Moshi Campus News – 3 May 2019

As we are now experiencing the full impact of the rainy season here, I would also like to note that, for some of our students, today marks the start of the exam season as well. One of the D2 students starts his exams today, with most starting the three-week process on Monday. The following week, the M5 students will join in with their exams spread out over two weeks. We wish all the students the best of luck in these.

I am currently not on campus as I am participating in an accreditation visit for another school. These visits are very important for the schools that are visited and, as with our own accreditation, help the schools to look at best practice and what systems and procedures the school has in place. For me as well, this is a form of professional development. While I am looking at what other schools are doing, I am thinking about what we are doing. Sometimes, this provides the reassurance that we are doing things very well, other times it makes you think that we could look at certain practices we follow in a different light and improve how we operate. I look forward to talking with people when I get back about my experiences here.

Please note the upcoming events below, such as the PYP Exhibition on the 15th, and do not forget the Parents’ Coffee Morning on the 14th.

Bob Cofer

As you will know by now, both campuses are making preparations to welcome a significant number of new students into our Diploma Programme in August 2019. These students will be coming from literally all four corners of the globe and may find Tanzania a very different place in which to live. This is a very exciting time and a great opportunity for us all to learn more about the world from these new arrivals, just as they will learn so much from us.

The 2019 DP Orientation for all D1 students, incoming and renewing, starts on Wednesday 7th August 2019. Full details of the programme will be shared in due course. Student input, as always, is invaluable-please share any suggestions for activities for the Orientation with the Diploma Co-ordinator.

Bob Cofer

Augusto Boal once said, “We must all do theatre to find out who we are, and to discover who we could become.” As it often written in these newsletters, ISM is a place where all students have opportunities to shine regardless of their passions. Over the coming weeks, students whose passion is the dramatic arts and/or music have those opportunities.

The International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) is a community of young people, teachers and artists. Their mission aligns perfectly with our Guiding Statements. ISTA believes that our world depends on confident, internationally minded, collaborative and culturally literate young people who are empowered to engage with and change the world. To support this, ISTA brings together young people, artists and teachers from different countries in different settings to experience, create and learn about theatre. ISTA values diversity, collaboration, celebration, play, friendship and collegiality.

There is a group of very excited students at Moshi Campus who are, hopefully, about to experience all of this as they join the ISTA workshop in Arusha next week. I wish them all the best and look forward to hearing all about it.

Music is another medium that allows students to make sense of the world around them and express themselves in a unique way. We are fortunate that students at ISM have the opportunity to explore music on so many levels. Here, music education is not a privilege for the lucky few. Instead, there is an open invitation for it to be a part of every child’s learning.

A number of our students choose to deepen their musical experience by pursuing external qualifications and, over the coming weeks, they will be preparing for and sitting ABRSM exams. We wish them all the very best and, as you will read below, we all have the opportunity to hear them in action next Friday in the Music Room.

“Life isn’t measured in the breaths we take, but in moments that take our breath away.”

Ben Morley

The Triple A’s (P6)

Hello everyone. We wanted to thank all of you for coming to help make the eco-brick bench at the playground. The eco-brick house competition is coming to an end. The deadline for bringing in eco-brick bottles to room 16 is 7:45 am on Monday 6th of May 2019. We will then count up the house points and let you know who won the competition.

Mark and Imani (P6)

Please come and support our talented music students and enjoy a wide variety of Classical, Romantic, Modern, Musical Theatre and Jazz pieces at our Open Performance Platform, Friday 10th May, 12:45-3:15pm in the Music Room.

Music Students taking part in the ABRSM exams will be presenting their repertoire to an open audience to help them prepare for their exam the following Thursday. Make sure to check the schedule outside the Music Room for timings.

Many Thanks.

Mary Pantlin

M4 Visit Recording Studio

The M4 Drama students visited a radio recording studio in Moshi Town on 23rd and 24th April 2019 to record their radio drama scripts. This is a continuation of their Radio Theatre Unit, adapted from the Italian Comedy Tradition, Commedia del’Arte. The students were given the same script but were required to create or source and incorporate elements of Commedia del’Arte techniques that are unique to their group interpretation of this script. This is in line with drama Assessment Criterion C: Thinking Creatively and Artistic Intentions. Through Radio Theatre, the students develop voice techniques, including vocal transformation, pitch, pace and tonal variation. Other skills include the integration of sound effects (SFX), music (background, bridge, theme) and signature tunes. The students, with the help of a professional recording artist, are currently editing the audio recording before they can be shared with the rest of the school community. Most of the students were visiting a recording studio for the first time and could not hide their excitement.

