Thank you to everyone that joined us Tuesday morning for the Parents’ Coffee, Thursday afternoon for the Sports Awards and Friday morning for the Primary Gathering. It is great to see the involvement from our parents and community in the school. As you can see below, we have a few events in the upcoming weeks and I invite you to continue to attend. I am one of those on the “dunking list” so I am getting myself set for the 12th.
One of the great things I have noticed here is that we have some of the best of both worlds. We have the close knit aspects that come from having students and teachers living on campus, but we also have the advantages of a dedicated group of parents and community members that are always around and help in so many ways.
On a different note, starting Monday our D2 students will be taking the Mock Exams. While these do not count towards their grades, these are the ultimate formative assessment for these students. It is a great opportunity for the students and teachers to see how much they have learned so far and where they need to still develop in the few months left. From my conversations and observations this past week the students are taking this opportunity very seriously.
Bob Cofer
Upcoming
Blood Drive Follow-Up
On Friday from 10am until 1:30pm we will have a doctor on campus from the blood bank. They will be able to provide some follow up information to donars like blood type if you arre interested.
Farmers’ Market
Our next market will be on February 7th so plan ahead.
WATER DUNK FUNDRAISER – FEB 12
The Eco Club this year have been striving to make UWCEA more environmentally friendly, and realized that the water fountains around camps were using more water than necessary, resulting in water waste.
We, (M4 and M5) want to take wasted water (from anywhere around campus – it will be clean) and use it for dunking water on volunteers. This is to raise money for faucets to put on water fountains as it will help with reducing the amount of water wasted. (The volunteers include both teachers and students who have signed up.)
If you want to pick a certain volunteer to have water DUNKED on, you must pay a certain amount of money depending on the size of the bucket.
Sizes of buckets available:
Small: 2000 TZS
Medium: 4000 TZS
Large: 6000 TZS
In order to THROW a volunteer into the pool, you must pay a certain amount of money to get their name into the raffle that will be held on the day.
Perhaps, by taking action with this little project of ours, we could help make even the smallest difference.
Come join us for this fun event, we look forward to seeing you on that Wednesday from 15:00-16:30 at the swimming pool.
Thank you,
M4-5’s of The Eco Club
Ben’s Corner
One of the wonderful things about working in a through school (EC-D2) is the opportunities this creates for learning and collaboration across the different sections. In Primary Gathering this week, the PYP students were thinking about what it means to be kind. The idea that we all share a collective responsibility to be kind and how the smallest kindness can grow and spread across a community.
One of our D1 students introduced the idea of a collaborative project between the DP and the PYP students to support the koalas being so adversely affected by the devastating wildfires in Australia. In a nutshell, we are going to “adopt” a koala for $20.00USD a month. Each month, a different Primary grade will work with a team of DP students to raise the funds which will then be sent to Australia to help with the rescue and treatment of sick and injured koalas and the re-establishment of their depleted habitat.
A concept-driven learning programme, like the IB, promotes open communication based on understanding and respect and empowers students of all ages to become “active, compassionate, lifelong learners.” At UWCEA, we want our students to engage with real challenges, both locally and, as is the case here, globally. Concepts add meaning to learning and make it purposeful by creating a culture of thinking that invites students to see connections, contradictions, alternative perspectives and ways of thinking. I am sure you will all agree these are extremely important koalaties for us all to have!
Ben Morley
Diploma News
This has been a busy week for the D2 students as they prepare for the mock examinations. They started the week with a session in Rafiki Hall on important rules for the examinations and how they should use these to help them prepare for the finals in May. It was emphasised how they should also be balanced and take time to relax, as ultimately this will help them perform better. It has been impressive to see them taking this preparation seriously. Good luck to all of them.
The D1 students have continued to work hard and play hard. There have been more clubs run by D1 students starting in primary and there are more in the pipeline for next quarter. Most days I get someone coming to talk to me with a proposal for something they wish to start, I really enjoy the enthusiasm.
On Friday some students met with a German UWC graduate who was able to talk to them about the IB and German universities. They were also able to tell her about our UWC, which she enjoyed. Also on Friday a group of D1 and MYP students went off on the South Pare OP trip, I hope the weather treats them kindly. This morning some D1 students travelled to Arusha campus for the U19 Netball, hopefully they will remain undefeated NTAA champions.
