Moshi Campus News – 15 March 2015

This week our whole school will be celebrating books; fiction and non-fiction.
Every day we will be having a D.E.A.R. time across the school when all our primary and secondary students will start the day with an opportunity to Drop Everything And Read.
We will kick off our celebration of reading with a Book Character Spirit Day on Monday 16 March when students will dress up for the assembly as a character from their favourite book. Parents are very welcome to come and see the range of characters (please ensure your child’s choice of character is appropriate!).
At school students have already started being creative with the Book Door competition, take a walk round school to see their imaginative designs of their favourite books. Secondary students have also been busy reading, reading, reading as part of the Read as Much as you can competition. Prizes for these will be given in the Q3 end-of-quarter assembly on Friday, 27 March.
If any parents would like to read to primary classes as a Mystery Reader please email .

The M3 students have been working hard this quarter to investigate a topic of their choice and have chosen a wide range of subjects including the Bacterial Content of various Moshi Water Sources and The Effect of Sodium Hydroxide on Fabric Stains. The students will present their projects on Thursday, 19th March in Karibu Hall and would like to invite you to come along. Each student can talk to you about the experiments they performed and explain why they decided to study this topic – even more exciting is that several have also planned a demonstration with their equipment. They have all collected their own data and analyzed what this data means.
The Science Fair will be open on Thursday after break from 10:35 until 12:35 and again after lunch after from 1:20pm until 2:20pm. Every student will have their own presentation area and so you are welcome at anytime during these periods.
We hope to see you there!

On Tuesday we will be hosting a visitor from Northumbria University in the UK who will be meeting with our D1 students to present opportunities for studying Art and Design in the UK, and will also be talking to M5 students on the campus.

From Friday, 20th March to Thursday, 26th March, our M4 and M5 students will be undertaking formal assessments in all their subjects. They will therefore be following a special timetable during this period, with times for formal exams and times for preparation.

Today, a group of students has started the climb to Mawenzi Hut on Kilimanjaro and they will return to school on Wednesday, 18th March.
Next weekend’s planned trip to Mandara Hut has been changed due to low student enrolment. As an alternatve, a trip will be going to the Pare Mountains on Saturday and Sunday, 21st and 22nd March.

Every year our Diploma Visual Arts students offer an exhibition of their work. If you can get the chance to see this, please do so as it clearly demonstrates the talents of our D2 students. The Diploma Art Exhibition is open to all in Karibu Hall on Monday, 23rd and Tuesday 24th March.

Primary Student-Led Conferences On Thursday 26 March, there will be no formal school for primary children as each child will be coming to school for a brief meeting with their parents to show them their Student portfolio. This is a very special and proud moment for our PYP students, a letter will come home this week to arrange your time.
Primary Clubs Clubs finish on Tuesday 24th March, a new clubs online form will come out this week, please submit your form as quicly as possible so that your child has the best chance of getting their first choices.
Secondary Reports All students in M1 to D1 will receive interim reports this quarter to give you an indiation of their performance during this semester to date. Full reports will be issued in June. D2 students will receive a full report this quarter. Secondary reports will be printed and issued to students on Thursday, 26th March. If you would like to receive a digital copy of your child’s report, please email Totty Aris on . Digital reports will be emailed from Friday, 27th March.
I am sorry that we will be unable to issue reports to students whose Q3 fees have not been fully paid.
Secondary Parent-Teacher Conferences All teachers will be available in Karibu Hall on Friday, 27th March from 10:35am to 12 noon to meet with arents and discuss their child’s progress. We would encourage as many parents as can do so to attend these consultations.
End of Quarter Assembly Friday March 27 is our final day of the quarter. We will have our usual assembly in Karibu Hall at 9:00 where awards, prizes and commendations of quarterly events are presented along with some musical presentations by the students. Students are free to travel home after the assembly which will finish at about 10:15.
Boarders’ Travel We would once again request that your children do not leave school before the end of the quarter unless this is absolutely necessary. Parents of boarders are asked to ensure that you have informed your child’s boarding parent of his/her travel arrangements. If your child will need transport to Kilimanjaro Airport, please arrange this as soon as possible with Rosemary Bango on . If booking air tickets, please remember that boarders should return to school on Sunday, 12th April.

