Moshi Campus News – 19 May 2013

Dear Parents,

As our D1 and D2 exams both come to an end, we are now looking forward to our major event next week – the graduation of the D2 students – our class of 2013. A schedule of events is given below in the diploma section of this newsletter. I am also repeating below our advice and expectations to families whose children may be invited to attend a graduation party next weekend. Congratulations to all the P6 students for their informative and responsible exhibition last week and to all the parents who joined and supported them.

Thank you to Terrie Emmanuel who has been running the Moshi Riding Club here on our campus. The students have recently been taking their level awards and on Friday they gathered for a Boys vs Girls competition, followed by an end-of-year celebration. Ribbons were awarded to those students who successfully achieved their levels. More and more students are enjoying Terrie’s horses and we appreciate the hard effort she and her assistant put into teaching our ISM students.

For those families whose children will be leaving ISM this semester, I would like to remind you that you paid a refundable deposit when your child first joined ISM. If he/she will have no brothers or sisters remaining in the school, we expect to refund this deposit to you about 1-2 weeks after your child leaves; please give us written instructions on how to do this. The refund of deposit form is available to download from www.uwcea.org/deposit. Please return this form to me, Keiron White, on .

Most of our students will be continuing in ISM next year. By now you should have received an invoice for the 2013/14 school fees with the first payment due by 1st July 2013. If you have not yet received an invoice, please contact our accounts office on .

Although the school organises 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-organised parties are not school events and we cannot, as a school, take responsibility for them. Invariably, there is alcohol available at these parties and minimal, if any, adult supervision. We are concerned about the inevitable, and potentially serious risks that arise from these situations, particularly for many of the younger students who frequently receive invitations to attend and we have endeavoured to deal with such issues from an educational point of view in our Life Skills lessons. We also need to be especially confident that parents are aware of the nature of these events, and are happy with their own children’s involvement. We would therefore offer the following requests and guidelines.

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 Mrs Bango on by whatever means is most convenient (telephone, letter, email or fax). Boarders will be expected to remain in school for the weekend if we have not heard from you before tomorrow MONDAY, MAY 20th.

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.

For parents offering to host boarders:
Boarders signing out on these weekends will need to sign out for the whole weekend from the Friday afternoon until midday on the Sunday, although they may of course attend the Graduation Ceremony if invited. We would suggest that before you take on the responsibility for the guest students over this period, you are confident of their own parent’s expectations in terms of curfew, supervision etc.

We do not in any way wish to curtail the students’ opportunity for well-deserved celebration on these occasions, but we are concerned for their safety and their parents’ full consent and understanding.

Two weeks ago, the M2 class welcomed Doctor Marieke Dekker (a neurologist at KCMC Hospital) into their tutor class as a guest speaker. Throughout the school year, the students have been working on a collaborative service activity in which the aim was to create art for the children’s ward at KCMC Hospital. Students raised money, during a very successful bake sale, and also collected toys and games as donations.

Dr. Marieke came to talk to the students about her work, the historical connection between KCMC and ISM and the difficulties she faces as a doctor here. She also explained to the students why there are currently no art and toys in the ward and the importance of art for recovery in sick people. Students had the chance to ask the doctor questions and were able to present their paintings to her explaining what they did.

A BIG thank you to Dr. Marieke for her visit. We hope to keep developing this service activity and do more work with KCMC in the future.

If your child is receiving individual music lessons, you will have been invoiced already for the estimated number of lessons he/she will receive this semester. At the end of the semester we will calculate the actual number of lessons taken and will then credit or debit your fees account with any difference.

Do you sometimes buy books or other items from Amazon, either in the UK or US? Next time, please do so through the school’s website by going to www.uwcea.org/amazon or www.uwcea.org/amazon.com. The prices will be exactly the same for you, but ISM will benefit by getting a small percentage of your order value to spend on books that we need. It’s a small way to help ISM at no cost to yourself.

IB DP exams continued this week for the class of 2013 while their first year IB DP colleagues spent this time on their end-of-D1 exams. Both groups appeared focused and engaged. ISM’s faculty worked diligently to maintain a quiet and orderly environment in the tuition block area and thus facilitating exam-takers in this critical assessment period.

Some D2 students who have completed their exams completed a magnificently creative backdrop for the backdrop for the Saturday May 25th graduation.

This is a reminder of the schedule for the class of 2013 graduation weekend. Firstly, D2 parents who arrive early are encouraged to drop by on Friday morning May 24th to assist with decorating Karibu Hall.
Friday evening at 6:30 PM class of 2013 students and their family are welcome at the Graduation dinner at a restaurant in Shanty Town.
The graduation on Saturday May 25th will commence promptly at 2:30 PM so all guests are asked to arrive by 2:00 PM at the latest. Photos for graduates will occur at 1:45 pm near the walkway to the dining hall.
Following the graduation ceremony there will be a celebratory reception in the ISM Director’s garden complete with light bites, a huge chocolate cake and some student-created music.

