Moshi Campus News – 24 Nov 2017

This weekend we enjoy the lighter side of education.  Sports Weekend allows us to catch up with old friends, meet new ones and generally spend time with a very large diverse group.  I hope you take in as large a variety of sports as you can, visit the market and enjoy the evening social. To our students, I wish you a great weekend, play hard and fair, respect your teammates, your opponents and the officials.  And last, but not least, keep your fingers crossed that it does not rain.

Dear Parents,

Friday December 1st is Mawlid al Nabi and in Tanzania is a public holiday.  There will be no classes that day, but the OP trip to Ngorongoro will still leave then.  For those who celebrate the holiday, we wish you a happy holiday.

Join us Tuesday, for an open PTA Meeting at 7pm in the Design Room. It is an opportunity to look back on the year and hear more about the latest developments in our UWC journey and changes around our campus and in our programme.

On Tuesday December 12th at 8:30 we will be having an open house for prospective students.  This will involve a discussion of the programs, tours around campus and an opportunity to ask questions of staff and students.

All are welcome, so if you know someone who is interested in attending, please pass this date along.

You will remember that the PTA took class photos and individual portrait shots of all the primary and secondary students some weeks ago. These are now available for you to buy. This year you can choose to buy a bundle of photos or individual portrait shots.

Bundle A: DIGITAL ONLY Digital classroom picture and digital individual portrait (photos will be sent by email after payment) TSH 15,000

Bundle B: HARD COPY ONLY printed class picture (large) and printed individual portrait (small) TSH 8,500

Bundle C: DIGITAL and HARD COPY printed classroom picture (large) and printed individual portrait (small) & digital copies TSH 22,500

Bundle D: HARD COPY  Fill in the number of photos you would like to order (this bundle can be combined with bundle A)

• 1 printed classroom picture is (Classroom – C) :   5,500 Tsh 8×6 inch
• 1 printed large Individual portrait is (Large Individual – LI):  5,500 Tsh 8×6 inch
• 1 printed small Individual is (Small Individual – SI):   3,000 Tsh  6×4 inch

Payment should be made in full at the ISM Reception Desk. All profits raised will go to the ISM scholarship fund.

Gelske Noorlander (PTA)

ISM and KCMC (the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre) share a long history; ISM served as the ‘hospital school’ for families of expat doctors who founded the hospital in the early 1970s.

The Pediatric Department is undergoing a make-over in pastel colours and ISM was asked to support this effort through a mural. Led by Ian Horne (ISM) and Marieke Dekker (KCMC), the central wall of the Pediatric Ward at KCMC is presently getting a lively mural produced by artists big and small from the ISM and KCMC communities.

An overarching baobab tree is host to many of creatures familiar to our Tanzanian home – at present count around 45. In upcoming weeks, ISM pupils, parents, teachers, KCMC doctors and physiotherapists will bring the animals to life by painting them in with fantastical colours.

Last weekend, a number of volunteer artists drew the outline. Marieke and Ian are now organising paint. Pediatric nurses, the KCMC HIV clinic and ISM itself will contribute to the mural’s paint assortment. If anyone in the ISM Community has a collection of paints which we can use a little of (the entire mural is only 2×3 meter) to increase our palette, it would be much appreciated! What’s left will be returned. And what’s not returned will be left on our wall to liven our Pediatric ward and, hopefully, bring a little happiness to our child patients.

On Friday, November 17, twelve students set off to begin the long climb to Little Meru peak. Prepared for rain, we met nothing but sunshine and scattered clouds throughout the three breath-taking days (figuratively and at times literally!). Each morning and evening supplied us with outstanding views of Kilimanjaro, cast in every imaginable shade of warm color. All of the adult staff were delighted to see a high level of teamwork and peer support exhibited by students as well as regulated patience and perseverance through the steep, high-altitude trek. On the second day, every participant successfully summited Little Meru at 3820 meters and after a good night’s rest, descended to Momella gate where we were greeted by several trays of much-appreciated pizza. Thank you to all who made this a successful OP trip.

The Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya is home to 183,543 people including a majority of school-age children. In the camp, one teacher can be teaching up to 200 students at a time and education is the only way out. The camp was created in 1992 for those fleeing conflict in Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. Since then, it has grown to nearly four times its intended capacity of 58,000 and the camp is in need of qualified teachers to teach the growing number of refugee children.

In response to this crisis, a teacher training programme has been set up as an online blended learning platform to train new secondary teachers in the Kakuma refugee camp. The training  programme is a shared initiative between the International School of Moshi (ISM),  Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, Windle Trust, Xavier Projects, UNHCR, UNESCO and Moi University in Nairobi.

To read more about this enterprise, read Ms Larpent’s article in the IB Community Blog https://blogs.ibo.org/blog/2017/11/04/education-is-a-way-out/

The P1 – P6 children have now started their third unit of inquiry. The teachers are assessing what they already know on the issues so that they know how to pitch their lessons. They will also be listening to the children’s ideas and interests and incorporating those in their planning. Meanwhile the EC children are going deeper into their inquiry and are beginning to think about how to take action on a local scale.

