Moshi Campus News – 7 Jan 2020

Welcome to a new decade here in Moshi.  To all our returning community members welcome back.  I would also like to welcome the new families that are joining us to start 2020.  To those coming to Moshi as a family and to those who are joining our residential houses, I hope you enjoy your new start here.

I trust everyone had a restful break and is ready to jump into the new year.  In addition to the items below we have sports events and outdoor pursuits trips starting in a few weeks.  As well with the start of the warm semester our MYP students will be joining the PYP in their swimming units.

On Monday the 13th teachers from Arusha will be joining us on campus here for an in-service day and classes for all students will start on Tuesday the 14th at 7:30am.  I look forward to seeing you then and have a good last week of your break.

Bob Cofer

Please note that on Thursday the 23rd we will have a Semester 1 Sports Celebration.  More details will be in next week’s newsletter.

This quarter the PTA and a group of students are planning out International Day. While more information will be coming out later, it is good to start thinking about what you will wear.  If you are currently in your home country, it might be worth planning ahead for a cultural outfit for that day.

I hope you have enjoyed a safe and restful break, reconnecting with family and friends. For our Diploma students, I trust that you used your time productively but that you also found time to relax and sleep! Good luck with all that is to come over this semester and, at a time when everyone is full of words of wisdom or advice, be sure you do all that you can to ensure your results are a true reflection of your abilities.

Thank you to all of you who were able to come along to discuss your child’s learning at the end of semester Parent Teacher Conferences. We hope these were beneficial conversations for you and opportunities to gain valuable insight into your child’s learning, to hear about their successes and ways that you might support areas of development going forward.

We are excited to welcome a number of new families to our UWCEA community at this time. We are proud of the vibrant and caring community we have here and look forward to your child (and yourselves) becoming fully involved in the different elements of our holistic learning programme. Karibu sana.

We will soon be into the rhythm of a new semester and all the associated events and happenings. At this time of year, there is often a tendency to take stock and make resolutions for the months ahead. Generally, these resolutions focus on our failings and, ironically, we often fail to keep them. Sadly, education systems also have a tendency to focus on deficits, targeting a student’s “weaknesses” rather than a student’s strengths. So, at this time of the year, I encourage you all to concentrate on possibilities rather than shortcomings.

To quote Ellen Goodman:
“We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.”

Here’s wishing everyone a successful semester of learning together, full of potential. Happy New Year!

Ben Morley

We are looking forward to welcoming students back after the vacation. Hopefully all students have had a good break but have also found some time to do some work. I know because of flights some students may return late, but ask that they let me know and keep an eye on ManageBac for work they will miss.

The D1 students should have found some time to review work covered in the first semester so they return to school ready for the new work they will cover. They should have looked through their reports and taken heed of the advice from their teachers.

The D2 students should have reviewed all the work covered in the diploma in preparation for their mock examinations which start on January 27th.  In addition to this they will have also needed to make sure they are up to date with their Internal Assessment submissions and worked on University Admissions. I hope they return to school with the positive attitude from last semester ready for the final semester of their school career.

This quarter we will have an International Day and students who are returning to school from their home countries are encouraged to bring items to represent their country and ingredients to make appropriate food.

Margaret Brunt

We wish to welcome all new MYP students and parents this January. We thank the parents/guardians for making UWCEA their school of choice.

M5 PP Timeline
The M5 candidates are on the final phase of their Personal Projects and are currently refining their reports. Draft 2 Reports are due by January 13 while final reports will be handed in on January 29. The final reports must be accompanied by the Process Journals and evidence of completed products or outcomes for grading. The grades for the PP will then be submitted to the IB regardless of whether a student is registered for eAssessments or not.

Service in the MYP
After a successful semester with service activities, we expect all the MYP cohorts to continue with most of their projects. Most of these groups closed school after making plans for this coming semester.

David Ochieng

With the Christmas and New Year celebrations now over our thoughts turn to 2020 and our 3rd Quarter in school.