An ISM DP graduate now enrolled at a top university in North America stopped by this week. She explained how in innumerable ways her DP education is benefitting her. Specifically she asserted that the constant writing she did at ISM as a diploma student in classwork, coursework and on assessments has given her a huge heads-up on her peers at university. She also highlighted that those students in the habit of ‘reading books for pleasure’ were better positioned to write well as their command of the English language and its vocabulary is more developed.

Two D1 parents conveyed their decision this week that they would be carving out time from their busy schedule to make the critically important end-of-D1 year Friday June 14th parent-teacher conference. This was a wise decision and all D1 parents should, if possible, follow suit. Your son/daughter needs your guidance/input and this cannot really be conveyed properly unless you understand first-hand how he/she is progressing. You DP parents can only get a grip on that reality if you sit and listen to what we DP teachers/ISM boarding parents say about your child’s work. PLEASE make an effort to be here!

It would be ideal if parents asked to see and critiqued the university personal statement that all D1 students have recently created. This will be hugely important for the university applications that most will do later in 2013.

Where is your child in terms of their Extended Essay progress? It was pleasing to be copied on an email this week from one D1 parent to their child’s Extended Essay supervisor. This type of parental involvement is key within a boarding school environment as it demonstrates pro-active parental action from afar. I encourage to emulate this action.

Parents would also aid us by encouraging their sons/daughters to maintain full focus when doing homework. This generation likes the technology but as the literature demonstrates this is counterproductive as noted in this article – www.educationnews.org/technology/multitasking-obsession-is-making-learning-harder-for-students/.

Similarly, ISM DP students who are regularly active feel better and perform better. Recently a DP student conveyed how tired and anxious he felt. We concluded that his lack of any exercise program was one problem in the equation in his life. Can you as a parent nudge your son/daughter in this direction and use this article as a springboard – www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6442474588.

Feel free to write with any questions or concerns about your child in the ISM DP.
Sincerely,
Rick Fitzpatrick – (Diploma Coordinator)

Life in a school can never be boring as we watch our students learn and grow. They are always expressing their views on local and global issues.

Our M2 students have been looking at the issue of ‘Globalisation’ in their Humanities lesson and the teacher has been quite impressed by their presentations: one of the key skills that we develop in the students is the ability to present and support their opinions. Whilst learning about globalization, they have looked at its effect of on cultures, the social media etc.

In their Language A English class, the M3 students have addressed the question of how to persuade people to support a cause through language. They have been looking at Animal Rights and after their research work and creating posters, their next step is to create a podcast in order to support an issue pertaining to their immediate environment namely in the African region.

Our M4 students are very busy in their thought process for the Personal project. I have had another meeting with them and some of them have already decided on what they would like to do. It is always very exciting to hear their ideas and views and to see how creative they can be. We hope that by the end of May or before going on holidays, they will have decided on their topic.

M5 students are all set to start their work experience on the 27th May. So far, they have learned how to draft their application letter and today we looked at how to formulate a CV. Next week, I will be going through all the requirements and will provide them with the necessary documents they will be needing during their work experience.

The M5 Ceremony will be held on the 7th June – we have started discussing the logistics and we will be going though more details next week. We would like to remind the M5 students that they still have to try and complete any work that is due so that teachers have the possibility of giving them good grades for their final reports and also for the IB.

As we look forward to another busy and interesting week at ISM, I leave you with a thought:
“Hard work is a two-way street: You get back exactly what you put in” (Anonymous)

An excellent week to All!!!
Jaimala Quinlan (MYP Coordinator)

P6 Exhibition
Congratulations to all our P6 students and Mr Scott on a fantastic exhibition! Thanks to all our parents who supported this event and helped make it a huge success. The P6 Exhibition is the culminating activity for our primary years students and is an opportunity for them to showcase their learning from their time in the primary years.

Dar Trip
32 of our students and 4 staff members will be traveling to Dar first thing Friday morning to participate in the big inter-schools Swimming Gala and Football Tournament. Students will be traveling by a bus arranged by the school and will return on Monday evening on the 27th May. Miss Cindy will be keeping all parents of the students participating informed of their child’s progress by sms. A big thank you and cheer to Mr Sabini, Mr Scott, Miss Annalee and Miss Jann who will be sacrificing a precious weekend to accompany and chaperone our children on this trip.

School T-shirts
A reminder that ALL primary students are required to wear a school T-shirt or polo shirt to school each day.

P6 Graduation Dinner
Our P6 students will celebrate successfully completing their Exhibition and primary years with a special dinner at Deli Chez on Wednesday 22nd May at 6pm. P5s will also attend as well as the mentors who helped the P6 students with their Exhibition.

Early Childhood Preview

Unit of Inquiry
This week we will think about our final line of inquiry, ‘Why is sound important to living things?’ and I will also be starting my assessments on this unit of inquiry so that I can write my report comments next week. We are also having fun playing listening games.

