Moshi Campus News – 1 Mar 15

As our work on our self-study continues, I would like to remind you of our second Late Start Day on Thursday, 5th March. On that day, all student classes will start at 10:35am. Prior to that time teachers will be engaged in meetings working on the self-study.

The Early Childhood class will operate from 10:35 to 13:05 on this Thursday.

You are cordially invited to the Diploma Music Recital on Wednesday March 4th at 6:30pm. Our students in the Diploma music classes have been working hard all year to fulfill their performance requirements. This will be an evening filled with music of a wide variety of styles and genres from five of our students. The performances will be give on the stage outside of the practice rooms between Karibu Hall the the music classroom. Feel free to bring lawn chairs, a blanket, some drinks or picnic dinner and join us for a relaxing evening of music.

The PA Committee will be meeting again at 8am on Monday, 2nd March. If you would like to meet with them to raise any issues, please feel free to join them between 8am and 8:30am in Bob Horton’s office.

We have finalized plans for our D1s to participate in a well-structured and practical, skills-oriented special Theory of Knowledge (ToK) symposium on Thursday March 5th and Friday March 6th. It should enable D1 students to deepen their grasp of the link between real-life issues and developing knowledge questions – a key skill in ToK. An overview presentation on the Extended Essay will also take place on Friday and at that time they will also receive a copy of the updated EE guide.

ISM (Arusha Campus) will be hosting the big annual International Festival this Saturday, 7th March. All are welcome to join us in Arusha from 12:30pm that day. This festival of dance, food and culture promises to be a great day out for all the family.

Team ISM eventually had over 140 members in the various events of the Kilimanjaro Marathon. Congratulations to all the primary boarders (pictured at the top of this newsletter) who did the 5km Fun Run, to the many others who participated in Fun Run, and the 21km half marathon. Special congratulations to our three Team members in the full 42km race, Simon Mtuy and D2 students Frieke de Raadt and Farhan Kanani.
Thanks to the group of ISM students who managed the water stand at km 36 [km 15 for the half marathon) and who were up and working from 6am to noon to support the event.

Congratulations to all our swimmers for a fantastic performance at the St Constantine’s Swimming Gala yesterday. ISM Moshi Campus primary swimmers won in every single primary age category, and our secondary swimmers also produced some great swims. The final result put ISM Moshi Campus second only to our Arusha Campus team. Much credit is due also to our swimming coaches who have significantly raised the profile and skills in swimmimg this year.

Thirty M1 students (19 from Moshi and 11 from Arusha) participated this past week in a fantastic two-night/three-day field trip to the Tarosero Camp just outside of the Manyara National Park. Under the theme of ‘How did early humans develop technology to help them survive?’ five-person [mixed of Arusha and Moshi M1 students] ‘clans’ conducted a series of team projects (which required innovative thinking and teamwork!) including constructing an ‘early man’ style shelter, creating ‘pictographs’ using charcoal and other natural materials as well as making a water storage device from simple materials. Each team shared their pictographs plus an original ‘clan chant’ in a ‘by the campfire’ public presentation to all on the last eve of this wonderful trip. Photos from the trip demonstrated the wonderful teamwork and collaboration that typified the excursion where M1s all showed exemplary behaviour. Linda Willms (Art teacher – Arusha), Zoe McIvor, (Science teacher – Moshi), Rick Fitzpatrick (History teacher – Moshi)

In order for the P6 students from ISM Moshi and ISM Arusha to focus their minds and learn about the PYP Exhibition process, we all met together for two special and packed days. Students from both campuses came together at Sundown Carnival in Arusha where they took part in a whole variety of activities. These were designed by both teachers to prepare the children for the Exhibition journey which will last from now until the end of April.
After the Moshi students each spent the night with a family of one of the Arusha students we all spent the second day at the Arusha Campus where we were able to make use of the computer lab, projectors and library books for even more brainstorming and collaboration. By the end of the trip all the students felt more confident about what was expected of them and realised that they are prepared and ready to complete the challenging work that lies ahead. This was a useful and enjoyable way for teachers and children to begin Exhibition and we intend to keep up the positive communication throughout the next few months. Kate Schermbrucker

