Moshi Campus News – 7 Dec 2018

It looked like Egypt moved a little south the last few days for our Joseph’s Coat production.  Having attended both performances I just cannot say enough positive things about the show.  My congratulations go out to everyone involved, which seemed to be everyone.  I was also pleased to see we had so many people from the community attending.  You know the audience is good sized when you have to add extra seats.  Thank you again to everyone that made the show happen from actors, musicians, directors and of course those behind the scenes like set design, props and costumes. I lack the space in this newsletter to fit in the names of everyone that contributed but a full list is noted in the Joseph program. We are very grateful to all of you.

In the past week we also had 27 students participate in the Mt Hanang Outdoor Pursuits trip.  I will have more details about that in the next newsletter.  Also in that newsletter will be information about the semester 2 trips.

As we come to the end of the semester, I look forward to seeing you all at the Parent-Teacher conferences next Thursday and Friday.  Right now, our trial of the online system for signing up seems to be working.  Please remember if you have problems, please let us know.

Reports for Primary will be released on Wednesday and for Secondary on Thursday.  You will need to log into ManageBac to access the reports.  If you do not have access, please contact Grace for help.

The next newsletter will come out in the start of January.  I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday and comes back well rested for next semester.

Bob Cofer

Please note that the end of term assembly will be on Wednesday the 12th at 7:45am in K-hall.  We look forward to seeing you then.

As this is the final newsletter of the quarter, I have been reflecting on my first semester at ISM. Five short months ago, our belongings were somewhere on the South China Sea slowly making their way to Africa and, as a family, we were sitting at the airport in Singapore with an army of bags and two cats, lost in thoughts about our Tanzanian adventure that was yet to unfold.

Fast forward to today and here we are. As a family, we feel settled and happy in Moshi and lucky to be part of such a close and supportive community…although we are all very much looking forward to a rest! Thank you all for your welcoming us so warmly.

In his book, “The End of Average,” Todd Rose states “Our modern conception of the average person is not a mathematical truth but a human invention, created a century and a half ago to solve the social problems of the era.”

In the context of any school, the average, it seems, is problematic when considering a student’s learning and how it is assessed, measured and shared. Rose continues that doing so “disguises what is most important about an individual.” Something to consider as parents as we look through our child’s report is that the concept of average as a yardstick for measuring individuals is so thoroughly ingrained in our minds.

So much so, that we rarely question its validity. Is there really such a thing as an “average student?” Surely, each individual interacts differently to his or her environment.

Rose suggests the world might be a better place, “If we let people figure out their passions and what they’re good at and give them the knowledge and skills to do that.” I could not agree more. I believe that every child is far more than a statistic measured against an average. In order for any student to achieve his or her full potential, a school must seek to unearth or, perhaps, just allow for the talent or potential in every student to emerge. This, of course, means that every student must be given opportunities to shine.

When you think back on the countless events and day-to-day happenings over this semester at ISM, you can see how, over time, every student has been given that chance…with “Joseph’s Coat” offering a particularly glittering finale to the year!

Ben Morley

The end of the first semester is always a busy time in the DP, for students and teachers alike. Some teachers need to finish course content units, others need to give final assessment tasks and tests, the learning of the last 5 months needs to be wrapped up.

End of semester 1 reports for D1 students are presently being finalized and will be released next week. I encourage parents of all D1 students to book appointments with their teachers in the Teacher-Parent Conferences (TPC) on Friday 14th December; please come into school and discuss the progress and future development of your child’s learning. If you have any particular concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.

It is with regret that I find that too many of our D2 students are leaving school before the end of the semester. Absence from lessons can only have a detrimental effect on the learning and performance potential for students in the DP. I encourage all our DP students to complete everyday of scheduled classes, and to enjoy their well-deserved break during the scheduled holiday period.

Anthony Hemmens

This quarter ends on 14th December. Boarders can leave the same day, and are expected back to school for quarter 3 on Monday 7th January. We have received travel details from a number of parents, and need to get all information on travel plans as soon as possible. Information about travel can be sent to the child’s boarding parent and to the Head of Boarding at rosemarybango@ed.ismoshi.com.

Kindly let us know if your child will need school transport to and from the airport on these dates.

We offer free school transport to and from Moshi airport and Kilimanjaro International Airport on the scheduled closing and opening dates. Kindly note that the school does not provide transport to and from Arusha airport. On other days, we charge $60 for transport one way.