ISTA FESTIVAL 2019

Preparations are almost complete for this year’s International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) Festival at the ISM Arusha Campus (ISMAC). This first ever ISTA activity in East Africa will be open on 10th May 2019 at 9:00 am and will close on 12th May 2019 at 3:00 pm. This Middle School Festival will be attended by participants aged 10-14 years from ISMAC, ISM Moshi and IST. Moshi campus will send 12 participants drawn from P5 to M3. We are particularly proud to be sending Julian Everts, the youngest participant in this festival, and Doris van Zwetselaar on a scholarship.

Julian has displayed great talent in musical theatre. He will definitely find the festival of great benefit to his already developing theatrical interest. Doris designed a poster dubbed ISTAFRICA, coined from ISTA in East Africa, which was approved by ISTA head office in the UK to be used for the purposes of marketing. At this festival, we will explore how cultural traditions of nomadic groups survive in a modern and globalised world and we will celebrate our ingenuity and adaptability as humans. It is inspired by cultural, environmental and community themes. In the past, our school has participated in ISTA Festivals in Switzerland (Intercommunity School Zurich) and Oman (American British Academy) in Muscat. For more information please visit https://ista.co.uk/event/arusha-ms-festival/

George Juma

D2 students started their exams on Friday 3rd May. They will have exams throughout the whole of next week. D2 boarders are allowed to study in the dorms during the exam period but must keep to the boarding rules. This includes going for meals at the scheduled times.

Private Graduation Parties

Although the school organises celebrations for the D2 graduation, the students have usually opted to arrange their own additional, private parties off-campus. These are likely to be on 25th May after the official ceremony. These student-organised parties are not school events and we cannot, as a school, take responsibility for them.

For Parents of Boarders

Boarders staying in school that weekend will NOT be allowed to attend any unsupervised parties. If boarders do want to attend, they can only do so if their parents agree and they have been taken out of the school’s care by staying with another family for the weekend. Even if you have already indicated on the Parental Consent form that your child may sign out to friends at weekends, we would like to further confirm that it is acceptable on this particular weekend. If you have children intending to sign out for this weekend, could you please contact us with that confirmation? You may contact either the boarding parent or the Head of Boarding by whatever means that is most convenient (telephone, letter or email). Please note that we will confirm this via phone with both sets of parents. Boarders will be expected to remain in school for the weekend if we have not heard from you before WEDNESDAY 22nd MAY.

We would also suggest, on this occasion, that you contact the host family directly to discuss what you feel would be appropriate arrangements, curfew etc for your children on the evening of the party.

For this coming weekend, different fun activities have been organised for the boarders. Primary boarders will spend a day in Arusha at the Botanical Gardens. There will be an open mic session, indoor football and basketball amongst other activities.

Rosemary Bango

Best of luck to our diligent touch teams this weekend as they travel to St Constantine’s to compete in the last touch tournament for the year. Our U19 boys and girls, U15 girls and U13 mixed teams are all in with a chance of winning the competition if results go their way this weekend. Also, if our U15 boys continue to improve as they did in the last tournament, they are going to be very hard to beat and could finish a very respectable 2nd overall.  

We will get cross country training started next Tuesday at 4:15pm for any students wanting to participate, from U9, U11, U13, U15 and U19. The race will be held on Saturday 18th May. There are extra training sessions available on Fridays at 5:30am and Saturdays at 7:15am for those students who want more group sessions. Please contact Mr Marsh if you would like to be added to the team.

See the table below for what is still to come this Quarter.

Saturday Soccer
For the football fans out there do not forget that Saturday soccer is back on from 9:00am to 10:30am for PYP students.

Saturday Campus Run
Every Saturday at 7:15am, there is a campus run around the perimeter of the school fence. Meet at the picnic tables by the P.E. block to join in.

Wednesday CrossFit
Community and student CrossFit is on every Wednesday from 3:15pm.

Friday Interval Training
On Friday mornings at 5:30am, there is interval training for those students and community members who want to increase their speed in distance running, ideal for the cross country team, starting on Friday 3rd May.

Go Leopards!

Robin Marsh

Level 2 Cycle Trip

It is not too late to sign up for the Level 2 Cycle trip coming up on the 17-19th May. This trip is going to be held locally around the outskirts of the Kilimanjaro National Park with some great forested terrain and some steep and challenging descents. Note: not only will this trip be great fun it is going to be a more technical and challenging ride than the Level 1 trips. It is designed to prepare you for Level 3 and 4 trips coming up next year.  Please contact Mr Marsh (robinmarsh@ed.ismoshi.com) or Mr Foya (isaacfoya@ed.ismoshi.com) for more details or to register you interest in participating as soon as possible.

