Moshi Campus News – 3 May 2014

During this week from 5th to 9th May our M5 students will not be attending classes, but will instead be engaged in a work experience week. During this week they will work in an organisation or business in Tanzania under the direction of a supervisor. The purpose is to give the students an opportunity to pursue an area of work interest and to gain experience at work.
Here are a list of the companies where students are working this year:

• KCMC – Regional Dermatology Training Centre
• Hai Vocational Training Centre
• TPC – Architecture Management and Customer Service
• METL (Dar)
• New Builders Ltd. (Tanga)
• Mehboob Accounts
• KCMC – Neurology
• TPC – Garage
• Tinga Tinga
• Melinda’s Tea Garden (Machame)
• Nazareth, Kilimanjaro Airport
• Bodytalk Studio
• BOA Bank
• Law Firm of Dennis M. Msafiri (Dar)
• iView Studios (Dar)
• Southern Sun Hotel (Dar)
• Atlas Copco (Mwanza)
• Kilimanjaro Hospital
• Vodacom (Dar)
• KCMC – Various clinics

This weekend on Sunday 4th and Monday 5th May, a group of different members of our communities from both Moshi and Arusha are meeting in Kishari House (near to school in Moshi) to continue the process of strategic plannng for the school. This involves examining how our environment may look by the year 2030 and how ISM should evolve to meet the needs of that period.

Robin Worth, admissions director at Harvard, will once again be visiting ISM to meet with students on Wednesday, 7th May. This will be a great opportunity for our senior students to learn more about how one can join this prestigious US university. ISM students have won full scholarships to Harvard every year for the last three years. Robin Worth will also be on ISM Arusha Campus on Tuesday, 6th May.

Congratulations to the ISM (Moshi Campus) teams who played in the Football Tournament at St. Constantine’s School in Arusha earlier today.







Both our boys and girls teams emerged as champions.

D2 students will begin their final written exams this week on Monday, 5th May. The D2 exam schedule is available to download at www.uwcea.org/exams. Boarders who have completed their exams often return home (parents – please let the boarding parent know arrangements for this) but, if they choose to stay in school after exams, they will still be expected to follow all normal school rules. All D2 students must return to school by Friday, May 23rd (see below).

Other notable dates:
Friday, May 23rd – Dinner for graduates and families
Saturday, May 24th – Graduation Ceremony
D1 students begin their end-of-year written exams on Friday, 9th May. These are an important culmination of the year’s work and serve as a preparation for the exams that will come at the end of D2. Full diploma students are expected to meet minimum standards on these exams if they are to continue with the same course – see the Diploma News below for more details.

D1 IELTS Test: About 20 D1 students have registered for the IELTS test of English to be held in school on Saturday, 10th May. Speaking tests will be held for these students on 8th or 9th May in addition to the written test on 10th May. A test of English such as IELTS is required by most unversities for admission.
D1 TOEFL test: Students wishing to study in the USA or Canada who have not taken IELTS are advised to take the TOEFL Paper-based test (PBT) in school on Saturday, 31st May. Registration for this test must be completed on Tuesday, 6th May. The fee is $170. Registration is done by submitting a completed paper form to Keiron White on that date.
D1 ACT test: Students wishing to study in the USA will need to take an ACT test in Maths, English and Science on Saturday, 14th June. Registration is online at a cost of $85.50 and must be completed by Tuesday, 6th May.
D1 SAT Test: A small number of students bound for the USA may alternatively wish to take SAT tests on Saturday, 7th June. Registration is online at a cost of $82 and must be completed by Tuesday, 6th May.

This weekend a number of students are climbing to Socialist Peak on Mt Meru and we wish them all the best. They are due to return on Sunday.

On 8th-11th May there will be a trip to Mawenzi Hut at the base of the Mawenzi Peak on Mt Kilimanjaro. This is followed by a Little Meru trip (16-18 May) and an Uhuru Peak trip (28th May – 1st June).

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 24th 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 MONDAY, MAY 19th.
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.

As the D2 students are getting ready to start their exams, the Visual Arts students must be relieved to have already completed one exam before the holiday. As part of their exam requirement, the students set up an exhibition to showcase their two years of hard work. Once again, Karibu Hall was transformed into a fantastic art exhibition which attracted many visitors. The students showed work in a variety of media and completed both workbooks and studio work of a high standard. Having worked with this group of young artists for two years, I would like to congratulate them on their success and wish them the best of luck with their next exams. Ms. Anine (Diploma Visual Arts teacher)
 