On Wednesday, 25th March at 6:30pm there will be Primary Informance (Informative Performance) in Karibu Hall. All of the primary classes are preparing to present to you that evening. The event will last about one hour, so please come and join us.

On Thursday, 26th March, a group of students from both campuses will be leaving for Switzerland where they will be enjoying the ski slopes over the following few days. They will return to Tanzania on 5th April.

Over the last few days our secondary students have been variously engaged in football, basketball and rugby matches here on campus.

Girls Football










Girls Basketball









Boys Rugby










Girls Rugby

Primary Swimming Our primary swim team did a grand job at the Kennedy House Swim meet on Friday 13th March. We swam against St. Constantine’s, Braeburn and Kennedy House students and overall did very well, coming home with many medals and the U-8 champions cup. We would not have won this cup if we hadn’t had some very young swimmers such as Imani, Jay, Mary and Scarlett step up and be brave about going to their first competition, they were great risk-takers and swam really well giving us the points we needed to win. Another special mention should go to Delhem, Shose and Noga who won their all races. It was a great morning and our ISM primary students were impeccably behaved, following instructions carefully and being very quiet when the races were started as required. We will celebrate this event at our primary gathering on Friday so please remind your child to wear their medal that day.
Lunchtime swimming has now ended this quarter and the last Saturday swimming will take place on Saturday, 21 March. In quarter 4 we will be training our team for the IST event in Dar, therefore lunchtime swimming and Saturday swimming will only be open to the students selected for that team. A big thank you to our parent volunteer Coach Noah who does a great job with our primary students.

The Parents’ Association is organising an International Fun Day on the Moshi Campus on Friday, 17th April (the first Friday after we return from the holiday) from 3pm to 7pm. We look forward to many families joining us for food, music and other events.

During the holiday we will have a large group from across East Africa staying on campus and making use of our various facilities. Due to the number of participants, it is likely that all boarding houses will be used for their accommodation. We regret the inconvenience to boarding students who will need to pack up their belongings, but we are providing safe storage facilities and all rooms will be cleaned before the boarders return on 12th April.
We are glad to once again be hosting this type of conference during the holidays. The additional income received is beneficial to the school and such events help us build links with organisations within the community and can serve as good public relations for he school and, possibly, effective marketing for enrolment.

Moshi Campus was well represented last Saturday at the International Festival at our Arusha Campus. Our Music Fun Club and our Primary Dance Club each performed a dance. If you were able to attend, you know that our groups were great. After performing, the children were able to enjoy the festival which included food, games, and other activities. A good time was had by all.





 

Last Monday, 60 portable solar powered lamps, worth over $1,100, were delivered to us on campus. As part of her IB curriculum, Valentina in D2 has diligently collected money for her CAS project with the motto “Light for Africa” from her hometown, Ingolstadt in Germany. She was sponsored on her climb of Kilimanjaro with different amounts received for each hut that she reached.
Within the next few weeks the solar lamps will be distributed to families around Moshi that have to live without electricity. For these families this means a daily saving of the costs for oil. In particular, students of these families will benefit from the lamps because they will be able to do their studies even at night time. “Education is known to be an important step to overcome disease and poverty.”

Leading towards this quarter’s assessment week, the M4 and M5 language and literature groups have been studying poetry from other cultures and traditions. These poems focus on the theme of crossing cultures, as in “Half-Caste” by John Agard and “Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka.
Students are encouraged to consider the positive aspects of such a journey and the possibilities for culture clash. They look at common themes of the range of poems and at the techniques of writing poetry. They are asked to analyse the work of others and to create their own.
The M4s will try out the use of word processors in their exam as a preparation for next year’s e-assessments within the MYP and will use the global context provided by the MYP as a focus for their writing.

