Moshi Campus News – 29 Nov 2015

Tuesday, 1st December is World AIDS Day. To note this day, our M3 class will be presenting an assembly on Monday at 7:35 to all secondary students. M3 students write: “We will be informing the MYP-DP students on HIV/AIDS,and reminding them about the world AIDS day. which will be on the first of December. we will share our knowledge on our unit and make sure everybody knows what HIV/AIDS is and how to prevent it. We are hoping that we all get involved in raising awareness on world AIDS day as a bounded community and would like every secondary student to wear red clothing on the day after the assembly (Tuesday, 1st December), to show our understanding and respect towards those who live with HIV/AIDS.”

On Tuesday, 1st December our P5 class will be going to the Momella Cultural Tourism Centre where they will have a guided walk to Momella Lake and do many activities relating to their mythology unit. They plan to leave campus about 8am on Tuesday morning, will camp at Momella, and expect to return by lunch time on Wednesday.

On Thursday the P3 students welcomed their peers from the Arusha Campus. After a tour of our campus, all 29 children boarded the ISM buses for the short journey to Ameg Lodge. Here they unpacked and got to work setting up their own tents and organising their sleeping bags. They had all practised how to do this at school beforehand and worked really nicely in their small teams. Very little teacher assistance was required and they felt rightly proud of themselves. Soon the far corner of Ameg was looking like a well organised camp site. After lunch the students and teachers took part in a ‘getting to know’ you activity whereby they had the opportunity to learn all about those from the other ISM campus. They then developed some Essential Agreements for how they would behave around each other and keep safe around camp.
Next they worked in mixed-campus groups to create beautiful Mandalas using items from nature which they had searched for around the site. They demonstrated excellent cooperation and communication skills.
By this time it was late afternoon and the 7-8 year olds were ready for a swim in the inviting lodge pool. Much fun was had as they swam, played and made new friends. By now there was no more shyness evident between the two groups.
After a delicious Ameg supper the children got washed and changed into their pyjamas. They were then treated to songs and stories around the campfire. There was a very special atmosphere with the stars clearly visible and a full moon overhead.
At bedtime the children settled down into their sleeping bags and soon fell asleep; much to their teachers’ relief! They slept until dawn and then chatted quietly in their tents until 7am. After breakfast in the open lodge restaurant they learned about the morning’s activities.
First they worked in their tent groups to invent skits which showed off their understanding of what it means to be responsible and independent on camp. After they had performed these for each other they sat apart around the lush garden and wrote the next entry in their camp journals. Finally they worked together to dismantle their tents efficiently.
Once the Moshi students had waved off their new friends they spent some quiet time reflecting and drawing scenes from the last 24 hours. Finally they boarded the yellow bus and returned to school to be quickly reunited with their parents.
Many thanks to Rishi Shah for offering the garden of Ameg Lodge as our camp site. Her staff took wonderful care of us and it was the perfect location for the P3s to experience camp life. Thanks also to Ms Elisabeth (Arusha class teacher), Ms Rose (Arusha teaching assistant) and our own Ms Catherine (Moshi teaching assistant) for all their hard work on this trip. Thanks also to Mr Foya and Mr Saleem for teaching the children how to put up the tents. Kate Schermbrucker – P2/3 Teacher

Many thanks to Rishi Shah and Coach Charles who are organising a tennis tournament in school next weekend on Saturday-Sunday, 5th-6th December. There will be matches for students in various categories from Under-6 to Under-18, as well as an adult tournament. It is hoped to get sponsorship for the students’ tournament and there will be an entry fee of TSh 25,000/- for the adult tournament.
For further information, please contact Coach Charles of 0757 606766, or Rishi Shah on 0754 058268.

There are two more OP trips this quarter as follows:

• 3 – 6 Dec: Usambara Mountains (Level 1b). An extended trek in some beautiful mountains
• 10-13 Dec: Mawenzi Hut (Level 3). A second chance to walk at altitude on Kilimanjaro.

