Moshi Campus News – 18 May 2019

This will be the last newsletter for our D2 as students.  By the time they get future ones they will be alumni.  For some of us and them, this is hard to fathom looking back. 

I look forward to Friday’s dinner and Graduation on Saturday as it is a chance for me to see the students in a different setting. It is a very interesting weekend from the rehearsal mishaps to the polished final product.  For some there is a sense of anxiety and nervousness.  This tends to end, however, once they leave stage and the meaning of the event starts to hit them.

It is an emotional weekend for many, teachers and staff included, as we say goodbye or at least, “see you later,” to those we have seen constantly over the last few years.  From my experience here this is magnified when you live in your school. 

So, let me keep this short and say congratulations to our Graduates to be and we wish you the best next year and with all your future aspirations. You will be missed here at ISM.

I must also point out that you will have a special distinction in the school history as the last class to graduate under the name International School Moshi.

Bob Cofer

Garage Sale

If you would like to have a table to sell your unwanted items the cost is 30,000 Tsh. 

Please pay Ms. Grace at the front desk in advance.

No tables can be booked on the day.

This money goes to fund Brownies activities.

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

The M4 class has been working with Kili Orphange for more than a year. We have completed several big projects such as building a sandpit and purchasing and installing a swing set. This year during focus week which is a 3 day project where we get to pick a service, we would like to further our collaboration with the orphanage.

One of our main goals is to give the children (aged 2-11) life experiences such as swinging which we have acomplished. Our next project is teaching them how to cycle. We are writing to ask whether you have any bicycles that aren’t being used that you could donate to the orphanage. We would really appreciate any help you can provide.

Please send an email to margaretbrunt@ed.ismoshi.com if you have any questions.

Navya
On behalf of M4

Like many of you, I was awake at silly o’clock on Friday morning to wave my child off for the Primary Sports Weekend in Dar. My last parental instructions were a plea for my son to try and sleep on the bus and/or the plane but I fear the levels of excitement meant this fell on deaf ears.

Schools across the globe are constantly debating the merits of competitive sports for young children. The physical benefits of sport are clear but what is talked about less often are the psychological benefits. Approached in the correct way, sports encourage students to take criticism and work collaboratively. Of course, this takes time but learning to handle and respond to feedback is an essential life skill. Effective coaching and competition can help build internal skills and resources that will serve children throughout their formative years and beyond, such as self-esteem and efficacy, positive work ethic and resilience, self-regulation and organisation. The list is endless.

There are those who believe that competition breeds motivation but, at the same time, there are those who feel that unnecessary stress often comes hand-in-hand with competition. In my opinion, we need to be mindful that competition takes many different forms. Competition that involves setting attainable goals and encouraging teamwork can only be a healthy learning experience as long as, for the most part, it remains fun.

Good luck, ISM athletes and teachers. We look forward to hearing all about it on your return.

As a footnote, to echo what I am sure is written elsewhere in this newsletter, HUGE congratulations to each and every P6 student (and Ms Deborah and Ms Catherine) for such a successful Exhibition. You presented with confidence, clarity and assurance. Your research was rich and meaningful and your action responsive and impactful. You should be feeling very proud. Well done!

Ben Morley

The D2 IB examinations will begin their third and final week on Monday, running though to Friday and concluding with French. Then it’s time to party and celebrate this monumental achievement by all our D2 students.

Graduation dinner will be held at Kuringe Hall on the Arusha Road. This venue is located next to the Redstone nightclub. Graduation dinner starts with a welcome drink served at 6:30 while dinner will be served at 6:45.

The graduation ceremony will be held in the Karibu Hall. Photographs of students and their classes will take place outside the Rafiki Hall at 12:30. The graduation ceremony itself starts at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets can be collected from Grace at the main reception.

Anthony Hemmens

ISTA WAS A GREAT SUCCESS.