After the frenetic last few weeks in school before the Christmas Break, I’m always amazed by the way in which our school campus almost seems to breathe a sigh of relief, and immediately after our Residential Staff and Students depart for the Christmas Break the wildlife moves in. If you are lucky enough to be around our campus during a holiday you will see what I mean. It’s a beautiful place to be.

Our resident students travelled home to be with family and friends, some halfway home to be hosted by the families of other UWCEA students, some spent time with their link family and a small number, who were unable to travel, stayed here in Moshi in Kishari House.

Many of our Residential Staff travelled for well-earned holidays or home to spend Christmas and New Year with friends and family.

Wherever our Residential Staff and Students found themselves, I really do hope that they managed to rest and enjoy some quality time with their friends and family.

The peace and tranquility of our campus will soon be exchanged for the buzz of resident students returning to school at the end of this week ready to begin the Quarter 3. Students may return from Sunday 12th January onwards with lessons beginning for students on Tuesday 14th January.

If your child requires school transport for their return to school, could I please remind you to forward their travel arrangements to their Residential Parent as soon as possible, and please copy myself into the same email or message. This will enable me to organise their transport.

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year 2020 and look forward to meeting you in school again soon.

Ian Horne

It’s amazing how quickly we have gone from wrapping up one year, and excitedly beginning a new one. As you continue to enjoy the break, we hope that you are creating special memories and strengthening your connections in preparation for what lies ahead in the new year. We hope that rest and rejuvenation have been an important part of the break, as well as taking time to reflect on 2019 accomplishments and consider 2020 aspirations.

We ended the year in very special ways with two of the classes. In the D2 Life Skills class the students decorated encouragement jars with kitenge fabrics, and spent time writing encouraging and inspirational notes to each other. This has been a very challenging semester for the Class of 2020, and to watch them take the time to decorate their jars and write personalized notes was so heartwarming. They extended the project beyond the time that was allocated, and were instructed to keep the jar in a place where they can quickly access it whenever they need a pick me up during any challenging times that may come their way this year.

In M5 Life Skills Class, we completed the mindfulness unit with Ms. Marissa with some helpful restorative yoga techniques that had us positioning ourselves in lots of different ways in order to achieve new levels of relaxation while continuing to focus on our breathing. The M5 students were all engaged in the activities, and hopefully will continue to utilize these strategies to alleviate stress in the new year. As a closing ceremony to our time together, Ms. Marissa instructed each of us to write something(s) that we want to “let go” of in 2019, and then we burned them in the Community Garden fire pit. As our old habits/attitudes/behaviors turned into ashes, we all wrote a positive statement to replace the negative in the new year. This was an inspirational way to complete our stress unit in Life Skills and prepare for a new unit of planning for future possibilities in the new year.

It is so important to create time for reflection and to develop positive traditions that we can look forward to at different points throughout the year. These activities are examples that can easily be replicated at home, and we will continue to encourage students to access positive outlets throughout the year. Whether it is through arts, movement, counseling, or a multitude of other options, we encourage everyone to find a way to settle your thoughts and tap into healthy coping strategies to appreciate life more fully. 

As the counseling department, we will continue to provide resources to support the well being of our community, and welcome you to reach out to Mr. Kileo or Ms. Ford if any needs arise throughout the year. In addition, we have much more to come from universities as we continue to expand the horizons of our students.

Wishing you a wonderful start to 2020, with a clear vision for a healthy year ahead.

Cassandra Ford

Happy New Year to all UWCEA families and welcome back! I had a great Moshi experience both over Christmas and New Year and it was amazing. I hope you have all rested and are ready for Quarter 3.

I would like to welcome families that are new to our community and look forward to another fun quarter ahead. Lessons will begin at 7:30am on Tuesday the 14th of January. Please bring the children in a few minutes early, as they will be excited to see their friends and catch up with their news in the playground. You will need to collect your child at 1:10 pm on the first day back (11:15 for EC). Clubs will begin on Monday 20th 2020.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

I hope that you have had a fantastic break with the children. We’ve had a lovely time in the UK, and here’s a picture of Reuben and me enjoying the football. We are about to travel up to explore Edinburgh, where our family hopes to move in June this year. I’ve got the feeling that it’s going to be a little bit cold.