M1
M1 class has been working on a unit called “on s’amuse”( we have fun). They learnt about sports and leisure activities and how to describe the weather. In grammar they continued their progression in memorising essential verbs in the present tense. They are going to start working on a poster presentation with a partner and will prepare a weather forecast in French.
M2
The start of the semester for M2 French has been an engaging one, with students focusing on learning how to express themselves in the past tense as part of our unit, “Et si on sortait” (And if we went out…). As you may infer from the title, the unit gets students accustomed to making friends with others, planning adventures and fun activities, and promoting a general acceptance among peers via French language and expression. The classroom is often filled with laughter as we discuss different, amusing scenarios that students may face in a French cultural context. The culminating activity will be a Speed-Meeting scenario, where students will be required to propose an outting to a classmate, and then respond to a request using different responses each time.
M3 have been busy learning new vocabulary and expressions about Media. We looked at different types of media (TV, radio, advertisement, books and magazines) and students have been exchanging their ideas about films, books or tv programmes preferences. We also watched many advertisements and analysed them. They are now working on a magazine project and they have to create their own teen magazine in French. They will also create a video to advertise a product of their choice.
M4 class is working on a unit about food and health. They revised lots of basic vocabulary but also learnt new constructions to express their ideas on healthy/unhealthy habits. We had several debates in the class on advantages and disadvantages of vegetarianism and fast-foods. I was really impressed by the progress students have made through these debates. We watched a French documentary on chocolate and specifically how it is made and how healthy it is (yes of course it is!!). We have started to look at dialogues and situations in a restaurant, and students will then work on a rôle play presentation.
M5 students are working on a unit about school life in which they have revised all the vocabulary related to school environment (subjects, daily routine, school rules). We had a debate on advantages and disadvantages about school uniforms and students had great opportunities to express their views. We also looked at how the French educative system works and made comparisons with how it works in other parts of the world. Students will be working on essay writing as a preparation for their assessment week at the end of the quarter. The French teachers (Valérie Veillon and Ryan Sullivan)

For families paying fees by quarterly instalments, the fourth and final instalment of this school year was due to have been received by us before today, Sunday, 1st March. Please ensure that we receive fees on time, so as to avoid being surcharged by 10% on any overdue amounts.
Some families have also not yet completed payment of the 3rd quarter fees, despite being surcharged on these. If fees are still overdue for the 3rd quarter, we will soon be asking your child to leave school until these are paid.

PYP Student Led Conferences – A date for the diary!
Please can all parents of primary children keep Thursday, 26 March free to attend their child’s Student Led Conference. This is a personalised meeting with your child at school where your child will show your their learning journey via their individual student portfolio. We strongly recommend that parents of boarders as well as day students attend this very special meeting.
Primary Informance The evening before we have a musical ‘informance’ presentation from each PYP class who will be performing in a mini ‘open classroom’ session, Wednesday 25 March 6.30-7.30pm.
Primary Clubs Q4 If any parents are interested in volunteering for 8 weeks one day a week to run a club then please email as we currently putting together our schedule for Q4. Please only volunteer if you can commit to one day a week (Mon-Thurs), we are very grateful to our current parent volunteers who have allowed us to enhance our club programme to include IT programming, birdwatching, football, sports games, Brownies support and swimming.

D2 students will submit their TOK Essays very soon and the TOK presentations start imminently. These two TOK grades along with the EE will form up to 3 bonus points in the calculation of the total points for each IB DP full diploma student. This May 2015 year group is the first that faces the new guideline that should a student obtain an ‘F’ (Failure) mark in either the Theory of Knowledge class or the Extended Essay then he/she fails the IB diploma automatically.
D2 students met once again to plan their graduation at which the CEO of the International Baccaleureate – Dr. Siva Kumari – will be the keynote speaker and she was quoted last month in this article from Singapore – www.uwcea.org/dip69.
This is a reminder of upcoming key dates about which parents of ISM diploma students may need a reminder:

• Fri March 27 – last day of classes for Quarter 3 & parent-teacher meeting
• Mon April 13 – first day of the 4th quarter
• Mon May 4 – start of official IB exams at ISM
• Fri May 22 – end of official IB exams at ISM & D2 Graduation Dinner
• Saturday May 23 – ISM graduation
• Mon May 25 – start of D1 end-of-year exams
• Monday June 1 – end of D1 end of year exams

Unit of Inquiry
Most of our work over the next few weeks will be helping the children to plan their own stories for their summative assessment. They will then decide how to present their story. They can choose any form of story-telling they like from acting on the stage to writing a book.
We are also preparing for the portfolio conferences this month and the children will work on a piece that shows their favourite way of telling a story.
Literacy/Unit of Inquiry Last week we read ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and the children enjoyed acting it out on the stage and using small figures to tell the story. Next week they will work in groups to make puppets of the characters and then perform a puppet show.
EC1s will be introduced to the sounds d made by Dippy Duck and h made by Harry Hat Man. EC2s will work on reading and writing high frequency words.
Numeracy We will continue with subtraction and addition. The children are learning games to play with you at the conference this month. Through water and sand play the children will work on the concept of capacity.
Swimming I am sorry that I gave you the wrong information about swimming last week. Every week EC2 will swim on Tuesday and EC1 on Friday. If you would like to order armbands (floaties) for your child, Mr Sabini is going to Nairobi next week and will buy a pair for you. Please let me know on Monday.
Please note that the EC classes will be from 10:35 to 13:05 next Thursday (5th March) for the late start day.

