Moshi Campus News – 2 March 2019

We did not let the surprise showers of the last week dampen our spirits here though I must say that the heat at the end of the week was hard to take.

I personally enjoyed many things about this week from the raft race to start it off to the Farmers’ Market, Science Fair and TGF event at the end.  There seemed to be something for everyone and lots of smiles to go around.  At the Primary level the Swim Gala was a great success with lots of cheering and laughing to go with the swimming; and the Wild Animal Day was once again a favorite.

The M1 trip to Lake Eyasi must have been great as I heard about how fantastic it was from the IB film crew long before the students got back.  It is one of those experiences that you can only have in a few places.

At the Diploma level, I was pleased to see the D1 students’ excited looks as their smokeless wood oven is now complete.  After many design changes and prototype tweaks, they now have a working model to move forward with.

As we move into the last two weeks of the term, please note the times and dates below; and a huge thank you to everyone in the community that helped with the different events of the past week and those supporting us in the upcoming events.

Bob Cofer

Please make note of the following:

• Tuesday March 5th – Secondary Swim Gala
• Friday March 8th – Primary Swim Meet at SCIS
• Saturday March 9th – Secondary Swim Meet at SCIS
• Sunday March 10th – Diploma Art Exhibition starts
• Wednesday March 13th – End of Term Assembly starting at 7:35am
• Thursday March 14th – Primary Student Led Conferences
• Thursday March 14th – D2 reports released
• Thursday March 14th – Career Day presentations
• Friday March 15th – Secondary Conferences and last day of term

If you have any questions on these events, please contact us.

A Chagga Village on the outskirts of Moshi is in great need. They lack any toilet system and are therefore incapable of effectively removing human waste. This can potentially be the cause of several diseases and sicknesses that could arise in the village community. To combat this growing hygienic issue, I hope to raise money to build a pit latrine in the village so that the likelihood of sickness is minimized. In order to do this, I plan to have a series of candy sales during this and next quarter. The candy will be available to students and staff during lunch hours and after school. Everyone deserves stable hygienic conditions, and a toilet goes without saying!

The first sale is on Wednesday March 6th on the top breezeway and later sale dates will be announced next quarter. Please come and buy candy to support this cause. Any donations will greatly be appreciated. This project is also related to my Beacon Scholarship requirements.

Mushabe

Reading through this newsletter each week gives you an idea of what a “busy” place ISM is to live and learn. Every Sunday evening, I map out the week ahead across a huge whiteboard in the Staff Room and, as the weeks go by, it is becoming more and more difficult to fit everything on there.

Over the last seven days, we have enjoyed the resplendent Khanga Gala, the return of a triumphant MUN team from Nairobi, a promising visit from a team of UWC visitors, an entertaining and impressive Boat Race, the all inclusive PYP Swim Gala, the completion of ToK essays and final Language Oral Exams for many of our D2 students, Personal Project standardization meetings, the fascinating M1 interdisciplinary trip out to the timeless Lake Eyasi, a visit from a fully fledged film crew as part of the IB’s 50th anniversary celebrations, a Spirit Day in the PYP to recognise World Wildlife Day, a star-filled Primary Gathering, a thought provoking MYP Science Fair, a community building P1/2 trip to Uru Academy, the departure of our swim team to compete in Mwanza over the weekend, Friday evening’s TGF fundraiser and the Kili marathon!!!!! Next week, promises more of the same.

To quote Socrates, “beware the barrenness of a busy life.” After all, seeming to do is not doing as they say. Therefore, as long as we are mindful to be “busy” fulfilling our mission then our busyness will always have purpose. That way, being busy will not become a badge of honour we wear.

When life is as fulfilling as this, it is important to take time to stop and appreciate the countless opportunities available across the community here at ISM, opportunities that extend far, far beyond the classroom walls. We must remember to support each other. We must remember to take time to thank and appreciate the people around us who go above and beyond what is expected of them to make these countless opportunities a reality. We must remember to notice each other and our needs. As a school community, we must not be too busy to care and, above all, we must never be too busy to listen.