We would like to alert parents of a scam that is going around, where anonymous people send messages purporting to be teachers, and that your child  in boarding is very sick. A few parents have received such messages. We request that if by bad luck you receive such a message you call someone in school before you act. Do not send any money to such fraudsters.

Rosemary Bango

Our secondary swim squad have had another successful meeting last Saturday with their 3rd swim meet win in as many meets.  That is correct you read that right, they have now won both NTAA meets this semester and the coveted first place trophy in the ISM Sports Weekend swim meet.  Congratulations to all the team for the hours of training and early mornings.  Again, a huge thank you to Christine Brandsma, Debbie Bachmann and Coach Sabini for all their work in preparing and organising our swimmers for the many events throughout the year.

ISMAC NTAA swim meet champs and part of the ISM swim team who have been so successful this year already.

As we near the end of the calendar year the sports fixtures and training schedule has relaxed quite a bit, giving all our athletes time to recuperate and get ready for a new semester of sports and fitness after the new year.  Meanwhile coaches and sports coordinators are starting to prepare for NTAA U15 Boys and Girls Soccer; and U19 Boys and Girls Basketball held in January and February next year; several swim galas in NTAA and other competitions; IST Primary Sports Weekend; Touch tournaments and more.

Also watch this space and start your training program for more information about the Kilimanjaro Marathon where we want to flood the race with our M1-M5 students who have all been training to be able to complete 5km running and of course the rest of the ISM community.

Healthy goal for the Christmas Holiday – each meal attempt to fill at least ½ your plate with vegetable and/or fruit (I may struggle with this one on the 25th).

Rest and look after your body Leopards, ready to go again in the new year.

Robin Marsh

The Primary Tech Challenge was held recently where students were challenged to create the tallest structures possible with a limited materials list.  All the heights of the towers were measured, house totals were added together to find the house with the tallest buildings and the results are as follows:

• 3rd with 100cm – Kibo
• 2nd with 132cm – Meru
• 1st with 189 cm – Mawenzi

Next week is a big opportunity for Meru and Kibo secondary students to try and narrow the gap Mawenzi has built.  Monday lunch will be the M1-M4 speed chess competition and Tuesday lunch the M5-D2 students will get an opportunity to do the same.  We will also be holding the MYP/DP science and Math quiz.  So get your teams together and watch the leader board as any house could take the lead if they secure some wins next week.

“Joseph” is the talk of the town! Congratulations to the whole crew. The students were outstanding with the singing and others acting. All this would not be possible without the guidance of our phenomenal music teacher and Musical Director Ms. Mary Pantlin, the Production Director Mr. Owain Evans and the whole team that worked alongside them. The community spirit at the school was really evident in this event. Everyone put in a huge amount of time and energy. Congratulations to you all!

Thank you PTA and parents for your support; bringing in refreshments, buying t-shirts, sending your children on time and being there both days.

The Primary students have achieved so much this semester and we have every reason to be proud of them. Some highlights are the U9 and U11 football tournaments, Swim meets, the Chess tournament, the 24 hr run, assemblies marking global events, Inter-house challenges and PYP Gatherings. The kids have earned different titles and awards (Player of the tournament U9 at Kennedy House- Levi Henke, Intermediate Level winner in chess- Sahil Chauhan- at SCIS) and a number of new records in Swim meets. 

We ended the quarter with a beautiful gathering by Mr. Morley on “The Power of our Words.” There are posters around the school reminding us to “THINK” before we use our words. Look out for these posters and ask your child to tell you more about what they learned.

Notices for next week:

• Monday: classes run as usual, no homework will be set this week.
• Tuesday: Last day of Q2 clubs Deadline for signing up for Q3 clubs for your child
• Wednesday: Whole school assembly from 7:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. The day ends at 1:05 p.m. No clubs
• Thursday: Primary Parent- Teacher conferences. No lessons, children remain at home.
• Friday: Class parties- Primary students leave at 10:15 a.m.

To wind up this week’s news, I would like to wish all the families happy holidays and a very Merry Christmas to our christian families. Safe travels and wish you all a wonderful crossing over into 2019.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

The children chose a set of animals from pets to safari this week. They drew their animals and used their sheets for a mini maths adventure around school. They recorded people’s preferences of animal in a simple pictogram and enjoyed sharing the results with their friends.

We had just two swimmers this Friday for our last lesson of the term. Well done Eefkke and Benny! We’ll start again in January. I hope that you have been able to sign up for our meetings next week through the online form sent to you by Bob Cofer.