Information for Parents
This week on Friday we will be showing the boats that we have been making in class at the primary assembly. You are welcome to join us at 7:40 outside the primary classrooms to see the class present.
Thursday, March 5th will be a late start day. School will begin at 10:35 that day, and we will finish as usual at 1:05 with clubs happening as usual from 2:00 to 3:00.
Literacy Focus for the Week This week we will continue to read every day in our reading groups. We will also learn about sequencing in stories. We will order events in stories we read as a group and as individuals. Then we will write short stories working on good sequencing.
Maths Focus for the Week We will work on collecting and organizing data this week. We will take surveys, organize data, and display it in bar graphs and picture graphs.
Unit of Inquiry We are excited to begin a new unit this week. After we finish preparing for our assembly on Friday, we will start learning about our natural environment and how people interact with it.
What to Bring to School Children need a hat for playtime and a healthful snack every day.
Timetable Monday Library (return your books) Wednesday PE (please send proper shoes and a house T shirt) Thursday Late start – classes start at 10:35am Swimming (please send swimwear) Friday Show and Tell

In P3 this week we have been finishing off work and reflecting on our learning in all the curriculum areas. As well, we have celebrated our learning by producing neatly presented news reports and large paintings of exploration for our classroom walls. On Friday the children dressed up as explorers and enjoyed being part of our living museum. This was hugely successful as part of their assessment. They enjoyed giving and receiving their own feedback and all played the roles of visitor, curator and expert excellently. I enjoyed looking at their homework as well on Friday; their posters really helped me to see their understanding so far in PE in a different way.
Language focus for the week Adjectives and Adverbs – what they are, how they are used and how we can use them in our own writing appropriately and effectively.
Mathematics focus for the week Money – the relationship of the different coins and bills in Tanzanian Shilling, as well as other currencies. Addition and subtraction skills will be developed through doing money- related calculations.
Unit of Inquiry We begin a new unit of inquiry next week. The children will be looking at photographs as a stimulus and will be categorizing, sequencing, making observations and asking questions based on them. They will be asked to think about and communicate what they already know about this topic. Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Organise Ourselves Central idea: The production of goods is a human-made system which impacts lives.
The children will bring home a trip letter next week, giving details of a camp on 19th-20th March.
What to bring to school Hat , Water-bottle , Communication book (everyday please).
Timetable Monday: PE and homework set. Thursday: Swimming and Library. It’s a late start day this week – lessons do not start until 10:35am. Friday: Homework due in.

Information for Parents Save the date! We have confirmed our P4/5 camping trip. We will be going to the Marangu Hotel on March 10th for a one night trip. We will be investigating the area and looking at the different types of plant life that can be found there.
We have had success with planting our seeds. All of the children were very excited this week to see plants beginning to grow in the planters outside the classroom. Please stop by and take a look!
Language focus for the week Our focus this week will be on vocabulary development for our new unit of inquiry. We will continue to review author’s purpose and persuasive writing tech-niques. We now have a class blog set up to share our thoughts and ideas about the books that we read.
Maths focus for the week We will be connecting our maths and art this week as we look at symmetry and patterns. We will identify number and shape patterns and create a piece of art-work that uses patterns to create interest and texture to our work. We will also work on a real-life problem involving patterns and how many people we can get to sit in different table formations.
Unit of Inquiry The central idea of our new unit is: The effective interactions between human body systems contribute to health and survival. Our lines of inquiry will focus on how different body systems work, how they are interdependent, and the impact that lifestyle choices have on the body. We will be tuning in to the unit by discovering what we already know about the human body and using thinking routines to examine the new central idea.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Tuesday PE (wear trainers and a house shirt) Thursday Library (bring books) Swimming (Bring swimming kit)

As the newest class at ISM, I am happy to report that we had an enjoyable, productive first week together. Students are excited about the topic of our unit and quite knowledgeable as well. Our Central Idea is: Our personal choices affect the environment. We are considering the following lines of inquiry:

• What happens to waste.
• The impact of our choices regarding waste on the environment.
• The causes of pollution

The P6 students have made a really positive start to their PYP Exhibitions. This week they have been ‘tuning in’ by learning that Exhibition is not just about the final few days of presentations but is a seven week journey of challenges and self-discovery. They learned that the assessment is only partly based on their presentations to the community – it is also very much about the actions that they carry out. These actions will come out of their passions which will drive their inquiries forward.
The students have worked really hard and are keen to share the process with the wider ISM community. Please do come and take a look at the noticeboards outside the classrooms. Each week we will be posting photographs and work that the students have completed. There is a place for viewers to write down their comments of encouragement.
Monday: Homework set Wednesday: Swimming session Thursday: Lessons start at 10:35am Friday: PE lesson | Homework due in

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