As announced in last week’s newsletter, Ms Delphine Riziki has now taken over responsibility for the Kijana diploma girls. Please contact her by email () with any questions concerning the care of your daughter in this boarding house.
Friday 27th- Sunday 29th November marks the annual sports weekend, and about 410 students from six visiting schools including ISMAC, plus their coaches, have come to the campus for sports They are being hosted on campus in different classrooms, while ISMAC students will stay in our school house Kishari for the three days. This should not interfere with the boarders’ space as they still use their boarding houses. This weekend, boarders are not allowed to go off campus, except in very special circumstances. No visitors are allowed in the boarding houses during this period. The visitors are however using our dining hall, and meal times have been prolonged to accommodate the large numbers.
After consultation at various levels, it has been decided that whenever there is a mid-week public holiday in future, we will plan a normal study-hall and normal curfew for boarders the previous evening. The public holiday itself will continue to be structured in the same way as a Sunday in school. This change will be effected from the next public holiday which falls on December 9th.
It has also been decided that with effect from January 2016, a quieter transition to bedtime will be effected for the M1-M3 boarders. This means that they will stay in their boarding houses between the end of study hall and bed time where they can engage in various activities organized by their boarding parents as they prepare to retire.
I take this opportunity to remind parents about the closing day on Friday, 18th December. Please make transport arrangements early, and send me details as soon as you can (). Rosemary Bango, (Head of Boarding)

As some of you may know, we have been involved in a global search for a Head of Secondary (Moshi Campus) for much of this semester. We were delighted to receive more than 50 applications and members of the Selection Committee and I have spent many hours interviewing a wide range of candidates. It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Robert Cofer to this position for next school year as from August 1st, 2016.
Robert (Bob) holds a Masters of Science in Management and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), as well as a Certificate of International School Leadership from the Principal’s Training Center. He is currently the Professional Learning Coordinator and Teacher of Mathematics at Nanjing International School, China where he has worked for the past six years. Prior to this, he spent five years as the Math and Science Coordinator at Lincoln School, Kathmandu, Nepal and two years as a teacher of Maths and Science at the American International School of Egypt. His teaching career began in Massachusetts in the US. In addition to his school-based experience, Bob has also worked as a Project Manager for an industrial emissions testing company and as a Training Supervisor for a photonics and semi-conductor business in the US. He will be accompanied by his wife, Debbie who will teach in the Primary School and their two sons, Daniel and Joshua.
We very much look forward to welcoming Bob, Debbie and the boys into the ISM community. Bob Horton, Director

Our Secondary CAS group have been working hard on the musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ a spoof musical with a fairly small cast which will be performed on 10th & 11th December. The ensemble have been working very hard on their singing, dancing and acting. Eventually the CAS will tie in with the M5 music class who are providing the band.



Another CAS group has been creatively making the ‘plant’ a puppeteered character in the play. We will be very busy with rehearsals in the two weeks (Nov 30 – 11 Dec) running up to the performances as we turn Karibu Hall into our stage and build our set. We do hope you will join us for this event which will be open to students from P4 upwards (some of the content could be perceived as a bit scary to our little ones).

I would like to remind all parents paying school fees by instalments that the due date for payment of Quarter 3 fees is 1st December 2015. If you have not yet made this payment, please do so as soon as possible. We will once again not be able to allow students to return for next quarter if their fees have not been received.

ISM DP students certainly had a fun, entertaining and active Friday/Saturday/Sunday with 400+ other secondary students from around Tanzania. Ask them what they liked best about the Sports Weekend as so many of our D1 and D2 students showed super sportsmanship and hospitality to our guests.
All D2 TOK Presentations occur this week. D2 parents would do us a service by having a dialogue with your son/daughter in the DP and enquire about the subject of their presentation.
With the second quarter reports due in a short time DP teachers are completing marking and calculating the August to December 2015 semester achievement grades that will appear on the report card students will receive by December 17th. Be aware that the grade received in each DP subject at the completion of the two-year course of study provides the clearest picture of how students have done. Nevertheless, these preceding grades do provide a good indicator of progress.
This is another reminder to all parents of D1 students regarding the ISM Diploma Retention Policy that all students agreed to and which you should be aware of. As it states: “At the end of the second quarter, all full diploma students will be expected to have a minimum of 22 points (obtained by adding the reported achievement grades from their six subjects excluding ToK and EE). Any student achieving fewer than 22 points at this stage (or achieving fewer than 11 HL points) will be required to undertake a reduced programme with either fewer subjects or with fewer higher levels in consultation with the Diploma Programme Coordinator”.
In D1 Life Skills class this week, seven guest speakers from the ISM community shared their insights on ‘Personal Financial Management After Secondary School’ and the D1 questions provided for fascinating discussions on the usage of credit cards, the importance of savings, and wise money management, etc.
It is vital for the parents of DP students to organize time to ‘check-in’ first-hand in terms of your son/daughter’s progress. There is no better way to do this than attendance at the quarterly parent-teacher conference. Please find time to be at ISM on the morning of Dec 18th for these meetings and enjoy watch your child in D1 compete in the ‘boatloads of fun’ D1 Raft Race too!
D2 students should now begin review work for their mock exams that take place in late January.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Rick Fitzpatrick – Diploma Coordinator