Isaac Foya

Capture the Flag

Last week, the Student Council planned a game, called Capture the Flag, which involved all of the MYP and DP running around the school, trying to take a flag from the opponents’ base. The Student Council allocated 50 points if a team kept their flag and, if a team stole a flag, they received 100 points (Note: these points are for deciding a winner only not part of the house point allocation system). The results are out…

First Round
Meru-kept their flag 50 POINTS
Mawenzi-kept their flag and stole one 150 POINTS
Kibo-0 POINTS

Second Round
Meru-kept their flag 50 POINTS
Mawenzi-kept their flag 50 POINTS
Kibo-kept their flag 50 POINTS

TOTAL
Meru-100 points SECOND PLACE
Mawenzi-200 points WINNER
Kibo-50 points THIRD PLACE

It was a great event. Thank you for being a part of it.

Student Council

Earth Day House Quiz

Thank you for participating in the House Quiz on Monday. I hope you had a lot of fun and learned something new as well. The winners of this quiz are…….

*drumroll*
*drumroll*
*drumroll*

Third place: Mawenzi *DUN DUN DUN* with 144 points (BTW one of your teams got all answers correct so some people need to carry their weight!)

Second Place: Kiboooo with 154 points (hope they didn’t cheat in this one as well!)

AND FINALLY, as all of you can probably guess
MERU is the winner with 187 points (finally Meru won something!)

The EcoClub

Thank you to the student council and the EcoClub for organising those two events, very engaging and enjoyable for all involved. Below is the updated running total taking into account these latest events.

As you can see, the gap between 1st and 3rd has closed considerably from a 140 point deficit to a 70 point deficit. Will Kibo be able to cling onto their lead now the D2s have left? Can Mawenzi recapture their beginning of the year form? Will Meru come storming home to clinch a miracle come back? Stay tuned and keep getting involved.

Robin Marsh

IB Final Examinations began on Friday afternoon; many congratulations to Shadrack for leading the charge.

All students have received their examination schedule. Attendance at Rafiki Hall needs to be prompt and 15 minutes ahead of the examination start time as printed on the schedule sheet. It is the students’ sole responsibility to come to each examination fully prepared and equipped for their exam. Examination start times vary on each day, please pay careful attention to your start times and do not be late or absent. 

Good luck to all our D2 scholars.

Anthony Hemmens

M1-M3 MAP Tests
The results for the secondary MAP tests that were conducted from Monday April 15th to Thursday April 18th, 2019 have been released to all M1-M3 parents. The details of these results have also been shared with relevant teachers. Parents are encouraged to go through the results and feel free to contact teachers as appropriate.

Subject Choices in M3 and M4
This quarter, students in M3 and M4 are required to make choices for the next academic year in their languages, arts and mathematics courses. Students will be given comprehensive information to enable them to make informed choices. Parents/Guardians  are requested to discuss this with students and consult teachers as appropriate.  These choices inform future courses at the Diploma Programme and must, therefore, be done with utmost care.

M4 End of Year Examinations
The M4 students will sit there end year examinations from May 30th to Monday June 3rd. The timetable for these examinations has been shared with both parents and students.

M3-IDU Trip
This trip is slated for May 22nd-24th at Makumira University. The trip is organised by the arts and languages departments.

M5-On-Screen Examinations
In a week’s time, the M5 candidates will be sitting their examinations. We wish them well and ask parents for support during this time. They will be revising their learning with teachers, even during the examination period.

MYP Timeline

David Ochieng

During the Earth Day Assembly on Monday, four of the P5 students bravely shared their passion about taking care of the planet while reading their persuasive essays. Ivan, Townes, Mithra, and Julian were chosen as speakers to represent the class. They shared their positions on plastic pollution and how this affects life on our planet.

The EC had a wonderful time exploring through different stories around the world and role-playing. They made different forms like airplanes, flowers and mountains using their bodies. The P2/3s had an interactive lesson on naming fruits as they made a fruit salad with Madame Pearl. The P6s continue to take wonderful Action. Some were building beeswax wraps with Ms. Seema, the eco-brick friendship bench is coming up beautifully with the help of different community members and students, whilst the compost bin in the community garden is a great addition.

Dates to note for the first half of the month:
7th May-P6 go to the ISMAC PYP Exhibition
9th and 10th May-P4 camp
10th May-P2/3 Primary Gathering
14th May-Parent Coffee Morning

Cathy Wambua

This week the children have focused on the online resource ‘The Big Myth’ (https://www.bigmyth.com/) which allows one to choose between creation stories from across the world. The animated stories are also in German and Dutch, which has been great fun for us too. The format of the site fits very nicely with our idea of stories from other cultures. I encourage you to have a look at home.