Ben Morley

Congratulations to the fourteen ISM delegates that attended the 37th East African Model United Nations (EAMUN) conference in Nairobi from 18 – 22 February 2019. We did best at the special summit where Magreth B was awarded best speaker, and Nikoli E got the award for best delegate. Best resolution in the Political committee went to the team effort from Yuk Yi C and Kelvin H. Special mention went to Kobena E.

M5 Service with Kibo Secondary School
The M5 students raised close to Tsh 300, 000 by hosting “a car wash” and doing “a Dunk the Teacher event” on Thursday February 28 to buy curtains for Kibo secondary school library. Part of the money will also be used to paint the girls’ dormitory. The events were full of fun and the students once more demonstrated their care for the community.

M1 IDU Trip
M1 students came back from Lake Eyasi after an educational trip on Thursday Feb 28 in the evening. While on the trip, the IB film crew recorded some of their learning experiences. Please see the details below.

Science Fair
The Science department organised a very successful Science Fair on Friday March 1 in Karibu Hall. While M1 students explained their knowledge on electricity and magnetism, the M2 students were very eloquent on the Carbon Cycle. The M3 students had varied individual hypothesised experiments whose results and conclusions were well illustrated and articulated. We are thankful to all members of the community who turned up for the fair. More will be in next week’s newsletter.

ISM Career Day
As part of preparations to help our students make informed subject and career choices, the school and members of the ISM community have organised a career day for the D1 and M5 students on Thursday March 14. On this day, professionals and entrepreneurs within ISM community will be presenting to our students.

David Ochieng

This week, M1 students from Arusha and Moshi Campuses went on a fantastic three day trip to Lake Eyasi. The trip involved the subjects of Design and Individuals & Societies and focused on the concepts of adaptation and invention. Students explored the lives of two native tribes in Tanzania and how they have adapted to the environment. They completed various activities such as hunting with bow and arrows with the Hadzabe, learning about weapon making and shelter building, as well as visiting the Datoga to learn about their metal work.

A lovely commemorative DVD of Joseph’s Coat (filmed professionally over the two nights) is now available for your family memories.

Primary children should have an order slip in their bags. Please return it to your class teacher with the payment next week. One DVD is 10,000 and three (any proud grandparents?!) for 20,000.

If you didn’t get a slip or you aren’t in Primary… you can also email Mr. Evans on owainevans@ed.ismoshi.com to secure your order.

Main cast will receive a free copy, and all proceeds will go to the production of the DVD. It has been produced just for you as a reminder of the fun and hard work that went into this fantastic event and a little keepsake of your child’s time at ISM.

Best of luck to our swimmers competing in Mwanza this week, between that and the swim galas at ISM for Primary and Secondary we should be able to put out a very strong team for St Constantine’s NTAA swim meets, the final meets for the year on the 8th and 9th of March. 

We are also in the process of organising teams for the Primary Sports Weekend in Dar es Salaam on the 17th and 18th of May.  If your son/daughter would like to take part and you have not yet registered them please contact me robinmarsh@ed.ismoshi.com so I can send you the online form to complete. The Primary Sports Weekend is an annual event which has several schools from around Tanzania competing in different sports.  This year International School Tanganyika (IST) is hosting the tournament.  Students may take part in Mixed Rippa Rugby (non contact), Swimming and Soccer (boys and girls).  We are particularly short in participants in the U11 girls category and the U9 girls could do with a couple more to make teams for Soccer. 

Kilimanjaro Marathon – https://www.kilimanjaromarathon.com/
It’s on this Sunday and we will have all MYP students and numerous other community members running in the 5km and 21km races as well as 2 brave souls in the full Kilimanjaro Marathon. We hope to see you all out there cheering and supporting our students (or running with them).

