Learning and Teaching

Class Dojo Reminder

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is so great to see the fantastic communication that is taking place through the Class Dojo application. Our students are now starting to upload their own work samples to their Student Portfolios and teachers will be using these Portfolios during the Student Led Conferences at the end of this term.

With this in mind, if you have not yet signed up to Class Dojo, please make sure you do so as soon as possible. Class Dojo is a fantastic tool to keep up with everything that is happening at Galilee, including links to Galilee events and news, as well as messages from Classroom Teachers.

If you are unsure of how to use Class Dojo or how to sign up, please email jcoaley@gsmelbournesth.catholic.edu.au.

Many thanks,

Joss Coaley

ICT eLearning Leader

The Year Sixes Need You!

We are preparing for our exciting excursion to the new 'Trash Puppets' Studio in Docklands. The purpose of the excursion is to explore reusing materials, by converting our recyclable rubbish into puppets.

For this excursion to be an amazing success, we need to collect materials to use for our puppets. The materials we require include:

Cardboard e.g. small boxes (shoebox or smaller), egg cartons, paper towel rolls.

Plastic bottles e.g. coke bottles, milk bottles, shampoo bottles (washed, with lids off).

Bottle caps.

Plastic tubs e.g. peanut butter, strawberry container, ice cream tub (washed please).

Plastic bags e.g. supermarket bags, bubble wrap, bread bags.

Paper bags e.g. retail bags, grocery bags.

Newspapers and magazines.

Picnicware e.g. paper plates, plastic spoons, foam cups.

Bits and bobs e.g. buttons, yarn, old fabric, old wrapping paper.

If you are able to provide any of these items, can you please send them to the 6C Classroom, it would be greatly appreciated.

We cannot use the following materials:

Toilet rolls.

Tins or any sharp metal.

Glass.

Cartons that we can’t see into eg. tetra pack juice boxes, milk cartons, stock cartons etc.

Brand new/ unused items specially purchased for this workshop.

Kindest regards,

Charlotte Biggs and Joss Coaley

Year Six Teachers

MATHEMATICS AT GALILEE    

Jane Ferris

jferris@gsmelbournesth.catholic.edu.au

In Week One of this term, our Year 1-3 teachers, along with three of our Learning Support Officers and Mr Millar, participated in a full day of Professional Learning in Mathematics, focussing on teaching Number concepts in the classroom.  It was a rich and rewarding day, organised and run by the Maths Leaders of the collective of schools in the area, which we established at the end of last year.

Our staff learned about teaching a variety of number concepts in ways that make sense, in a sequential manner which reaches each child at his or her ‘cutting edge’, targeting each child’s learning and teaching at the point where he or she is challenged, but not overwhelmed or bored.  This is the personalised learning of the Learning Framework in Number, upon which our Number Intervention lessons are also based.

At the Professional Day, our staff had the opportunity to learn about, and then present to the group, a way of using a number rack to teach the basics of addition and subtraction.  Our teachers and LSOs, as well as Mr Millar, proved themselves to be motivated, confident and skilled during their presentations. 

Many thanks to Mr Millar for his absolute support of this project, which will continue for several years, as we implement the pedagogy across the school.  Galilee outnumbered staff from other schools by more than double and Mr Millar was the only principal to attend.  The dedication to children’s outcomes and willingness of leadership and staff at Galilee to improve have ensured that we are leading school in this area, and the children are already benefiting from the work we are doing.  It makes me very proud to be a part of the Galilee staff!

Congratulations to the staff who attended:  Miss Smith, Miss Cox, Miss Burke, Miss Fahy, Miss Wallis, Mrs Rochecouste, Pauline, Rosa, Maree and Mr Millar.  Enjoy the photos of our teachers at work!

Number Intervention

Here are a few snaps of our children practising Numeral Sequences and Addition Strategies through games.  Board games and card games are a fun and natural way for children to learn about Number.  Do you play games at home?

Reading Recovery

Reading Recovery is a short-term, early literacy intervention, which provides an opportunity for students who after one year of schooling have not yet established effective reading and writing processes.

    It grew out of an extensive research and development program carried out by the late and distinguished New Zealand researcher, Dame Marie Clay. Commencing in 1976, Reading Recovery set out to explore the range and variability of reading and writing behaviours in six year old students, identified as displaying marked difficulties.

   Students are selected for Reading Recovery based on individual measures of assessment and through consultation with their classroom teachers. Their classroom literacy program is then supplemented with daily one-to-one lessons of 30 minutes; the series of lessons taking place for 12 to 20 weeks with a specifically trained and qualified teacher.

    At Galilee, this high-quality intervention for students is taught by me, Linda Florenca-Grillo. After demonstrating a keen interest in teaching literacy, I was chosen by my principal at that time to undertake the Reading Recovery course. I thus commenced training in 2000, where I attended a session once a week for the first three weeks, followed by fortnightly sessions for the remainder of the year. Subsequently, I was able to continue with specialised professional learning through ongoing interaction with Reading Recovery Colleagues from other schools and Reading Recovery Tutors (network and cluster meetings).

    Commencing my role as Reading Recovery Teacher at Galilee in 2013, the school has since experienced many success stories. Students have progressed in their reading to the point where they are within or above the class average of instruction, demonstrating the use of independent reading and writing strategies.

    In 2018, we are already seeing great improvement in the four students currently on the Reading Recovery program. After approximately 30 lessons (which equates to 15 hours or 3 whole days of teaching) I, along with classroom teachers and parents are delighted with the results achieved thus far. Students have progressed in their reading ability (e.g. an increase of 7 to 8 reading levels), in their acquisition of high frequency words that they can both read and write, and in their growing independence with writing. However, it has been equally pleasing to witness a real growth in their overall confidence and sense of self-worth.

    It is because of such outcomes and knowing that Reading Recovery provides students with a second chance to develop and enjoy a literate life, that I find this role highly rewarding and one of the most influential inputs for my teaching practice. It is therefore not a surprise to hear that annually, approximately 1500 Year 1 students in Catholic schools in Melbourne graduate from this highly successful intervention program!

    If you would like further information about Reading Recovery or have any questions you would like to ask, please do not hesitate to email me:

lflorenca-grillo@gsmelbournesth.catholic.edu.au

     Thank you

     Linda Florenca-Grillo

     Reading Recovery Teacher.