Margaret Brunt
Residential Life
We are now at the end of our second week of this quarter and extra-curricular life for our resident students is beginning to gain some momentum.
This week has seen our D2 resident students in serious revision mode in readiness for the beginning of Mock Exams this coming Monday. We wish them all the best for their revision and a very successful week of exams
Yesterday the U13 Girls’ Netball team visited Arusha for matches and today both the U15 and U19 teams will do the same.
A number of our resident students left yesterday morning for an OP Trip to the South Pare Mountains. We wish them the very best of luck for an enjoyable and successful climb. The trip will return Sunday.
The Residential Life Activities Group have been very active this week building upon their first activity last weekend of meditation and yoga which had to unfortunately move inside to K-Hall because of rain.
This week they are planning to show a movie on Friday night and have a Pool Party and Barbeque planned for Saturday night.
There are other exciting trips planned in the no to distant future including a trip to the Hot Springs and a Valentine’s Ball.
Watch this space for news of more exciting events in the very near future.
Good luck D2!
Ian Horne
From the Counselor
The impact of stress in our lives was an important topic that was addressed by Dr. Brandon Knettel with our D1 students during Life Skills this week. In his presentation Dr. Knettel focused on how we need to reframe our relationship with stress, and the reality that it can be an important motivating factor in our lives when we are able to identify and cope with it in healthy ways. Our level of control over the circumstances we face determines if the stress is good or bad for us. It is also important to assess the level of harm the stress causes to our mental and physical health to determine if the stress is impacting our lives in negative ways. The D1 students were an engaged audience, and began planning ways to recognize the levels of stress they are facing, as well as identifying the healthy coping skills that they are employing to maintain a healthy relationship with the stressors in their lives. Thank you Dr. Knettel for bringing your expertise to our students who truly benefited from your perspective and research on such a critical topic in their lives.
Calling All Community Experts
We are looking for individuals in the community who would be willing to come to speak/present to our students on your area of expertise. These presentations would take place during our Career Exploration Day (tentatively scheduled for March), and in our Life Skills classes where we address a variety of topics to prepare students for various issues they will face throughout their lives. If you have questions about this request/plea, please feel free to contact Ms. Ford at cassandraford@uwcea.org. Link to Sign Up to Be A Community Expert Speaker/Presenter: https://forms.gle/ZSWMAXkNb5rugMgm9.
We thank you so much for your considering our plea for experts, and for your ongoing support of our students. If you are concerned about the mental health/wellbeing of any of our students, please feel free to contact either Ms. Ford or Mr. Kileo at cassandraford@uwcea.org or emmanuelkileo@uwcea.org for further support. Wishing you a low stress week, and healthy coping throughout.
Cassandra Ford
MYP News
MYP eAssessment candidates Last Thursday the candidates had a session with the MYP Coordinator for a briefing on their May exam preparations. They were able to acquaint themselves with their exam timetable, nature of their assessments and plans in place to familiarize them with the past exams in their chosen courses. They were also briefed on the ePortfolio logistics and requirements. These meetings will continue and culminate in their Mocks scheduled for April 20-24 and finally the main exams as from May 12, 2020. The M5 students not taking the eAssessment will take their exams the week of May 18th.
MYP Service Students were back to their projects this week. The bee keeping group was in the workshop finalizing its hives. Some hives are already mounted in the community garden. Whereas Karanga River team welcomed guest speakers as they plan their outings, the Community Garden team was busy preparing for planting. The Day Care Centre team finalized their plan for next Wednesday’s outing to lead colouring and games activities at their project station. Eco-Club has planned a water dunking event on the 12th of February from 3 to 4pm to raise money in order to save water. They are appealing for our support. The KEA group was busy with planned games activities in the field. This involved warm up activities and sessions on basketball.
M5 PP Exhibition and Reports Submission The Personal Project Exhibition will be on Tuesday February 11. We request members of the community, particularly parents, to plan to attend. Details will follow soon from the PP coordinator.
All the M5 PP reports are now due on February 18. This extension will allow students to get more feedback from supervisors and incorporate items learned during the exhibition. These candidates have received feedback on their second draft reports this week.