We zoomed in on the Chinese creation story. Working in small groups or pairs, we used the ‘story road’ method to break the story into its constituent details through art. Next, we played games where the children were asked to use their bodies to represent an image (‘freezing’ as a tree, an egg etc.). They re-joined their pairs and were now able to retell the tale orally and include these newly discovered actions. Later, we looked at setting the story to music using well know nursery rhymes as a template.

Finally, our EC children began to turn a second story (the Zulu creation) into a short picture book to be shared later around our classroom story-fire, sometimes with simple words included. Others are rehearsing oral versions of the tale, some with actions and props, some set to music. Some are producing standalone art-works from the story.

We will monitor swimming over the next few weeks. If it brightens up and the pool is retaining heat, we will swim, perhaps for shorter sessions. Please continue to send in kit each Tuesday for now.

Owain Evans

Odd and even numbers has been our topic of discussion in Maths. When I showed the children even numbers without telling them why they were all even, they came up with amazing observations. Three of those observations can be seen in the picture. Savannah and Atuganile are credited for sharing the first two and Kayla for starting the discussion of the third one. Next week, we will be observing liquids and having discussions around how we measure them. This is a perfect time to start a water drinking diary.

This coming week, we will be working on our summative assessment. We will be using the information we collected using our spider diagrams to write a nonfiction booklet on the natural resources we have chosen. It will be an involving time but also quite exciting. We will share our final products with you when we are done.

Thank you to all who worked with us to prepare the children to read in the morning. Special mention to Sabine, Nahar and Kayla who were quite nervous at the beginning but they overcame their fear and read wonderfully to the class..

Mboka Mwasongwe

Another short week at school meant everyone being on task and focused. I admire the tenacity of this cohort to continuously stay on task and work hard through rain or shine!

This week, we have been working through various addition and subtraction word problems, as well as using multiplication strategies to continue practicing how to solve problems. We used information that we gathered during our field trip last week to map out areas and perimeters of the different fruit, herb, and vegetable beds that we measured. Students continue to work on their comprehension of area, and have found it useful to use grid paper to figure area out.

Students are currently using the knowledge they have gathered in looking at where food comes from to think about a situation where there is a drought, and the impact that would have on the process. They are using Storyboard That to create short stories showcasing what happens to a farming family in a drought.

Swimming will still be continuing at 10:35am on Wednesdays. A note that P2/3 will be having their outdoor assembly in the Community Garden on Friday 10th of May at 7:35am. Karibuni.

Elisha Jaffer

We have had a buzz of activities in P4 as the children created their biomes with various ecosystems within them. It was interesting to see how their ideas developed from “I can’t think of anything” to “Ms Cathy, I have 4 millipedes in my ecosystem!”

We enjoyed a number talks on the concepts of multiplication and sharing and looking at how they relate. We will continue to apply our understanding in our lessons on animal populations using quadrants. We might not be able to see much in our fields as the rains may have scared away most bugs but, at least, the children will have developed a skill which they can use during camp and in the future.

Thank you to all the parents that have already sent in the money for the meals and tents. In the coming week, the P4s will put together questions, learning activities and games for our camp, as well as finish up on the summative assessment.

Cathy Wambua

P5 has been learning about human needs and how to care for the body. We completed our presentations this week on the digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems. For the remainder of the unit, they will be completing their summative assessment. They were given a choice of creating a game, writing a children’s book, composing a healthy menu, or specializing on one organ. They have been using IT time to start preparing these summatives. They will present them on May 14th.

In Math, the class is having fun experimenting with long division. They have learned a method called “creative” long division that enables them to use facts they know to solve the problem. The proud moment for the class this week was when a small group took a risk and read speeches to the whole school during the second Earth Day assembly. They did an excellent job sharing their passion about the planet.

Sarah Brummel

The zebra raincoats have been made, some beeswax wraps have been prepared, the compost collection is underway and some Sokoine Primary School children visited us for a second session of football and IT tuition – it was another busy week in P6! Some of the children have met obstacles and have overcome them.

It is all part of the learning experience – in the real world things do not always go according to plan and we have to find a way of moving forward. Next week, the children will be putting the finishing touches to their displays, making sure sources of information are cited and all work has been put on the boards. The children will spend time in class and at home working on their oral presentations with an emphasis on eye contact with the audience and clear, expressive voices. On Tuesday, we will be travelling to the ISMAC campus to see our P6 friends present their exhibition. Be sure to come and see the ISM children present at 5:30pm on Thursday16th May.

Deborah Mills