The D1 ToK groups have over the last few weeks been considering the place that Ethics, as an area of knowledge, occupies in our lives; where does morality come from? Is it innate – as in the conscience – or is it formed by our environment – as in wider social influences? Does this make it culturally defined, or are there universal moral standards to which we can refer?
Using stimulating sources such as Vaclav Havel’s “Letters to Olga”, Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” and Lumet’s “12 Angry Men”, the class have considered whether our ethical sense derives from emotion or from reason, as ways of knowing.

The Mathematics Department is a busy place at the moment; the M5s are wrapping up the bits and pieces for their external moderation and preparing for exam week at the end of term. The M4s are completing their 3rd investigation in as many weeks and they will have another one in exam week. The M2s are learning that gambling does not pay unless you own a casino and “what is the probability of that ever happening!?”
Meanwhile, the M1s where spotted outside the classroom coming to grips with angles of rotation in a game of “Simon says”. (It was clear that the problem was not mathematical but auditory).
The M3s have impressed Mrs Gullickson by being fantastic risk takers when it comes to Maths; they are fearless when faced with challenging problems – apparently they had a very inspiring teacher last year.
The Maths Department would like to remind all mathematicians that a scientific calculator is a requirement for M3 to M5. Not having a calculator in class can really impede progress. Graphic Display Calculators are required for Diploma, but can be useful before then too.

Unfortunately that we have had a few cases of head lice in some of our primary classes, speifically P3 and P4/5. Please ensure you check your child’s hair and take appropriate action. All students with long hair should wear their hair in a ponytail for school to avoid hair to hair contact.

Minutes of all Parent Association Committee meetings are posted on the school website at www.uwcea.org/ism-parents/parent-documents. You may be asked for a password before entering this section of the website – please request this from the Head of Campus.

We are developing our contact details for every family and soon hope to be able to send urgent messages to parents via SMS. Please ensure that your contact details with the school are up to date. These can be changed quickly online at www.uwcea.org/contactdetails. If you haven’t updated your details recently, please do so NOW!

I will be away from school for the week of March 20th – 27th whilst co-chairing an accreditation visit to a school in Lusaka. During my absence Totty Aris will act as Head of Campus. Keiron White, Head of Campus

The class of 2015 met to practise the songs (see photo) they will sing for the May 23rd graduation and they are off to a great start thanks to the ISM Moshi Music teacher Ms Kellerman’s organized plan.
Eleven of the top students from the NECTA (TZ national exams) participated in a thorough interview process for the two scholarship positions for the incoming D1 class. ISM received over 120 applications for these spots. DP faculty Hazel Ndong, Keiron White and myself managed this process which revealed the outstanding reputation ISM has attained ‘on the street’ among the country’s top students. The decision will be finalized within days.
The DPC made a presentation to M5 students on the IB Diploma program and this coming week each will receive a copy of the DP Handbook 2015-2017. Thereafter, course selections will occur – where possible in collaboration with parents in a meeting at ISM.
D1s proceed with the process of determining their subject and supervisor for the Extended Essay. Each D1 student undertaking the EE must work in earnest on this EE as from now and parental support in this regard is hugely important.
D1 Life Skills students examined ‘Money Management’ issues and they are maintaining an income/expenses log for the coming month and which parents are welcome to review and discuss as a part of this essential collaborative educational endeavor.
D2 TOK presentations are taking place these weeks.
With IB DP official exams less than two months away, D2 students should have started their review process at this point. Parental encouragement on this matter would be ideal.
Reminders: There is a parent-teacher meeting on the morning of Friday March 27th and PLEASE do not remove your child in the DP prior to that day.
The link between ‘Health and Academics’ is highlighted in this article that parents would be wise to review and discuss with their children in the ISM DP – www.uwcea.org/dip75.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Sincerely, Rick Fitzpatrick – DP Coordinator

