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!

Event: Turtle Hatching

If you missed out on the last opportunity to see turtles do their thing, you might like to see them hatching?

We have just received the great news of a turtle nest due to hatch on south beach Friday (18th May).

The cost as always is $50 per adult and $20 per child (12 or under), with 40% going directly to Sea Sense to support their turtle conservation projects. Bitings and drinks will be provided by your guide.

Please get in touch if you want to book a place on the trip. If we have enough interest it may be possible to put on a minibus so that more of you can enjoy the event. Reply by email (by 6 pm tomorrow latest) or phone (details below) with your Yes or No availability and with the numbers of people you want to join the trip.

We will meet at the Slipway top car park, on the opposite side to Barclays bank at 1230.

Looking forward to your replies.

Regards,

Julie

Authentic Tanzania

info@authentictanzania.com
www.authentictanzania.com

+255 (0) 786 019 965

Plot 1918 Kaunda Drive, Oysterbay, P.O.Box 23253, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Weekly Update: 11 May 2012

Dear Kindergarten families,

We’re getting to the end of the year and many of the students are sick, tired and a little  grumpy with each other…just a few more weeks…just a few more busy weeks and then we can go on holiday. Hang in there!

Language

Students are currently being reassessed for their reading skills. We are very proud of the progress students are making. It is evident that families are reading stories together and discussing them for enjoyment.

We are currently working on writing details to make stories more interesting to the reader. We are also introducing tense to accompany our writing needs in our new unit of inquiry. For example, Past (thought) and Present (think).

With Languages Week coming up next week, this is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate your mother tongue language and sing songs and retell stories from the past. We invite to to share these with us!

Math

At this point in the year there are relatively few concepts being introduced. Much of the math learning is reinforcement of concepts already covered. Families are encouraged to do fun activities such as, cooking, water play, shopping, card games or sorting to consolidate math skills such as, counting, measuring, classifying, money, number operations such as adding, subtracting, etc.

Unit of Inquiry

We are beginning our unit on Where We Are in Time and Place this week. Surprisingly many of our students have begun this unit with little understanding of concepts such as the past, present and future. We will be tuning into these classifications of time before delving into ‘change’  and what information we can learn from artifacts and personal histories.

We ask that students bring in a baby photo in an envelope, so we can have a ‘Guess who the baby is’ competition.

Other Items

Kindergarten Assembly Presentation next Friday 18th May at 7.10am. Please save this date as students will be performing two folk dances learnt in Music, as well as a play…they are very excited! Please keep an eye on your child’s link book incase there are some things to practice or requests for special clothing to be worn.

Reminder: Music Morning May 23rd at 7.30am. 

Please keep your eye out for an invitation to share your child’s learning for the last time this year. Students in each class will share their kindergarten portfolio and other important resources/learning.

Students are currently considering what it means to be a good friend. Kate Kersey has been working with students to find out whether they have various friends to help balance our personal needs (e.g. friends who are fun and silly, friends that are quiet and caring, etc). Some of the students have found they need to go friend shopping!

World Languages Week!

Next week (14th to 18th May 2012) is World Languages Week at IST! We have lots of fun activities planned during the week to celebrate the rich diversity of languages and cultures in our community.

For more information about World Languages Week go to the IST Elementary Languages Blog.

Sharing The Planet: Unit Reflection

Grade 5 PYP Final Exhibition News

The Final Exhibition projects are in full swing and there is a general buzz of excitement in the air as students plan each of the components that comprise their exhibition projects. Some of the groups are aiming to raise money in order to fund various causes related to their projects. In previous years, students have sold these items at the exhibition. In order to maintain a spirit of raising awareness rather than raising money, students will not sell anything during the Final Exhibition on May 10th and 11th.

Instead, students will have an opportunity to raise money for their causes during first break on Friday 4th May and Monday 7th May. Some students will have a bake sale, but other items related to their inquiries may also be for sale. Since students are still in the planning stages, the details remain a mystery! Grade 5 students are not obligated to participate. In fact, some students are focusing more on personal action. If you are interested in supporting the Grade 5 causes, please bring money to school on Friday May 4th and Monday May 7th.

To learn more about this year’s Grade 5 PYP Final Exhibition Projects go to the IST Grade 5 Blog.

This week kindergarten classes will be discussing a new project…

Adopt a turtle

Parent Workshop: Anger Management

Helping Children Manage Anger
May 14th, 7:15-8:30, Elementary Staff Room, Counseling Team presentation and discussion.

For more information, go to the Counseling Blog or see this week’s EE.

Weekly Update: 20 April 2012

Dear Kindergarten families,

Just an up date to keep you in the loop…

Language

This week we are working on formal reports related to individually chosen sea creatures. Students have focused on fact vs. fiction and describing words to assist their writing process. We have to keep reminding ourselves that these students are 5 and 6 year olds! They are producing some amazing writing…

Please continue to encourage correct pencil grip and letter formation at home. Many students have continued to write all letters between the lines, including capital letters, letters that should hang below the line (f,g,j,p,q,y) and letter that should extend above the line (b,d,h,k,l,t). We are not suggesting any formal homework to support this, simply some incidental instruction when encouraging students to write their own birthday invitations, birthday cards, etc.

Math

Students are currently revising a range of math skills. They have been introduced to ordinal number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc) and are very happy to use this knowledge when playing games to confirm their winning place. You may like to revise this at home with simple challenges, such as counting who is first to the car, or counting hoop shots or goals achieved in sports.

Unit of Inquiry

We are mid way through our unit Sharing the Planet. Students are very knowledgeable regarding sea creatures and are working to write reports on their chosen animal. They have found classifying sea creatures and food chains more challenging.

This Wednesday Sea Sense is coming into IST to share their expertise regarding turtles and marine life with students. We hope students will enthusiastically share their experiences with you on Wednesday evening.

This visit often prompts questions and discussions regarding human impact on marine life. We have begun to introduce concepts such as Causation and Responsibility when considering disasters such as

• over fishing/fishing with large nets/dynamite fishing
• anchoring reefs
• collecting shells and sea life for decoration
• noise pollution from boats, jet skis, etc.
• litter and waste (especially plastic bags)
• oil spills
• over developing coastal areas

Other Items

World Earth Week is this week. There are a number of special events organised around the school this week. Perfect timing for our current Unit of Inquiry!

Friends? A number of parents have expressed concern on behalf of their child regarding school friendships. It seems that some students are coming home and feeling like they do not have anyone to play with. From our observations, students are actively engaged and positively playing with each other at break times (except for the usual negotiations and deals). Therefore, it appears that some students would benefit from play dates organized outside of school hours to help students consolidate friendships. If families would like some suggested students to help organise play dates, please email your class teacher.

Please remember to write a note in your child’s link book if they are going on a play date after school and should to picked up by another adult.

If your child is absent or late for any reason, please email your classroom teacher and cc: Bridget Luyangi, bluyangi@istafrica.com at reception before 7.20am on the day. This helps us keep accurate records for accountability purposes. We really appreciate your help.

No school this Thursday 26th or next Tuesday 1st May. Enjoy your days off

Counseling Parent Workshop: Moving

A workshop for families moving away from Dar es Salaam and IST.

Monday, April 23rd
7:15 in the Elementary Staff Room

Go to the IST Elementary Counseling Blog for more information.

May Musical Mornings

Please join us as the students share their creativity and enthusiasm.  The programs will run approximately 45 minutes each morning. This is a wonderful way to celebrate a musical school year at IST.