We will be starting a new unit in class all about our senses. I’ll let you know more as we begin, and for now I hope that you enjoy your last few days of holiday.

I’m looking forward to meeting you all and welcoming the children back to school. All usual routines remain the same.

Owain Evans

Welcome back everyone! I hope you have all had a restful and joyous holiday.

We will continue with our ‘How the World Works’ unit. Our central idea is: There are naturally occurring cycles all around us.

The lines of inquiry are as follows:

• Cycles of living things
• Cycles of non-living things
• Similarities and differences of natural cycles

Last quarter, we began with looking at the word ‘cycle’ and what it meant to us. Our discussions led to us exploring the butterfly life cycle. We will continue talking about cycles of living things and the children will decide which one they would like to explore next.

In mathematics, we will begin our exploration of subtraction and how it relates to addition.

If you have scrap fabric material with many patterns, please send it over to us. Mama Ezra has given us a great idea of how we can use the fabric to create art pieces.

Thank you Mama Ciara for allowing us to visit your home after last quarter’s whole school assembly! We enjoyed getting to know your animals. Wilbur is featuring in our sketch books.

Mboka Mwasongwe

Dear Parents,

It’s 2020! Growing up, I recall a lot of gloomy predictions made about where the world will be in the 2020s. I also recall thinking “goodness that’s so far away”. Since the set of the last calendar year, I have been rethinking all those predictions read about in high school and hoping we have, at least to some degree, not doomed ourselves in the 2020s.

Your children are the future of this planet, and as such, it is only fitting that we start Quarter 3 by continuing to work on our unit under the transdisciplinary theme Sharing the Planet. We will continue to look at water as a source of life for all living things, the limited amount of freshwater in the world, and think about how we can be responsible about our use of water. We will also look at different water technologies and how they relate to sustainability.

It is a long quarter, and I look forward to your continued support.

I am very excited to see the students on Tuesday!

Elisha Jaffer

Happy New Year to all the P4 families and welcome you back to a new quarter. I hope you have all had a very restful break.

We ended our quarter on a high note, with some team activities and parties.

This week, we have some great activities lined up as we start our unit on our beliefs and values. I would encourage your child to bring in an artifact that represents culture, religion or a personal belief, if they have not brought one in. We will be looking at how we are connected through celebrations. In Math, we will focus on time and in Language Arts, we will look at storytelling through different cultures.

In the first week, the P4s will be planning to go for their camp and more information will be sent to you in due course.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2020 is off to a good start for your family. I have been enjoying time with friends and family, including my two dogs, in snowy Michigan. It has been a cold visit, and making me want the summer heat of Tanzania.

When we return next week we are set to continue exploring forces. They will be constructing a simple machine, and may need help finding material at home that they could use. In math, we will be kicking off our unit on fractions. Throughout this unit we will have a few activities that involve food and fractions. I hope you will be able to participate in either the Fraction Feast (food that can be divided into fractions) or Fraction Snacking (making trail mix).

A friendly reminder that our swimming day is on Thursdays. Please remind your child to bring their gear to be properly prepared for swim class.

Sarah Brummel

Happy New Year to you all. I hope the P6 children enjoyed a relaxing break. I am looking forward to seeing them on Tuesday morning and hearing all of their news. We will be working on our slideshows on plants and easing ourselves back into Maths (long multiplication!) We have some fun art activities planned and will use charcoals to sketch leaves. Please search your shelves for any reading books or library books that were not returned before the break. One note for your diaries – the sports banquet, to celebrate the achievements of teams in Semester 1, will be held on the afternoon of Thursday, January 23rd. If your child has represented UWCEA in sports this would be a fun function to attend.

Deborah Mills