Unit of Inquiry
We will continue with our summative assessments next week, with the children planning, writing/ retelling their stories. Class presentations will also begin with children acting out their story on the stage, performing puppet shows, sharing their sticker stories or reading their books.
Portfolios The children will prepare for their conferences by sharing their portfolio with a teacher. Early next week they will be able to present their portfolio to an older child as another practice.
Language Book week starts on Monday. Your child should come to school on Monday dressed as their favourite book character for the assembly. If you would like to be a mystery reader in the class please let me know. We can give the children some clues as to your identity and then surprise them when you come to read a story! Every day we will have DEAR time (drop everything and read)
Numeracy EC1 focus will be on conservation of number through manipulative play as well as the language of more and less. EC2 focus will be on problem solving involving addition and subtraction. The children will select the appropriate method for solving a problem and explain their thinking.  

Information for Parents
Don’t forget that this upcoming week is Book Week. We will wear our book char-acter costumes on Monday, so please prepare a costume for your child. We will also be visited by a few mystery readers, but I am looking for one or two more. If you are available this week, please let me know a time you could come read to our class. Your involvement is always appreciated.
Homework will be a bit different this week. Since it is Book Week, besides a spelling list, the only homework we will have is reading. I will be telling the children that instead of them having homework, their parents have homework this week :). For homework, I would like someone at home to read to your child for 15 minutes each day. I realize some of you already spend more time than that reading aloud, but maybe this week you could do a little extra. This is just one more thing that will make Book Week a special week.
We are looking forward to our portfolio day. This is a day when your child can share with you what is in his/her portfolio. You can get a feel for some of what your child has been doing at school. I will soon get a letter out with your as-signed time for portfolio day, but for now you can at least mark your calendar for March 26th.
Literacy Focus for the Week This week we will learn about opposites. We will build our vocabularies by choos-ing better words for our writing. Of course, we will also continue to read in our groups this week.
Maths Focus for the Week We will begin working with money this week. We will learn about several different currencies around the world. Then we will set up a shop and do some shopping with pretend Tanzanian shillings.
Unit of Inquiry We will continue learning about the natural environment of Tanzania this week. We will focus on how people use the resources of the land and the water.
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 Swimming (please send swimwear) Friday Show and Tell

This week we have been reading our chosen Door-Cover book, “The Butterfly Lion” by Michael Morpurgo. We used our IT sessions to research about the author and watched video clips of him reading sections of the books, as well as video clips of real white lions in South Africa. The children discussed and reflected on the story throughout the week, and produced a variety of thoughtful work based on this. We developed our understanding of verbs and adverbs through this story and wrote our own pieces of description. We all worked together very hard to create our door and hope that you enjoy looking at it.
In Maths the children have been using different currencies to solve grocery shopping problems – this links well to our food-related unit. The children have been finding out how bread is made, and showed their understanding of how it gets from field to table in a variety of ways.
Reminders: Please be reminded that on the 16th March the students should dress up as a book character. I am looking for people from the school community to come and read a story to the children too on the 16th, 17th or 18th March. Please let me know if you would be willing to do this (in any language!).
Our P3 Camping trip is on Thursday-Friday of this coming week. The children should come to school on Thursday morning and leave school on Friday lunchtime at the normal school times. We will not be providing lunch on the Friday. Please ensure that all items on the packing list are packed. If you need another copy of the details, or have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Language focus for the week Book Week. We will be linking out unit with English this week by exploring the book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, written by Roald Dahl.
Mathematics focus for the week Solving problems related to buying Chocolate-products from Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Unit of Inquiry Transdisciplinary Theme: How We Organise Ourselves Central idea: The production of goods is a human-made system which impacts lives. We will be finding out about how chocolate is made during the first half of the week. On Thursday and Friday the children will be finding out all about the production of coffee whilst on camp at Kahawa Shamba.
What to bring to school Hat , Water-bottle , Communication book (everyday please).
Timetable Monday: PE. Please pack your PE kit in bags and arrive dressed as book characters in the early morning. Thursday: Bring your camping stuff! Plenty of sunblock already on please.