We would like to thank all the parents who attended the PYP Sharing Assembly on Monday. We hope you enjoyed this snapshot of the activities and investigations taking place in each of the primary classrooms.
   

This week the children will inquire using their sense of smell. They will think about how this sense can help them make discoveries and keep them safe. They will also think about how the senses of smell and taste work together. The following exploration centres will be available this week:

Our ‘Discovery Shop’ is open for business. The children will add some more items for sale that you can smell. We already have chocolate playdough and lavender scented playdough!

Smell tests to identify and match different smells

A Baking activity

Sorting pictures of smells they like and don’t like
If you have anything with an unusual smell that you can send in for the week we would be very grateful.
Literacy

• EC1 will find out about the sounds j made by Jumping Jim and z made by Zig-Zag Zebra.
• EC2 will continue to think about the sound made by ch and sort words that begin with ch and sh.
• We will think about non-fiction and fiction books again as we look at books on smell. We will read stories that have a theme of smell such as Arthur’s Nose by Marc Brown.
• The children will also make a class book about favourite smells that will involve some writing for EC2s and I will scribe for EC1s.
• Our postal service will be up and running on Tuesday. The children will learn how to write greetings cards to each other for the various holiday celebrations coming up. EC children will deliver the post to primary classes each day.

Numeracy I have some more assessments to complete for reports this week. The children will also:

use money in the class shop for buying and selling items

make a graph of favourite smells and compare results

start a measurement unit that will last until the end of term.
I will be away from class on Thursday and Friday on an OP trip. Ms Grace will be responsible for the class with the help of Ms Alice, Ms Stephanie and Ms Mary.

Information for Parents Thank you for your support of Sports Weekend at ISM. I saw many of you coaching or helping at some of the games, and of course many of you came out just to watch and support our teams. It was a good weekend for ISM.
I wanted to let you know that I will be away on an OP trip to Usambara Mountains on Thursday and Friday. If you have any immediate needs, please feel free to bring them to Cici.
Language focus for the week This week Group 1 will be learning how to read short vowel words, and Group 2 will work with “ou” and “ow” words. We will also continue to read and write every day.
Maths focus for the week Both groups will learn about subtraction this week. We will work on what it means to subtract, and we will have plenty of practice both on paper and with blocks and other items.
Unit of Inquiry We had a great time learning about change last week. We had some rotting food that we observed, and of course we baked some delicious cookies. This week we will start to talk about why people move around the world. We will focus on types of transportation.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Monday PE (wear PE shoes) Tuesday Library (please send your books in the library bag) Friday Swimming (please send swimsuit, goggles, and towel)

This week the children were taught by both Ms Kate and Ms Kaira (third year student teacher). Ms Kaira is now taking more of the lessons and the children are enjoying her calm and well organised approach to teaching. For the next two weeks she will take over much of the teaching as part of her required Teaching Practice.
This week we dug more into the central idea of our new unit of inquiry; People’s relationships with each other can have an impact on well-being. In doing so we found out about the meanings of our PYP Attitudes for this unit: respect, empathy and cooperation. We discovered that those three words are essential in any kind of positive relationship.
In English this week the children were creative and wrote an ending to a story. They also learned about how stories are built up. They brainstormed different settings for stories and thought hard about which adjectives were most appropriate.
Unit: Transdisciplinary Theme: Who we are Central Idea: People’s relationships with each other can have an impact on well-being We will have a closer look at different relationships between people and how they make us feel. We will work with our attitudes: respect, empathy and cooperation and start to take action with our unit.
Mathematics Focus: multiplication
English Focus: story writing: how stories build up, adjectives, character description
What to bring to school every day: A hat, water bottle, a pair of indoor shoes and a healthy snack.