Following two years of academic preparation, this Monday May 5th will see the start of the IB DP exams. Parents would be making a huge contribution in this challenging time for D2 students if you could monitor the sleeping, eating, exercising and water (versus soda) consumption habits – all contribute to a healthy mind and body. These IB exams will continue until the last exams on Friday, May 23rd.
D1 end-of-year exams will start on this coming Friday May 9th. This is a reminder that all members of the ISM DP class of 2015 agreed to the Diploma Retention Policy which stipulates, ‘At the end of the D1 year, all full diploma students will be expected to have a minimum of 24 points (obtained by adding the end-of-year examination grades from their six subjects excluding ToK and EE). Any student achieving fewer than 24 points (or fewer than 12 HL points) at this stage will be required to take re-sit examinations before the start of the D2 school year in subjects and at times and on dates set by the Diploma Programme Coordinator. If, after the resit examinations, the total points score is still less than 24 points (or HL points are below 12), the student will be required to reduce their programme of study.’
Reminder: D1 parents should arrange to be present for the last day of the school year – Friday, June 20th – to attend for the Parent-Teacher meeting.
D1 students have commenced coursework assignments and this should ease their pressure in the first semester of D1 year. Laboratory assignments in the Sciences and the DP and Economics commentaries are among the coursework assignments that are underway.
On June 16th and 17th D1 students will make 7-minute presentation of their EE progress to their D1 peers. Can you this week check in with your son/daughter in the ISM DP and ask them to send you their rough outline/bibliography which they should have completed by now?
Hopefully parents and family members related to our class of 2014 students (D2s) are planning to participate in the three major events associated with the graduation: a) Friday May 23rd – Graduation Dinner at 6:30 P.M at AMEG (ISM pays for the graduating student and the parents) Any families who will be bringing additional guests must purchase the tickets (Tsh 22,500 each) by Monday May 19th. b) Saturday May 24th at 2:00 P.M. – Graduation c) Saturday May 24th at approximately 4:15 P.M. – Graduation Tea in the ISM Director’s Garden – snacks, graduation cake and juice.
ISM appreciates the work of two D2 parents – Dina Mohamed and Teresa Margheri – who are spearheading the Karibu Hall decorations committee. We met this week and dialogued with the student leadership team about the Karibu Hall graduation decoration plan. May all D2 parents be reminded of an earlier request in this newsletter – your help/assistance is hugely necessary on the morning of Friday May 23rd as from 8:00am until 3:00pm. As in past years, it is the ISM tradition that the ISM D2 class mothers/fathers who lead the way in the decorating of Karibu Hall for the Saturday afternoon graduation events. Can I have a confirmation via email please from any parents who can confirm that they will participate? We really need a critical mass of about fifteen to twenty parents of D2 students to make this a success. I recommend arriving in Moshi on the Thursday evening so you could participate in this traditionally fun team effort.
Our counterpart – the ISM Arusha Diploma program – is geared up to open its doors as planned in August 2014. We look forward to continued collaboration and this week the ISM Moshi campus DP Coordinator spent one day interviewing all the Arusha M5s on their course selection choices.
In the spirit of internationalism and expanding horizons, about fifteen D1 students travelled to the Arusha campus for the successful Rwanda Genocide 20th Anniversary Memorial Academic symposium. The highlight of the day was probably the deeply moving stories of two Tutsi survivors who recounted heart-wrenching stories of losing loved ones in the evil madness of those 100 days. Teamwork with students from five other schools provided our students with tremendous opportunities to learn from peers and dialogue about the tragedy.
These two interesting education-related New York Times articles provide different angles of the challenges of raising educated children today. www.uwcea.org/dip20 and www.uwcea.org/dip21.
Feel free to contact me with any questions about your son or daughter in the ISM DP. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick Diploma Programme Coordinator

Muffins for Mums and Dads
We are eagerly looking forward to our Muffins for Mums and Dads – a celebration for the people that care for us. Please join us for our primary assembly on Monday 19 May 7.45 am in K-Hall.Tea and Coffee will also be provided.
Head Lice
Please do check your child’s hair regularly as we have some children with head lice in primary. Totty Aris Deputy Head of Campus

Unit of Inquiry Our new unit of inquiry ‘Art Attack’ is well under way with the central idea, ‘Expression through art takes many different forms.’ The lines of inquiry are as follows;

• Expression through art
• Different art media
• Art Interpretation

Unit of Inquiry – Going Going…Gone (Endangered Animals) Theme – How we share the planet Central Idea – Many species of animals are endangered and some are already extinct. Lines of Inquiry: 1. The basic needs of animals. 2. Factors leading to endangerment of species. 3. Humans’ responsibility to share the planet.
Power Point Presentations – Endangered Animals We will wrap up our endangered animals unit this week. We would like to invite parents to see our simple presentations about endangered animals. In pairs the children have created a short slide show using ‘Power Point’ about an endangered animal. We will present on Tuesday at 12.45 in the P1 and 2 classroom.
Language focus for the week Write a recount of the weekend. Children will be encouraged to use the language of time. (First, Next, Then, After that, The next day…) Sentence and word level work will also focus on descriptive language. Write a reflection about the Endangered Animals unit. Handwriting: Patterns, own name, numerals and words with an ee and ea spelling pattern. We will also continue to work on capital letters. Some P2 children will learn to join letters together. Phonics – Group 1: Long vowel sounds, igh as in night Group 2: ir as in bird and ur as in nurse.
Maths focus for the week Mental skills will focus on counting on and back from any number. Quick recall of addition facts of 10 and 20. Doubles, near doubles and halving. All children will learn about time. Group 1: Read o’clock and half past. Group 2: Read o’clock, half past and begin to read quarter hour on the clock.
Art We will create some wax resist animal pictures. We will also sketch some animals.
What to bring to school: Everyday: A hat for playtime, a healthy snack, water bottle and reading folder.
Timetable: Monday New reading books and homework packets including spelling lists will be issued. PE (wear your house T shirt and shorts for PE in the hall) Tuesday PE (wear your house T shirt and shorts for PE in the hall) Friday Spelling Test