Primary Swim Gala
On Wednesday the 27th our PE department with a lot of help from our friends (teachers, parents and other community member) held a fantastic swim gala for our Primary students.  A huge thank you needs to go to Miss O’Brien for all her hours ensuring that students were leveled and swam against students of a similar ability level so that they enjoyed the experience and hopefully developed their interest in water sports. Also, special mention must go to Christine Brandsma for helping coordinate the race events and popping up to the top of Kilimanjaro in between (well done) and to Coach Sabini for the hours of teaching to help our students succeed in the pool.  All helpers were greatly appreciated and contributed to ensure everything ran smoothly and the day was a huge success.  And what you have all been waiting for

• 1st Place – Kibo
• 2nd Place – Tie between Meru and Mawenzi

Points will be added to the house totals for this year, see the Inter House Section for updated results.

Secondary Swim Gala
After weeks of learning and refining the MYP students will be show casing their swim prowess in the Secondary swim gala on Tuesday the 5th of March 7.45am to 10.15am.  Parents are invited to support their children and see what they have been learning in lessons.  If anyone is willing to volunteer their time to time races in either or both events it would be greatly appreciated.  Please contact me robinmarsh@ed.ismoshi.com.

Saturday Soccer
For the football fans out there don’t forget that Saturday soccer is back on from 9am to 10.30am for PYP students.

Robin Marsh

This week saw two big events in the inter house competition. First up on Monday was the D1 raft/boat race where students had to hone their collaboration skills to produce a sea going vessel faster and nimbler than any other while transporting a Primary student for 2 laps of the ISM pool.  The race was very entertaining although there were complaints that not nearly enough people fell in the water.  After 3 heats the inter house final was held with the fastest vessel from each house pitted against the other houses and the results were as follows

• 1st – Mawenzi
• 2nd – Meru
• 3rd – Kibo

Kibo did pick up the trophy for the most creative design, having made a spectacular paddle boat.

Inter house totals are as above.

Meru have a great opportunity to close the gap on the other 2 houses on Tuesday in the MYP swim gala, and as you can see it couldn’t be closer at the top of the table.  All to play for in the next few months.

The last day of school this quarter will be Friday,15th March. Boarders can leave the same day, and are expected back to school for quarter 4 on Sunday 31st March. We have received travel details from a number of parents, and expect 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 on rosemarybango@ed.ismoshi.com.

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

We provide 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. The information you give us about travel arrangements will assist in planning the transport schedule at the end of the quarter.

A number of activities were organized for boarders this weekend, and the highlight is the Kili Marathon which takes place on Sunday the 3rd. Boarders of all ages will leave campus early at 6.00am to take part in the annual activity. A group of boarders has volunteered to collect litter along Lema road after the event.

Rosemary Bango

The week started off with excitement as we all went to watch the DP1 Raft Race. Well done to all the D1 students for showcasing their creativity and knowledge. The Primary Swim gala was another great event where we had fun and also competion for the more advanced swimmers. Thank you parents for coming in to support us, it was a lovely way of bringing the community together. Well done Ms Jackie and your team for organizing this successful event.
Wow! We have been busy this week 🙂 We had the IB media crew visiting us to take videos of various activities around the school that they will show as part of the IB’s 50th celebrations. The EC children represented us well and got to show them how we put our principles into practice in ISM. The week ended wildly with our children dressed up as wild animals to celebrate Wild Animal Day. We wish our ISM swimmers all the best as they represent us in the swim meet in Mwanza.

Upcoming dates to note:

• Math Challenge: Mon 4th March – all children to dress up in house t-shirts
• Return all school readers and library books- Friday 8th March. If your child has lost the book, please see the librarian to get details of how you will replace it.
• Student Led Conferences: Thursday 14th March – more details on this to follow early next week.
• End of quarter Assembly: Wed 13th March 7:35 a.m.
• End of quarter: Friday 15th March 10:15 a.m.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

Ahoy maties!

The children enjoyed two fantastic chances to experience the noisy and exciting vibes of full school ISM events. At our Primary Gala they swam very well amidst all the cheers and confusion. At our Raft Race they cheered and screamed themselves, especially when someone fell in.

This week we have begun to prepare our final assessments for our unit Dark and Light. We have an upcoming Student-Led Conference in two weeks time where they will show you some of the work they are proud of.