This week the P4s went on an exciting overnight camp to Marangu where they mainly dodged the rain and learned all about the local area and Chagga people. Many thanks to Ms Julie, Ms Zita and Mr Isaac for taking them.

Thank you also to all the parents who purchased black Bugsy Malone t-shirts. The order is now with the printers and the t-shirts will be distributed once we receive them.

Reminder: The PYP Sharing Assembly takes place on Monday at 10.35am in Rafiki Hall. Karibuni!

Kate Schermbrucker

Thank you to those of you who have already sent in the cutlery, straws and napkins as requested for our re-usable ‘party packs’. You can see the children weaving a pack in the photo using traditional methods and materials.

Three of our ECs visited the Head of Campus on Friday to discuss the amount of plastic, sweet wrappers and single-use straws around the classrooms and playground. They requested that he look into stopping selling these at the duka.

The children also wanted to visit the Secondary School and will do so at the next Student Council meeting on Monday 4th December. They will tell them what they think about the littering.

Mama Eefke will help us to sell our first batch of seedlings at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday. Thanks to everyone for your support.

This Monday we have our Sharing Assembly at 10.35 in Rafiki Hall. Please come along if you can.

Owain Evans

We are continuing with our exciting unit and looking at ways we express ourselves. The children have been inquiring into art and artists this week. They have experimented with painting as a form of art and produced amazing pieces. They will be creating their art portfolios next week and adding these pieces into it.
They have also begun to look at music as a form of art. If you play an instrument, please consider coming to class and sharing your thoughts with them.

Our inquiry into subtraction is continuing with vigour. We have been subtracting using number lines (small ones and huge ones outside), blocks, fingers and mental calculations. A few of us have even gone ahead and started using open number lines. We will continue this next week. Please support us by reinforcing our strategies at home.

Phase 2: r, h
Phase 3: igh

Show & Tell: Gabriel and Anais

Mboka Mwasongwe

This week the children have been busy writing letters to different people. They have been looking at different traits characters have in the books they are reading. Telling the time is going well, please practice telling the time with your child at home.

Our third unit has started well. The children will continue to look at the line of inquiry:

Exploring the sense of belonging

Next week the children will look at the elapse of time. Some will review past the hour and others to the hour. There will also be a focus on subtraction of both single and double-digit numbers.

The children will be writing letters to people and using this opportunity to persuade someone to do something.

During reading the children will be focusing on reading strategies and monitoring the way they read.

Monday: Assembly for Parents @ 10:35
Tuesday: Library and PE
Thursday: Swimming
Friday: NO SCHOOL

Have wonderful weekend.
Clare Hibbard

We have arrived back from a very exciting camping trip to Marangu! There was a lot of bonding that took place and new friendships were forged on this unforgettable trip. We even found a lot of great links to our Units of Inquiry. We visited a Chagga cave system and the students saw how the people used the natural environment in order to protect their civilization from being destroyed by the Masaai. We have made connections with our new unit by looking at the tension of the tent ropes, the lubrication of mud (making us slip) and as an added bonus we even stumbled into a legacy from Ancient Greeks- a column on one of the houses!

Within the framework of our new unit, in math/science, we are looking at capacity, volume and weight measurements while continuing to review our times tables at home. In English we are looking at the elements of plot, introducing speech marks and writing creatively.

Julie Bowen

Dear Parents of P5

This week we started the new Unit of Inquiry about digital media. We have talked about what the different forms of media are and the children had an introduction to some of the forms of social media. We have continued our work with the colors of nature and natural resources and the children have written their own poetry about a color. The children have been working more on their weaving and they seem to enjoy it!  Take a look outside the classroom next week to see their work displayed on the wall. We have also been talking about stories from different countries and I have been reading a Danish story to the children. We had a talk about how many different forms of media the same story can be told in.

This week we have also been focused on the practice for the Primary Gathering. The children made a big board game to show their knowledge from the camp at Simba Farm. They also shared the music they had composed in class with Ms. Mary. I hope you enjoyed their wonderful presentation on Friday morning. We look forward to seeing you on Monday for the PYP sharing assembly in Rafiki Hall at 10:35am.

Monday – PYP Sharing Assembly 10:35
Thursday – leaving celebration for Ms. Signe
Friday – no school

Ms. Signe Christensen– P5 Student Teacher

The P6s had a great start to the unit and have tuned in beautifully. They discussed the important things people need to consider when migrating.

In the coming week, we will be exploring the first human migration and routes that were taken as well as factors that led to these migrations.

In Math, we will explore time and time zones. Students will be able to calculate time differences and convert the different time units. 

In Language Arts, we will be working on narratives and learning about histories through story telling.

Cathy Wambua