School News
Maths at Galilee - Sweaty Brain Time
At Galilee, Mathematics is collaborative, engaging and student centred.
You may have heard your child speak about Sweaty Brain Time when completing problem solving tasks at the start of the week.
Galilee utilizes the EMC³ Project’s Anticipate, Launch, Explore, Summarise approach for Mathematics. This is a student-centred, structured inquiry approach which incorporates sequences of challenging tasks.
The research behind this approach, states that ‘students benefit when they persist, which includes them concentrating, applying themselves, believing that they can succeed and making an effort to learn. The tasks and lessons that are likely to foster such actions are termed challenging, in that they allow the possibility of sustained thinking, decision making, and some risk taking by students.’
Galilee aims to challenge all students in Mathematics by providing rich tasks that engage all students. Students work on tasks that include problem-solving, investigations and reinforcement of computation skills through the use of modeling materials, concrete tools and games. In the early years there is a strong focus on students learning the fundamentals in number sense and fluency. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively to discuss and to share these ideas with each other and solve real life problems using a variety of hands-on materials.
Galilee ensures these rich tasks incorporate the following characteristics;
1. Tasks have multiple solution pathways, to support student agency and to allow for students to compare and contrast their approach with peers.
2. Students learn best when provided with opportunities to struggle and spend time in the 'zone of confusion', all students should experience at least some important aspects of the task as mathematically challenging.
3. Students are meaningfully engaged in important mathematical work for a substantial period of time.
4. Students are expected to participate in the lesson regardless of their demonstrated (or perceived) mathematical ability, rich tasks are prepared with accompanying enabling and extending prompts.
Mathematics classes are designed to cater for the different mathematical needs of students, by providing opportunities for enrichment and support. Explicit instruction, precise mathematical language, teaching of mathematics concepts takes place following the “Sweaty Brain Time” of an investigation (Hubbard, 2024). It is with that balanced diet of mathematics instruction, our staff ensures students learn in a psychologically safe, curated environment that fosters discovery, questioning, reasoning and student-to-student teaching.
Happy Learning!
Adrian Webster
Mathematics Leader
Year 5 Classroom Teacher
Digital Technology:
Cyber Safety:
This year, students at Galilee have been actively engaged in three terms of online cyber safety webinars run by Inform & Empower. Through these sessions, the students have learnt the importance of protecting their personal information, safeguarding their passwords, and effective strategies to combat cyberbullying. In addition, our students have been participating in ground-breaking digital technology lessons, utilising coding programs and analysing data to tackle challenging problems.
We would also like to remind parents that on the 24th of October, Galilee will be hosting a Cyber Safety and AI Information Night for adults. This event will be an excellent opportunity to ask any pressing questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you there!
Peer Teaching and Learning:
This term, we have been promoting digital literacy among staff and students through our peer teaching and learning lessons. Over the last few weeks, we have witnessed the incredible technology skills from our prep-2 students as they explore data representation, coding and use Google Workspace for educational purposes.
Marcus Paige & Mikaila Greenan (Digital Technology Leaders)
STEM EXPO NIGHT
Ms. Leahy
What an amazing night we had on Wednesday 4th September.
Thank you to the students for their enthusiasm , they were so excited to show their hard work to our Galilee Community.
A huge thank you to the teachers who have worked tirelessly to facilitate these lessons and nurture the children's creativity. Our teachers use the Stanford Design Process in STEM education, providing students with the space to explore, innovate, test, and develop their ideas. Classrooms were set up with interactive activities as well as examples of digi-tech lessons. From toy building in prep to safe homes and habitats prototypes in year 6, our students have been so busy in their STEM lessons. Well done Galilee for all your hard work!
STEM Expo
by STEM leader: Deng
On Wednesday evening, after school we held the STEM Expo. The STEM Expo is a chance to show off our STEM that we've been learning this year.
This term, in Year 6, we’ve been researching floods that happened in the Philippines, because of this there are a lot of endangered animals. We made prototypes of homes for these animals in case there are any more natural disasters. My group created a home for turtles, the features included a pool noodle which helped the home float in water. We also put glad wrap around the home to make it waterproof. We built a hatch for the turtles to enter and exit. Over all, we have learned that the green sea turtle and eagles are some of the animals in danger.
As a STEM leader, we have had a lot of fun organizing science week, presenting ANZAC assembly and Science Week assembly. We have also been running the Nude Food initiative each week.
STEM MAD FINALISTS
Shout out to our STEM finalists who will be representing Galilee next week at the STEM MAD competition! These students have put in tremendous effort, developing innovative designs and creations that aim to Make a Difference (M.A.D) in the world. We are excited to showcase our prototypes and see the incredible projects from other schools. Good luck Galilee!
Our finalists are:
3P: Will, Sadie, Anthony, Arkie
5M: Lila, Isabella, Darcie
4L: Victoria
4G: Sophie, Claire, Sienna
Please see attachments for useful school information and QR Codes