Literacy
This week I will continue to focus on assessments;
EC2 will write/draw a piece of unaided writing about their favourite sounds
EC1 will draw sound sources after going on a walk round campus with their ‘magic ears!’ (we didn’t do this earlier in the unit due to the rainy mornings!)

Other activities;
EC2 – word building focusing on the short vowel sound a
EC2 – practise correct letter and number formation
EC1 – developing fine motor skills; cutting, threading and using sand paper letters to practice correct formation of name.
EC1 – using magnetic letters to make name.

Numeracy
Mental maths

• Counting backwards from 10/20
• Numbers more/less/bigger/smaller /greater than/less than/in between
• Singing number songs and rhymes that involve adding 1/taking away 1
• Estimation jar

P1/2 Preview

General Information
We enjoyed our visit to the P6 exhibition on Friday.

Assessments will be carried out in class over the next week to help me with report writing.

Papier Mâché
In art we are making papier mâché plates. Can your child please bring in a small plate to use for their art work?

Language focus for the week
Writing:
Recount of the weekend. Using the language of time. (First…Then I…Next I…Later…At the end). Using adjectives, (amazing, fantastic, wonderful, scary, huge…)
Continue Shape Poems
Handwriting: Pattern, writing numerals and a focus on the Caterpillar Letters (cadgoq) Some children are joining letters together.

Phonics:
1. Revise sh, ch and th. Also nd as in sand.
2. Oo as in moon
3. Suffix, ed as in pulled.

Maths focus for the week
Mental skills will focus on doubles, near doubles and counting on and back. Quick recall of addition and subtraction facts to 10/20. Adding and subtracting 10. All children will learn about addition and subtraction. We will write missing number sentences. Children will make up stories to match number sentences. They will also carry out investigations such as “How many ways can I put 10 cookies on 3 plates?”

Team work
Unit of Inquiry : In a workplace people share responsibility towards a common purpose.
Central Idea:
Lines of Inquiry:
1. Importance of working as an effective team.
2. Individual roles and responsibilities.
3. How systems are organised.
We will continue to talk about what makes a team. Can the children think of different kinds of teams? What makes a team effective? We will observe some senior students playing sport as a team.

Art – papier mâché (see the notice above – bring in a plate)

What to bring to school:
A hat for playtime and a healthy snack. (No hat, no play!)

Timetable:
Monday
New reading books and homework packs including spellings issued.
Tuesday
Library (New books can be chosen if there are no overdue books)
PE
Thursday
New reading books issued
Friday
PE
Spelling test (Hand in yellow homework pack)

P3/4 Preview

Week 7 and this means only 4 weeks left of last term of this school year. So little time and still so much to do!

At the end of this week I will be accompanying the junior swimming team to Dar for the annual inter-school’s gala. This means that I will be away from class on Friday 25th and Monday 28th May. Miss Catherine will be returning to class this coming Wednesday and will hold the fort while I am away.
We wish the swimmers from our class – Fraser, Sil, Willem, Ashraf, Silipa and Theo all the best for the competition.

This is what our learning in class will look like this week:
UOI – Our new Unit, “Water, Water Everywhere” will be introduced.
Central Idea: Our planet has limited resources that are unevenly distributed.
Lines of Inquiry:

• Finite and infinite resources
  
• Distribution and availability of clean water
• How human activity has affected the availability of usable water
• The effects of not having access to clean water
• Our responsibility for water conservation

P5 Preview

Maths
We’ll be continuing with decimals and percentages and will learn how to calculate 70% of 50 and similar problems.

Language
We’ll be writing more newspaper articles and answering questions about them, as well as creating catchy captions for photographs.

UOI
We’ll be wrapping up our Recycling movie and summative assessment task which was put on hold while we assisted P6 students with their Exhibition.

P6 Preview

Phew! That was one long, fraught, exhausting but ultimately hugely satisfying and rewarding week for all the adults and children associated with P6. I would like to thank Ms. Durriyah and Ms. Amen for their tireless work over the last 6 weeks assisting the children with their inquiries and displays. Personally, it was the first time I have orchestrated an exhibition and the week was full of tension and anxiety. But I was so delighted with the final outcome. Every child in P6 created colourful, informative and engaging displays which reflected the hours of research and work they had done in preparation. Most encouragingly, they were all able to articulate the concepts learned through their inquiry and disseminate the knowledge they had accrued to all those who appeared before them. I am so proud of the efforts and achievements of all of your children this week. I am sure you are too! They have truly earned their weekends this week!

UOI – Exhibition Unit
Central Idea: Seven billion people requires us to confront the threats to our health, environment and society
This week we will be looking at feedback sheets, completing final reflections, continuing any ‘action’ and completing the exhibition journals.

Reading, Writing and Drama
This week I will be giving the children writing, grammar, comprehension and spelling assessments.

Maths
We have a little work to do this week on calculation of area and perimeter before I will give the children a Maths assessment on Wednesday or Thursday.

P.E. – Swimming remains on Thursday and PE is in Karibu Hall.

Library – is on Tuesday. Please remind the children to bring back books for exchange/renewal.