The first ever ISTA festival to be held in East Africa came to a successful end on Sunday 12th May 2019 at ISMAC. Curtains closed on this very successful festival with students sharing their experiences with the audience. The three day activity started with a visit to the Meserani Snake Park where the students explored the starting point for the theme of the festival; sharing the planet. The young artists were then taken through ensembles with experienced ensembles leaders, Mary-Frances Doherty, from the UK and Jaques de Silva, an award-winning performer, theatre-maker and teacher who recently scooped the Naledi award for the best performer in a play for a young audience. Jacques also teachers theatre arts at the University of Witwatersrand, in South Africa. The Arusha ISTA Festival has inspired other schools who are now planning to host this phenomenal celebration of performing art, with International School of Windhoek already sending invitations for next year. Thank you very much to the parents who hosted the students as well as those who sponsored the event.

George Juma

P6 – M1 Transition
We are pleased to notify P6 parents that their children will be joining us in the secondary school on Monday June 10 as part of their orientation into MYP. The following day Tuesday June 11, from 7:45-8:45am, there will be a brief presentation by the MYP coordinator for you the parents. More details will be given before then.

M5 – On-Screen Examinations
The M5 onscreen examinations began on Tuesday May 14 to a smooth start with Individuals and Societies. Students followed this up with Mathematics on Thursday and crowned the week with English Language and Literature on Friday morning. They continue with Swahili, Science and Interdisciplinary Learning next week. We wish to thank the M5 parents for their support.

M5 Work Experience Week
The M5 students will be out of campus as from May 27 to 31 for their work experience week. Students must be in school on Monday June 3 for reflections on their experiences. We thank parents for their support in getting their children respective organizations/institutions to work in this year. In a world where the workplace has embraced skills that include teamwork, digital literacy, communication and problem solving, we believe in exposing our students to experiential learning. During these formative years, M5 students need opportunities to gauge their strengths against their dream careers. We do expect our students to be aware of which subjects hold keys to shaping their careers of choice before transitioning into the Diploma Programme.

David Ochieng

A few of D2 boarders completed their final exams this week. Some of them opted to travel home and come back next week for graduation. Those who have completed are encouraged to complete the clearing form with their teachers, and also to start packing their personal belongings.

The exams will end on Friday 24th May. That evening there will be a dinner for the D2 graduates, their parents and staff in Moshi town. The graduation ceremony will take place on Saturday 25th May in the school hall from 2.00pm. D2 boarders are free to leave school thereafter.

M5 boarders have also been writing their exams this week. They will start their work experience on Monday 27th May, and have their ceremony on Saturday 8th June. The boarders can close for the year after the ceremony.

The rest of the school will close for summer break on Thursday 20th of June. Boarders can leave the same day.

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, curfew etc for your children on the evening of the party.

Rosemary Bango

As this goes to press, we have our Primary students representing us at the Primary Sports Weekend in Dar.  The U9 and U11 are competing in swimming, football and Rugby.  As well, some Primary and Secondary students were off in Arusha at a NTAA Cross Country competition. Watch this space next week for the results from these competitions.

We had a full-on week in Primary with the PYP Exhibition, Summative Assessments and a Primary Sports weekend at Dar. For sure these young learners are amazing!

Talking about amazing, the 2018-19 P6s have set a new bar in the history of PYP Exhibition. They are the first class to come up with solutions for all issues they raised and were absolutely stunning in their presentations. They tapped into the local community and made a significant difference through their actions. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this successful journey.

Our Primary ISM Leopards set off for Dar es Salaam very early on Friday morning. We wish them the best of luck in their different sporting events.

The Primary team of students, Educational assistants, and Homeroom teachers are putting together an assembly to share what they are grateful for. The Gathering of Gratitude will be held on Tuesday the 28th of May from 7:35 to 8:15 a.m. All Primary parents are welcome.

All Primary classes are on their final unit of the year so be ready to support your child with discussions, resources and further inquiries at home.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

We said goodbye to a classmate this week and it put me in mind of our fantastic EC2 students. They will be moving up to P1 very soon and our EC1’s will take over as ‘the big ones’ in our little class. It’s quite amazing to see how fast they change and develop. They all spent part of this week working individually with me as we explored together where they sit in terms of their maths, reading and writing.

I asked them ‘What is maths?’.

“I like doing maths with my mum and dad. You can do hard maths and not hard maths. I like the hard one because I know all about it”.

