Welcome to IST’s Kindergarten Information Site

Welcome to the International School of Tanganyika’s Kindergarten Team Website. Here you will find what’s happening in Kindergarten classrooms, student work and much more. Please check back often and feel free to leave us a message with your ideas, links and good thoughts. Asante!

End of Year Photos!!!

Dear Parents,

Many of our classroom teachers have collected a number of photos for students to remember their 2012-2013 school year at IST. These pictures are now available for you to download.

These files can be ONLY be downloaded from our IST NETWORK on IST Elementary Campus.

The Photo File Link:
students.istafrica.com

The IST Elementary Open Lab will be accessible first period from now unitil the end of the school year. One of the ICT staff will be available during this times to assist you if needed. Please bring an external device with you (USB flash drive with at least 2Gb of space available).

Some teachers have made alternative plans for end of year photos. Directions from these teachers will be forthcoming.

Vision and Hearing Screening Complete

Dear Parents,

Our vision and hearing screening has been completed!

Slips for your child will be handed out to you this week.

Here is some basic information to keep in mind:

• All students have done the vision screening and should all receive a slip.
• All EC and KG students, as well as G1-G5 students whom teachers had concerns about ,did the hearing screening so not every child will receive a hearing slip.
• Both assessments/screenings are informal and basic. They just flag us (and you) that there is possibly a concern that needs further investigation.
• Should further vision/hearing screening be recommended, you should set up appointments with specialists asap (in your home country or in Dar).
• We will be following this up next school year.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further questions.

Ellen Claessens
Student Services Coordinator
eclaessens@istafrica.com

Term 4 Week 6

Hello families,

Our apologies for not posting a blog last week.  It was an extremely busy week and, unfortunately, the blog fell by the wayside.  However, we’re up and running again.

We now have three weeks to go and there is a lot going on both in and outside of school.  Usually around this time of year, especially at International schools, there is so much excitement and movement that it affects us and our children – sometimes without us realizing it.  So, for this week we have a few requests.

Recently we have noticed that more children have been sick and/or coughing.  Although we know it can be difficult, please ensure that your child is getting enough rest and sleep so that he or she can enjoy these next 3 weeks of school with their friends.

Some  families are moving to a new place and have already begun the moving process.  This can be difficult for some children and they may start behaving differently.  Please take the time to have small daily conversations with your child about the move and how they are feeling; perhaps share images or Youtube videos about where you will be moving to and some things that they will be able to do there.  This may help to alleviate some anxiety.

For some of our students who are staying at IST, they are worried about leaving KG and moving to G1.  We have already begun talking about the fact that they will be in different classes with different friends, but that they will have 1 or 2 classmates from their current class with them.  We have also been encouraging them to play with students from other classes during break times. Like the above suggestion, please take the time to have small conversations with your child about moving up a grade and how exciting it can be to start something new.

As their teachers, we are all working hard to maintain routines and expectations until the end of the school year.  With so much happening however, it becomes more and more difficult for the children to focus and be responsible.  We very much need, and greatly appreciate, your support in this endeavor.

Have a wonderful and restful weekend!

Music Concert

Come out and support IST students in Grades 3, 4 & 5 as they showcase their learning in Music.

The concert starts at 7:30AM in the Elementary Hall. We hope to see you there!

The Music Team

Together You Raised 247,200 tsh!

A big thank you to all the kindergarten students who earned money to help save a turtle nest.

You raised 247,200 tsh!

Together we adopted 3 turtle nests to be protected-and some extra money will be used to buy field equipment for community conservation officers who patrol nesting beaches each day.

The first nest to hatch is near Chobe village, Pangani due to hatch 14^th May

The second nest is near Juani village, Mafia due to hatch 26^th May, and

Our last nest is near Kimbiji village, Temeke due to hatch 30^th May

As soon as we hear any details regarding the baby turtles we will post it on the blog…in the mean time you are welcome to admire our adoption certificates on display outside Pundamillia’s classroom and put the hatching dates on your calendar!

Many thanks to families who also supported our initiative and students efforts to take action.

IST’s Got Talent!

Term 4, Week 4

CALLING ALL FAMILIES

This week’s blog is a call to any parent who would like to be a guest speaker in their child’s class sometime over the next couple of weeks.  In relation to our unit, if anyone would like to come and teach the children something about their culture, please contact your child’s teacher.  Some examples of things you could do with the class are:

• a language lesson – teach the class some greetings or songs in your first language

 

• a music lesson – teach the class about instruments native to your country and bring in music for them to hear

 

• a dance lesson – teach the class a cultural dance

 

• a look at traditional clothing – bring in traditional clothes or pictures of traditional clothes for the class to learn about

 

• a look at a special festival which your family celebrates

 

We would love to share in some traditional foods as well however, we are going to save that until closer to the end of the unit… so no food lessons yet

Also, please send in a box (about the size of a shoe box) for your child’s Memory Box, a project we will be working on in school.

Thanks so much and have a great weekend!