The Week Ahead: Monday: Homework will be set | swimming lesson Tuesday: Library session Thursday: PE lesson Friday: Homework due in
Kate Schermbrucker – P2/3 Teacher and PYP Coordinator

The students enjoyed a number of activities done this week as we ventured into more tuning in activities for the unit of inquiry. They reviewed the primary, secondary, tertiary, warm and cool colors. They also had a chance to look at various forms of visual art around the school. The highlight of the week was watching a fun video on creativity in computer-generated animation. You can watch it on this link: https://youtu.be/VufDd-QL1c0
Language Arts – this week the students will be looking at various ways to start imaginary narratives. They will play different games that will help them develop their creativity skills by using different story starters. They will continue with vocabulary work, spelling practice through their everyday work and reading activities.
Math – we continue to practise our multiplication tables during mental math and our focus is on finding the area of covered by different objects. Using squared paper the students will be able to find the area of regular and irregular shapes. The students particularly enjoyed playing games on www.multiplication.com to practise their tables.
Unit of Inquiry – Students concluded their tuning in stage by going around the school looking for different forms of art around us. They found artwork on the corridor display boards, in different classrooms, staffroom and in nature; on our gardens. In the coming week, the students will continue to study works of art by different renowned artists and discover ways that the Arts can be used to help us express ourselves.
Kindly note:

• The P4s will not be required to dress up for the World Aids Day celebration on Tuesday, 1st December. It is a secondary school event.
• All students are expected to have a hat for playtime.

Information for Parents The kids did a great job on their portion of the Assembly last week. The song that they wrote in music class was absolutely amazing! We are all prepared and excited for our camping trip on Tuesday. We plan to leave campus around 8:00 Tuesday morning and we will return before lunch on Wednesday. We have a lot of fun activities planned and I know everyone will have a lot of fun. Miss Alley will be accompanying us, along with the student teacher from P6 and Mr. Isaac. This will be Miss Alley’s last week working in our classroom. She has done a fan-tastic job and I know the kids will really miss having her here.
Language focus for the week We will be examining different types of traditional literature and using flowcharts to determine the differences between myths and other types of stories. Students will finish up their personal narratives before break and will work on some genre-identifying activities as well.
Maths focus for the week We will be determining probability using our mythological stories. We will read stories as a group and identify events that could never happen, could sometimes happen, or could certainly happen. We will also begin to learn about percentages and how they relate to probability.
Unit of Inquiry We will be digging deeper into the characteristics of mythological stories. We will do some star-gazing on our camping trip and learn about myths that are related to the constellations. We will also research a variety of art forms related to my-thology and choose one to try out. during our class art time. We will be using several African myths and legends as the foundation of our studies this week.
What to bring to school: A hat for playtime and a healthful snack.
Timetable: Monday PE (wear PE shoes and a house T-shirt) Tuesday Camping trip Thursday Swimming (bring swim kit) Friday Library (bring books to return or renew)

We have been getting into our new unit about migration this week, looking at what we already know and what we would like to find out more about. We discussed a range of photos and their connection with the unit and watched short video extracts about bird migration.

Mr Lukas has led the English this week where we have been thinking about postcards and their purpose, designing and writing our own which we are sending to students in an IB school in Germany.

Students have been looking at scale and accuracy in Maths lessons, in a range of measuring activities, including working out route distances.

In IT this week we have designed postcard templates, played an online game designed for practicing reading scales and found answers to our immediate unit-related wonders.
This Week: Unit of Inquiry: The students will be finding out about migration, choosing a group of people or an animal that particularly interests them. They will learn how to cite sources of information.
English language focus: We will be reading the picture books “The Rabbits” by John Marsden & Shaun Tan, and “Grandfathers Journey” by Allen Say. Using these as inspiration, we will be writing letters from the perspective of the characters, recognising the effects of migration on both the traveler and the indigenous populations they encounter as we do so.
Maths focus: Students will be using their knowledge of reading scale to use maps, tracking migration routes and working out distances. We will also start to look at how migration data is represented using a range of graphs and charts.
   

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