Some of you have requested a Joseph T’shirt. We have two smalls left and will be making another order in the next few weeks. If you would like one, please let me know.

Owain Evans

What a spectacular week! I am sure that you have all had the chance to view Joseph! Thank you to all who had the chance to bring in the children for the performances. I appreciate you taking on the call to keep the T-shirts in school and especially, bringing them back to class after the Thursday performance.

We are on the last stretch before Christmas holidays and our week is looking full on. Our trip to TPC will be this coming Monday and I believe it is going to be very exciting. Please don’t forget to send your child with all the things on the list, especially a hat. We will continue to inspire imagination as we carry on with exploring our current unit.

Show and Tell this last week of the semester will be a free for all. So if any of the children wish to participate, they may do so on any day.

I am looking forward to seeing you on Thursday. Please do come with your child if you can. It is always wonderful for them to share their accomplishments with you.

Mboka Mwasongwe

There has been a current of energy flowing through P 2/3 this week! The students have been found all over the school humming songs from Joseph and talking about how dressed up they are going to get. Amidst this excitement, P 2/3 students have been thinkers and shown great enthusiasm in interacting with their new unit. Students have been taking agency of their learning and thinking about what they want to explore about water. We took a walk this week and thought about what happens to water when it is poured on different surfaces? The students slowly worked through the scientific process and came up with a hypothesis for what they thought would happen to each surface. They then created a table to collect their data, and finally tested to see if their hypothesis was correct. We ended our experiment by creating a lab report. Students reflected on their lab reports and many found they enjoyed writing lab reports more than any other form of writing.

We’d like to thank P5 for sharing their awesome migration games with us this week!

A reminder that:

• Wednesday 12/12: Whole School End of Term Assembly @ 7:45am
• Thursday 13/12: Parent Teacher Conferences – please book your time slot on the link sent out.
• Friday 14/12: Class party – please send in a snack. School ends at 10:15am.

Elisha Jaffer

The end of quarter buzz fills the class in P4, as the children get ready for the break. They have been working on making friendship bands as a way of appreciating each other.

The unit on rituals and traditions has started well with the kids trying to find out the meanings of some of the keywords in our unit as we break down the Central Idea. I have encouraged students to collect artifacts and pictures of their rituals and traditions to come in and share after we re-open school in quarter 3. At this point, I would like to thank all the P4 families for a most rewarding year we have shared. I wish all the families happy holidays and a safe crossing over into 2019.

Next week’s schedule:

• Monday – as usual
• Tuesday – last day of clubs
• Wednesday – Whole school assembly from 7:45 a.m.  Students go home at 1:05
• Thursday – Parent-Teacher Conferences. Students will not come in on this day.
• Friday – Class Party: We will have our class party on the last day of school. Kindly send your child with snacks and/or drinks to share with the rest of the class.  School ends at 10:15 for Primary students.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

This week may have been one of my favorites so far this year at ISM. The class impressed one another creating games about Migration. They have enjoyed sharing them, and we had the P2/3 class visit for a play session too. Together the class has been engaged in fun learning while educating one another. To add to that, we had five superstars with an amazing support choir during Joseph. It was impressive to see them all shine last night during the performance. We have very talented singers and actors in our class.

Next week is our last week before break, and it is complete with an assembly on Wednesday and conferences on Thursday. I look forward to seeing everyone, and talking about your child’s accomplishments. I have a feeling with all the awesome behavior that has been happening, that a rock party is in the near future. Please plan on sending in snack food next Friday.

Sarah Brummel

This week we have been inquiring into our new unit about advertising. The children have listed all the questions they have and are very interested in finding out about: Which persuasive techniques are used in adverts? How long does it take to make an advert? How much does it cost to make an advert? Are adverts really effective? Why is cigarette advertising restricted in some countries but alcohol advertising is not? These are great questions for us to investigate and we will be continuing with this work next week. The children have also used their new email addresses to access Google docs and they have been sharing and editing their writing. We will continue our math work multiplying and dividing decimals next week. We plan to have a class party on Friday morning to celebrate the end of the semester. The children are invited to bring in a plate of food to share (just a snack – we will not be eating a full meal!) The photo shows the children in their Joseph T-shirts – what a great production! I look forward to seeing you on Thursday for parent teacher conferences (there will be no classes for the children on that day.)

Deborah Mills