Information for Parents We had a wonderful time on our camping trip to Marangu this week. The children enjoyed the chance to be outside and enjoy our natural surroundings. They all did a great job setting up their tents and helping with cooking and clean-up.
This week is book week and the students spent a great deal of time on Thursday and Friday decorating our door for the school contest. Our door is based on one of our favorite read alouds of the year, Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins. Stop by and check it out! Don’t forget to wear your book costumes Monday for the book character parade.
Language focus for the week We didn’t get a chance to work on our author’s purpose activities last week, so we will push that to this week instead. We are going to be looking at reading strategies this week, such as using visualization in nonfiction books.
Maths focus for the week We are working on probability this week. We have examined the likelihood of events happening and will be playing some games of chance this week to determine whether they are fair games where each player has an equal chance of winning. Students will also design their own fair game.
Unit of Inquiry The camping trip was a great time for us to learn more about their muscular systems. Students did lab stations that included testing their heart rate at rest and after various activities, such as marching in place. They also designed their own exercise routine to work out different muscles in their bodies. This week our focus moves to the circulatory and respiratory systems.

What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Monday Book character dress-up day Tuesday PE (wear trainers and your house shirt) Thursday Library (bring books) Swimming (Bring swimming kit)

Everyone is looking forward to the Book Week Assembly on Monday morning. I’m expecting 100% participation in dressing like a book character! I am proud of the work that went into creating our Book Door. It is probably the first Book Door in ISM’s history that is decorated with objects that are either biodegradable or made from trash. Great collaboration, P5!
Last week students made a lot of progress in properly including quotations in their writing. We will continue to work on that skill while doing re-writes of the unit-related book, The Lorax.
Students have chosen topics of interest for their summative action and we will begin researching. This will give us the opportunity to work on skills like note-taking and reading for information.
In Math we will do more logic problems and word problems using data relating to waste management and pollution.
Our schedule is the same as usual but there may be information coming home on Monday about an upcoming field trip: Monday – Library, please bring books to exchange. Wednesday – Swimming, bring your suit and a towel. Friday – Return completed homework. Sports, wear appropriate shoes and don’t forget your hat and water bottle!

There is a fantastic energy coming from P6 at the moment. If you want to share in this please come and look at the noticeboards outside the classroom. The children really enjoy it when you write a comment. (Whilst you are there, please also look at our door design for Book Week.)
The Exhibition issues which the children have chosen to study are: TREES | NATURE | ALBINOS IN TANZANIA | WILD ANIMALS | SPORT AND HEALTH
They are all working in groups of 3-4 students. The groups have been organised according to the passions of the children. Now the groups have worked out the structure of their work (i.e. the central idea, lines of inquiry etc) they have been able to begin their research. They have made maximum use of their time in the IT suite and the library, looking at websites, books and newspapers. Already they have gathered answers to some of their leading questions. A few groups have interviewed experts or sent letters and emails setting up interviews. Some of the children have decided they want to go on field trips to further their understanding of their particular issue and are working towards making these happen.
A few of the groups have begun their actions, e.g making posters calling for change, collecting litter and reusing it in creative ways, teaching younger children how to care for the environment etc. According to IB, these actions are as important as their final presentations. They should make a positive difference to the community or the environment and ought to be sustainable.
This week the children finalised how they wanted to be assessed. As well as having ongoing weekly assessments, they have chosen to have an overall assessment using a rubric which they all helped to create. These have been printed off and the children can refer to them in order to achieve their maximum potential.
Next week: On Friday 20th March the P6 children will be presenting about their Exhibition work in Primary Gathering. Parents are invited to join the audience in order to learn more about what the students are doing. The Gathering will last from 7.40am – 8am and will take place at the back of the primary block.
Monday: Book Week begins | Dress up as a character from a book | Homework set Wednesday: Swimming session Friday: Exhibition Primary Gathering (parents invited) | PE lesson | Homework due in

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