The pictures this week were taken in response to the prompt: “I believe every child deserves…”

Happy first week of May! We had a very busy week in P2/3 learning about prefixes, coordinates, animals in Tanzania, and attending the P6 exhibition. Our class was very impressed with the hard work and effort the P6 students put into their exhibition and it was a great example to all primary students! Next week in P2/3 we will be wrapping up our Unit of Inquiry on Tanzania. Although we have really enjoyed learning so many wonderful and interesting facts about our host country, we are also excited to move onto our next Unit on Adaptation. Here’s a look at our upcoming week.
Language Arts This week in Language Arts we will be focusing on prefixes and suffixes. We began working last week on prefixes by playing some games in class and brainstorming words that have prefixes such as re, pre, dis, and un. Next week we will look some more at prefixes and also introduce suffixes. We will also be writing informational paragraphs on what we have learned this unit about Tanzania. These paragraphs will be part of our summative assessment as we complete our final projects for this unit (an informational poster).
Maths Last week we spent the week working on coordinates and I was so impressed with how quickly everyone mastered the skills of plotting coordinate points on a graph. So, next week we will be going a step further and will be working on data entry and bar graphs.
Unit As I mentioned earlier, we will be wrapping up our unit on Tanzania this week. We will be working on informational posters where each student will be asked to write a few short paragraphs on several of the topics we have covered in this unit. Along with the paragraphs will be a few pictures, the Tanzanian flag, and a map of Tanzania.
Reminders: Monday: Library, please bring your books and bag. Homework sent home. Wednesday: PE, remember to wear sneakers and a hat and bring your water bottle. Thursday – Swimming, remember your swimming costumes and if it’s not nice out we will still have a PE class so bring sneakers and hat! Friday – Spelling test and return completed homework.

Week 3 already!

I will be accompanying a group of ISM students on an OP trip to the base of Mawenzi towards the end of this week, which means I will be out of the classroom on Thursday and Friday. While I am away, Miss Melissa, a student teacher from America, will be teaching in my class with Miss Alice to assist her.
This is what our learning in class will look like this week: UOI Unit 5 – How we organise ourselves – “People Helping People”. Central Idea: People around the world are engaged in helping others in need. Lines of Inquiry: Identifying people in need         The motivation to help others         Empowering people to help themselves         Structure and function of humanitarian organisations Our visiting speakers have been much appreciated, as they have been able to give us very concrete examples of people helping people. We have been learning a lot about what motivates people to help others and the importance of empowerment and the sustainability of different projects. This week we will have another guest speaker and we will also begin work on our summative assessment task.
Maths – Miss Jann’s Group – Data handling. Bar graphs and pictographs. How to conduct a survey, how to represent the data collected and how to interpret the data. Miss Debbie’s Group – Data handling. Conducting surveys, displaying data and interpreting data. Tally charts and bar graphs.
Language – Writing paragraphs about NGOs and writing mission statements. Advertising. Logos. Researching aid organisations. Antonyms. Spelling – Group 1: “y” changing to “i” as in pretty – prettiest, busy – busier Group 2: -ere that says air as in there, where and -ere that says ear as in here, sincerely Group 3: The long o sound – -ow at the end of words e.g. yellow, window
Reminders Every day: School T-shirts or polo shirts, zip bags (reading book, reading log, spelling book all need to come to school every day)’, a healthy snack for break time. Monday: Homework handed out – spelling, reading, Maths and Language sheets, times tables Wednesday: P.E. – Cooperative games. Wear house t-shirts and shorts or tights. Long hair tied up. Thursday: Miss Jann away; Miss Melissa teaching Library bags and books for exchange/renewal. Friday: Miss Jann away; Miss Melissa teaching Homework due in Spelling test Swimming – remember costumes, towels, goggles (if you wear them) etc…
Looking forward to a wonderful week together and knowing that Miss Melissa will do a great job in my absence. Miss Jann

Thank you to those of you who attended the P6 exhibition on Wednesday. The evening went very smoothly and I was delighted with both the displays and performances of the children. See some of the photos below. They made me very proud and hopefully did you, too. With the exhibition over next week will allow us to reunite as a class for the final unit.
UOI – Beliefs Central Idea: People’s beliefs influence their behaviour The children will be writing reflections on their exhibition and Law and Order units before we embrace the final unit towards the middle of the week.
Reading, Writing and Drama In writing we will be looking at apostrophes and their correct use. Spellings will feature words with a soft ‘g’ and ‘c’.
Maths This week we will be focusing on patterns in number and shape.
P.E. – is on Wednesday. Swimming will once again be on Thursday.
Library – Will be on Monday. Please remind your child to bring their books for exchange.

Here are some photos from last week’s PYP Exhibition presented by the P6s:

IN THIS ISSUE