M1 Trip (Lake Eyasi) The M1 class has an interdisciplinary trip planned for February 17-20. This is a cross campus trip involving our Arusha campus and features both Integrated Humanities and Design subjects. More details will be released soon.
David Ochieng
Sports Update
Our U19 girls football team did us proud last weekend in the NTSAA soccer tournament. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the back of the net, so even though they out played and out shot their opponents, they finished in 5th place.
Best of luck to our U19, U15 and U13 netball teams who compete this weekend in the NTSAA tournaments in Arusha. We hope our U19s can continue their undefeated dominance of the NTSAA for another year.
If you have any experience coaching or playing (even backyard) Cricket and can spare an hour every Thursday from 2-3pm please contact me ASAP as we would greatly appreciate the assistance.
Thank you to all parents and students who attended the sports celebration afternoon on Thursday and helped us to commend our athletes for all their effort and success through the first semester. Below is a medals list of MVP, Coaches awards and NTSAA Athletics record holders. Well done to all our athletes for a great semester of sport.
U 13 Netball
The U-13 mixed netball team went to UWCEA Arusha for the annual tournament. These guys played their hearts out throughout the competition and displayed impeccable sportsmanship spirit and commitment. After a semi final where their coach wanted to vomit with nerves, the Leopards made it to the finals where they were to face the Rhinos. Naturally, the rain decided to make an appearance just then and throw us all off kilter.
We played a close final against the Rhinos, and though we didn’t win the tournament, I am very proud to say the Leopards came in 2nd place, no one saw that one coming!
Well done Leopards, I’m in awe of you!
Elisha Jaffer
Outdoor fitness area
Our outdoor fitness area next to the pool is now complete. Feel free to check it out. Parents and community members please come to talk to me in the design room beside the Duka if you would like instructions on how to use some/all of the equipment.
NOTE: this is a fitness area and is in no way suitable for children of primary age or below, parents please be informed and inform our dadas that under no circumstances may young children use this equipment. MYP students under the age of 16 may only use this equipment under the supervision of an appropriate adult (PE teacher, approved club leader). Students 16 years and above may use this equipment whenever they are free but only after instruction from either Mr. Marsh, a PE teacher or approved club leader. Thank you in advance for your support in keeping this area safe, and as a result, open to our community.
Semester 2 Sports events
Semester 2 Community Activities
Coach Charles is offering free group lessons for Tennis for P3 and P4 students on Mondays at break time and for P5 and P6 students on Tuesday at break time. If your child is interested in this, then please contact Mr Marsh as there is a limit to the number of students who can take part. He is also running group lessons on Wednesday from 3-4pm and Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am for TSH 10,000/sessions/participant. If your child would like private lessons they are available as well for TSH20,000 per session. Please contact Charles on 0757606766 if you are interested in the group or private sessions.
The Kili Marathon is fast approaching and our MYP students are already in training mode. If you are in Diploma and would like to take part, please contact Mr. Marsh ASAP. If you are a parent who has a primary child wanting to take part in the 5km fun run please contact Mr. Marsh ASAP, robinmarsh@uwcea.org.
Go Leopards Robin Marsh
PYP News
We are celebrating “Caring” as our focus for the quarter and the gathering was well connected to this attribute. Mr. Ben shared a story called “Be Kind” by Pat Zietlow Miller. We learned different ways we can show kindness. We will be introducing The Great Kindness challenge as a way to continue promoting the social-emotional development of our children. This is an initiative that schools mainly in the U.S, and now other parts of the world, have joined, to maintain a positive school climate. You can search ‘The Great Kindness Challenge’ to find out more. Your child will be coming home with more information, as we start the challenge in the coming week.
Congratulations to our UWCEA Leopards. We had a great time in the Sports celebration as we acknowledged the children’s achievements.
As part of our Action component, the Primary children will support a cause initiated by Bridget of D1. Each month a class will raise $20 to take care of the endangered Koalas of Australia. We will start with the P6s this coming month.
Please note that on Friday the 31st of January we will have a spirit day in school with students dressing like a teacher for the day.
