launched a digital detox (outside of school hours) for ISM students and teachers. A digital detox is when you don’t use technology for many hours. I’m still waiting to find out what people did during their detox time instead of using technology. You might want to have a go at having a digital detox at home. Are you up to the challenge? Next year I want to put a digital detox day on the school calendar and see how we can survive without technology inside and outside of school.

Fredy P6

This has been a short week of research for us but we have managed to fill our three days with many activities. The children have continued with their research on their chosen natural resources and they are on their way to completing their work in the coming week. They have used visual thinking skills to sort through their understanding of their chosen area.

Apart from working through math games on the Ipads as well as ZEARN, we have now completed going through the 2, 5 and 10 times tables for P2s and skip counting with these numbers for the P1s. We will link these with our understanding of odd and even numbers next week.

As part of our initiative to read more, the children have decided that we should have reading mornings where they will individually read their books to the class. We began this exercise on Thursday and they enjoyed it very much. We will put a schedule together for the coming week so that everyone has a chance to read out loud to the class.

Mboka Mwasongwe

At the start of this week I couldn’t figure out how to fill up a section for the newsletter with 3 days of school. But what a very busy week it has been in our classroom!

We have spent this week looking at what area is and recapping what perimeter is. We discussed how area is the inside of a space while the perimeter is the outside. We used our multiplication to try and solve the area for multiple spaces. We continued to practice our multiplication this week while some students went out and measured the perimeter of the sweet corn beds.

The students were most excited for the field trip to the Noorlander Farm in Machame on Thursday. At the farm, Janieck showed us around the plentiful animals that the family has. We were then shown around the vegetable garden where Mama Janieck grows a variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs. This was a fascinating experience not only for the students, but also Ms. Durriyah, Baba Josephine, Mama Yuji and myself. Even I felt convinced I could grow a vegetable patch and help it survive! We also had a tour of the compost facility that Baba Janieck is working with, and were shown the different types of compost that he is experimenting with for optimal plant growth. The students measured different vegetable beds, and had the chance to make their own peanut butter!

Thank you Mama Janieck, Baba Janieck and Janieck for welcoming us!!

Elisha Jaffer

The P4s have enjoyed the short week and have covered some fun activities like planning for our camp, working on transformation of shapes and completing their beaded animals.

They are loving the biomes unit and we spent some time looking at animal adaptations. The students are looking forward to visiting Makoa Farm and camping in Mweka at a campsite owned by the Mtuy family where they will explore the forest, farmland and the nearby river and the living things in those environments. The camp dates have changed from 2nd and 3rd May, to 9th and 10th of May. I will be sending the consent forms and more details to all families on Monday.

For our inquiries in the coming week, we will be looking at reasons biomes are different and how changes in climatic conditions are affecting biomes around the world. In Math we will continue with transformations and division. Information writing continues to be our main focus throughout this unit.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone, or shall we say the femur is connected to the pelvis. The class is continuing to explore body systems, with presentations today about the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems. They also got a surprise quiz about the skeletal system! How many bones do you know?

Next week, we will look at how these systems are similar and different in animals. We will also begin our summatives for this unit. Students will have four choices to choose from to show what they have learned about the human body. Also, on Monday four students from the class will be reading essays about taking care of the environment during the assembly. You may have already noticed that the class posted their art pieces on our See Saw page yesterday. If you are still not involved with our See Saw page, please email me.

Sarah Brummel

This week Fredy held his digital detox day. Make sure you read his article in this newsletter – hopefully it will inspire you to try a digital detox for yourselves. The Food Fighters have started constructing a compost bin (see photo). They are hoping to use some of the food waste from the dining hall to make compost which can then be used in the community garden. Many thanks to Baba Tavari for helping the boys find the sticks they needed and to our school gardeners for supporting the boys with this project.  Next week, Ms. Sarah, our school tailor, will be helping The Plastic Protesters make fabric bags and The Triple A’s sew a raincoat for an elephant. Ms. Grace from the IT department has put the GEOs (Gender Equal Opportunities) and Teach Tech in touch with local school children so that they can help them with football and technology coaching.  How wonderful to live in a community where so many people are prepared to give up their time to help the children play an active role in their learning.

Deborah Mills