Galilee Newsletter

Learning and Teaching

NAPLAN

The following outlines the NAPLAN schedule for Year 3 and 5 students this year:

 

Tuesday 14 May - Writing

Wednesday 15 May - Reading & Conventions of Language

Thursday 16 May - Numeracy

 

There will be catch up test sessions from Friday 17 May to Friday 24 May for any student absent on testing days.  

Can families please notify the class teacher if you know your child will be absent on any of the testing dates.  All students are required to have headphones for NAPLAN Online.  

Maths at Galilee

App of the Week:  Little Monkey Apps (find them at littlemonkeyapps.com)

 

The Little Monkey Apps include a wide range of apps, some of which are:

  • Dominoes Addition
  • Friends of Ten
  • Times Tables
  • Number Lines
  • Subitising Flash Cards
  • Missing Numbers
  • Fraction Wall
  • Coordinates
  • Teaching Money
  • Reading Numbers

These apps provide exciting games and activities that help children learn about and practice the skills and knowledge needed to develop their sense of number and other areas of Maths.  As an example, the Friends of Ten app is used in the early years of schooling to introduce an early understanding of numbers to ten, counting objects to ten, subitising – recognising a collection of objects without counting the, counting on from a higher number, partitioning of objects and the combinations that make ten, and so on. These skills underpin mental addition and subtraction and are taught in the early years at Galilee through our Learning Framework in Number.

 

You can find links to the Australian Curriculum to each of the Apps at https://www.littlemonkeyapps.com/australian_curriculum

 

Parent Number Intervention at Galilee

 

Last term, we held training sessions for a wonderful and dedicated group of parents who are volunteering their time to assist our junior children in developing skills and knowledge in early Number. Beginning in Week 2 of this term, these trained parents will be working with selected children in Years Prep to 2. The Parent Number Intervention programme is an easy to follow, structured system of lessons, wherein parent helpers follow a checklist to ensure a systematic coverage of early concepts of Number.  We have had enormous success in the past with this programme, with parent intervention ensuring that each of our Prep children attained the expected standard in Maths in 2017 and 2018. We look forward to continued growth in our students in Maths with the support of these wonderful volunteers.

 

Several parents were unable to attend our sessions last term, so we will hold another session on Friday, May 10, at 2.15pm. Contact me at jferris@gsmelbournesth.catholic.edu.au or our parent coordinator for the Parent Number Intervention Programme, Mrs Anastasia Kritikos, at  anastasiak101@gmail.com or phone 0417380170 for further details. Hope to see you there!

What's been happening in Year One 

In Year One we have been learning about God's Creation. God created the world in six days and he rested on the seventh day. We worked in small groups to design a paper plate for each day of Creation. Check out our photos below.

 

We have also been learning about Addition this week in Maths. We have used materials like counters to add numbers together. We also play a game called Roll and Add. It's lots of fun. Some of us have been working on adding three numbers together. 

STEM-Sustainability

This term our big idea is Sustainability. Each year level will focus on this concept through either Science, Design and Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, History or Geography in preparation for our whole school Sustainability Market on June 20.  Detailed information about the Sustainability unit will be available in the Term 2 Overviews in next week's Bulletin.

News From Performing Arts Leaders

In Performing Arts this term, we are focusing on dance. This week in 6B’s Performing Arts lesson, they were learning about the importance of warming up and cooling down. Why is it so important you ask? Stretching your muscles is super important to do before any sport (such as dancing) because without it, you might injure yourself and as you know, injuring yourself isn’t so good. Stretching also prepares your muscles before all that movement that you are going to be doing.

Some different types of warm up stretches are:

Arm Circles

Ankle rolls

Butterfly stretches

Side bends

Toe touches

 

Near the end of the lesson, 6B was taken through some cool downs to cool off and relax their muscles/bodies.

Some different types of cool downs are:

Slowly touching toes

Stretching out arms

Breathing

 

Breathing is also  a crucial part of a cool down. It relaxes your body and relieves stress all through your body.

 

In conclusion, 6B had a great lesson and can’t wait for their next one!

 

By Abby and Aloysia 6B