Cathy Wambua-Saha
EC Class
The children have been finding out a little more this week about their five senses. Our newest student James has shown that he is an inquirer by coming in with some new information from home, the stunning insight that ‘balance’ is becoming thought of as a sixth sense in addition to the usual five! We used the story of Akai and his senses to sort various pictures into the appropriate sense, and practiced plenty of writing, reading and spelling. The children are becoming very interested in the nervous system and the way in which signals are picked up and transmitted to the brain. Our P4 friends have produced and supplied some lovely ‘first reader’ CVC books to help us in our studies.
Owain Evans
P 1/2 Class
Thank you Ms. Jaime for taking time away from MYP science and coming to work with the class. Ms. Jaime read, ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ to the class and talked about the lifecycle of a butterfly as well as symmetry. She then showed the class how to make art pieces with strips of paper. I am sure you have all seen them as the children took their art work home.
Mama Luana, thank you for allowing us to spend a day with three rabbits and 2 guinea pigs. The children loved them. By the end of the day, those who were very afraid of animals were much less afraid. Luana did a fantastic job taking care of them and sharing them with the class.
This coming week, we will be completing our work on cycles by exploring the life cycles of various living things. The children will be placed in groups of two or three and be given the freedom to choose their research item, the best way to carry out their research as well as how to present it to others when they are done. I am looking forward to seeing what they will do.
Mboka Mwasongwe
P3 Class
This week in P3 we finally managed to create our water cycles in a bottle. We observed what happened to the water we had put in the bottles over the course of the day. Condensation was visible in the bottles within 30 minutes of the bottles being put outside The students noticed that there was more condensation in the bottle at 1pm than there was at 10am. By the next morning, the condensation was gone, but you could see the droplets on the side of the bottle showing the precipitation that took place. We’ve uploaded pictures on Seesaw for you to see.
Later on in the week, we looked at the importance of water filtration systems and students designed their own filters. Heads up, we’ve decided to challenge parents to design water filters during our SLCs!
Students have also been looking at 2 digit and 3 digit subtraction in class. We will continue to work on this in the coming weeks.
A letter has been sent home today with information on the P3 camp. Please take a look at it and feel free to email me with any queries you may have!
Elisha Jaffer
P4 Class
We had a lovely week where we continued exploring different celebrations within different cultures, and looking at key areas within cultures and beliefs. We found out that across cultures there are many similarities and differences. We have also continued to learn about time which we will wrap up next week. We have managed to complete some of our e-books and will be sharing the links with you soon, so you can also enjoy them.
The P4s are planning their camp and preparing to go on the 12th of February for one night. Consent forms will be sent to you together with a packing list. We are inviting parents to share their culture with us through song, dance, etc.
We will be working on different projects to celebrate our unit and I would like to ask for your support in helping your child find the materials, in case we don’t have them in school.
Cathy Wambua-Saha
P5 Class
The P5 showed off their group skills this week by building Rube Goldberg machines in class. Each group created a different fascinating machine that contained inclined planes, pulleys, levers, or wheels. Together they worked through many speed bumps to get to their final product. Their ability to communicate positively, and keep a good attitude impressed me. Today we had balloons popping, bells ringing, balls being dunked, and goals being made. They were awesome! The videos and blueprints that were submitted were equally grand. Way to go P5!
For next week we want to start the week with a Fraction Feast. I have emailed a sign up sheet so that we do not receive all pies or cakes. The items will be be cut into eighths or sixteenths. I will cut them in class, so please send them in whole. On Friday the 31st of January we will have a spirit day in school. Children are welcome to dress like a teacher at the school.
Sarah Brummel
P6 Class
Ms. Heloise (Mama Rocco) visited our class this week and taught the children how to use charcoal to draw plants. The results were very impressive. Ms. Brunt (our DP coordinator) also spent time with the class and taught them how to create a Google Form. This skill will prove very useful when we start our Exhibition later this quarter. Many thanks to both of of our visitors for giving up their time to share their knowledge with the children. On Monday the children will share their Google Slides presentations with the P4 class and then our inquiry into plants will officially finish, although we will continue to monitor our cress investigations and sunflower seeds. We will now turn our attention to learning about different forms of media and will be learning how to stay safe in virtual environments. We will inquire into advertising and focus on the persuasion techniques used. In maths we will look at data handling and link this to our use of Google Forms. We will learn about graphs, the mean, mode, median and range. Please note that next Friday is a spirit day (dress as a teacher.)