“Maths is like painting”

“Numbers tell us how old we are. We use them for counting. If you are in a hotel, you’ll know which door you are”

“Maths is like unicorns”

“I like working. I like hard maths”

Owain Evans

‘A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots’- Marcus Garvey.

Do you agree? This is what we are trying to find out. How relevant is it, to know about our past?

This week, the children have begun writing in their diaries. Thank you to all of you who have either brought diaries or reminded and encouraged us to write in them. They will prove to be priceless memories as they grow up. Remember they need to write in it twice a week as a minimum. We practice recalling our day in our diaries using detailed pictures, labelling and adding sentences to our pictures. Next week, we will work on writing our feelings, emotions and random thoughts of the day. Some of us will be going off to various sports activities this weekend. This will be a great resource to include in our diaries.

In math, we have been investigating different ways to collect and organize data. The children worked on how to create a question (What is your favourite pet?) and choose different aspects of their question that they would like to research more about (dog, cat or rabbit). They have been working on how to approach people when they want to ask a question as well as how to best record their answers. They completed their investigation by creating a bar graph with the information they collected which you will be able to see posted in our classroom. Next week, they will choose their own personal question and begin to take surveys in the wider community.

Mboka Mwasongwe

We had the pleasure of visiting the P6 PYP Exhibition this week. The P6 students have done a wonderful job with their various topics and presentations. Well done P6 and Ms. Deborah. The exhibition was a great way for the P2/3 students to see how the different learning experiences and actions contribute towards learning. The exhibition inspired our class into creating colourful and attractive posters while working on their own investigations.

P 2/3 has been continuing to practice various math skills which include reviewing addition, subtraction and multiplication, as well as tallying and graphing. From next week, the students will be looking at time and fractions in correlation with our new unit of inquiry.

There will be a Gratitude Gathering on the 28th of May 2019, parents are invited to come and join us for this celebration. More information on the gathering will be sent out, as well as a calendar event invite.

Elisha Jaffer

The children in P4 worked hard in their end of unit presentations this week and we appreciate the support and positive feedback from the parents that were able to attend. A special thank you to Ms. Grace from the boarding who came in for our two boarders Eric and Alvin. They all made me very proud of their achievements.

Next week we start a new unit on What needs do different people have in our community and around the world? During this unit I hope we will have a couple of parents who can come in and share experiences they have working for NGOs; what you do and how it impacts the community. In Math, we will be using concepts like probability and data handling during our unit as well as continue with repeated addition and sharing.

We wish our 10 P4s who have gone to represent the school in the Primary Sports weekend in Dar es Salaam the best of luck; Go Leopards!

Cathy Wambua-Saha

The class had a fun time playing one another’s games that were created for Summative Projects. The games were creative and eye- catching. The other projects were equally spectacular with colorful posters, creative menus, and a detailed story book about the body. Thank you to those who came to support their presentations with your presence. It was great to have an extended audience. If you were not able to attend, we have uploaded the work to See Saw.

The class did such a great job presenting their summatives, they earned a Rock Party this week. They earn rocks when they work well together. When the Rock Jar is full, the students get to arrange the schedule for the day. They plan in a meeting what will take place, and this involves needing to be a good communicator and listener. Did you hear about our visit from the doctor?  It was fun to see inside one another!

Sarah Brummel

The P6 class delivered their exhibition presentations to the PYP and MYP classes on Wednesday and to parents, teachers and the wider ISM community on Thursday. The children were confident, articulate and well informed. They enjoyed themselves enormously and Ms. Catherine and I were very proud of their performances. Thank you to everyone that supported the children during the 8 week exhibition process.

Next week we will continue our work on poetry. The children have been reading different styles of poetry and we will start to write our own poems. In maths we are working on mean, median, mode and range and will be looking at different ways of displaying data. We will also start our new unit of inquiry: “People’s relationship with the earth’s resources drives many of our actions.”  This unit will have a food/plants focus and will involve several cooking activities.  The children are also hoping to have a post exhibition class party (most likely on Thursday) and I will write with details about this next week.

Deborah Mills