On Monday we have a maths challenge morning. Please come in your house colours.

Owain Evans

What a full on week we have had. From the swimming gala to creating posters for our ‘special’ people to visiting Uru Academy; I think we have all deserved a well-earned rest this weekend.

The highlight of our week indeed was our trip to Uru academy. The children were so excited to meet their new friends. Sadie gave us all a tour of the classrooms as well as a quick tour to meet the neighbourhood cow and ducks. We all fell in love with the resident ‘power patrol’ dogs.

P1/2 led a few fun games with different classes which they enjoyed very much. Another highlight of our visit was watching Uru’s ‘primary gathering’. We were treated to the story of a rabbit, the butterfly cycle as well as a fashion show. Thank you so much Allison for allowing us to visit you!

Next week, we will continue to surprise our community with a few things which are a strictly guarded secret at the moment. Please look out for emails in your inboxes in the coming week.

Mboka Mwasongwe

This week, the pool took centre stage with the recycled boat races on Monday morning and the Primary Swim Gala on Wednesday. All the P2/3 swimmers impressed me with their grit and determination in the pool. A huge thank you to Ms. O’Brien, Mr. Marsh and Mr. Sabini for their effort in organizing this.

Amongst this excitement, the students have also been introduced to the concept of painting with coffee. Mama Janieck came in and introduced students to Christoph Niemann who has created art with coffee, using this as an inspiration, Mama Janieck worked with the class on creating their own artwork using various amounts of diluted instant coffee. The students thoroughly enjoyed this activity and learnt a fantastic new form of art. If your instant coffee diminishes faster than usual, then you will know why.

In math, we have worked on seeing patterns when adding in 10s. We have discussed what numbers change and what numbers stay the same when we add a 10 using a hundreds chart.

Please remember: Monday 4th March is the Math Challenge, students should therefore wear house t-shirts.

Elisha Jaffer

The P4s had a great week. The children enjoyed watching the raft race and we used our experience to write narratives. They have done the first draft and will be working on their edited drafts in the coming week. We have also been looking at measurement and capacity. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the findings from the tree measuring activity. One of the trees measured 555cms in circumference. I know right, absolutely amazing!

In the coming week, we will be working on our Summative Assessment and stations for our Student Led Conferences. I will be sending more information on the conferences.

I wish you all a restful weekend and the very best of luck to our 4 P4 children who have gone to Mwanza for the Swim meet.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

The class is enjoying a rock party today, since they received multiple compliments from outside our classroom throughout the week. As a group, they have been enjoying one another’s company and supporting one another. They earned this party by making good choices as a whole class, and working together as a community. This week, we had P5 students who bravely participated in the boat races, students who are on their way to Mwanza to represent us in a swim meet, and everyone did an excellent job during the Swim Gala. Way to go P5!

Next week is the last week of our current unit. Your children are writing a persuasive newspaper or magazine article to inform the public about visiting Kahawa Shamba. In class, they are also working in groups to create two media releases about how soda or screen time is good for you. This is to illustrate that we cannot always trust media, and need to pay attention and think about what we are reading or seeing in media.

Sarah Brummel

The week got off to an exciting start for P6 with Onno, Tavari and Sahil aboard the D1 rafts for the interhouse raft race. Wednesday was another interhouse competition – the PYP swim gala. It was lovely to see the P6 students in the pool supporting the EC swimmers during their events. The children have finished their models of body systems and shared their slide presentations with each other. Next Tuesday we will share this work with parents and other classes. We have inquired into the physical and emotional changes that occur during puberty. Many thanks to Ms. O’Brien, secondary life skills and biology teacher, for working with us in this field. In maths we have been reflecting and rotating shapes on a plane, using mirrors and tracing paper. Next week the P6 children will start working towards their Exhibition and will select an area of interest and devise a central idea and lines of inquiry to work on between now and May. Please note that Monday is a PYP interhouse maths challenge and the children should wear their house shirts.

Deborah Mills