Around the Primary Classrooms
Early Learning Centre (ELC)
This term, our big focus has been identity. We began by exploring who we are through self-portraits and conversations about what makes each of us unique. More recently, we extended this learning by creating our own wooden characters. Each child decorated their character in their house colour and added their own special facial features. This simple but meaningful experience allowed the children to celebrate their individuality while also building a strong sense of belonging within the Mount Carmel College community as they discovered who else shared their house.
Once our characters were completed, the children eagerly collaborated with Educator Jess to create a Mount Carmel small world play space in the classroom. Together, they showed incredible creativity, critical thinking, and persistence as they transformed the table into a vibrant and inviting scene. Naturally, this led to imaginative play that evolved day by day:
“Oh, here’s Mount Carmel!” – Billy
“It needs a gate.” – Greta
“Let’s go play outside.” – Mallia
“This can be the high school. Oh, and we need a fence to keep out animals.” – Ryder
Through this evolving play, the children role-played as themselves within the school community, then extended their ideas further. Vehicles were added, a car park was built, and the play shifted into “Mums and Dads.” Mallia demonstrated her understanding of family routines, saying, “Your Mummy and Daddy going home now. They go to work now.”
The space continued to grow as the children’s imaginations flourished. Together, they constructed a two-storey building with magnetic tiles, and Ryder introduced the idea of coloured roads representing different parts of our community: the path to Nature Play, the way to the “big school,” and even a road that became the ocean, complete with a boat for transport.
This project has been a wonderful reflection of our focus on identity and belonging. The children not only expressed their individuality but also deepened their understanding of their community through collaboration and play. We are excited to see how they continue to engage with this small world environment next term, and how their sense of identity and connection will continue to grow.
Year 1
This term, our integrated Science/HaSS/English unit has been about Habitats.
We have learned about living things, investigated what features make them living, and what they need to survive. We visited the Marine Discovery Centre and Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary to see Australian animals in both marine and bush habitats.
Madi - I liked going to the Marine Discovery Centre because I liked holding the sea cucumber.
Hollie - I liked patting the chequerboard sharks in the big tank.
Evy - I liked feeding the kangaroos at Bonorong Wildlife Park. The food was like seeds and you had to put your hand out with food in it, and they licked and tickled my hand.
We learned about animal families and the commonalities and differences between animals in those families.
Violet - I chose a platypus is a type of mammal, but it is special because it lays eggs. Echidnas do too. They're called Monotremes.
As part of Book Week we read One Little Dung Beetle by Rhian Williams, then each student chose a beetle to draw and research.
The girls also followed instructional videos to draw Tasmanian animals, and then made models of them.
Tenulie - We made animals out of clay and we drew sketches of them. I did a Tasmanian Devil.
The unit's culminating task was for students to research and write an informative piece about an Australian animal of their choice. The focus was to use technical, subject specific vocabulary and structure their writing into paragraphs.
Ava-May - I chose a sting ray to research because I like how they have a stinger on their tail if they think they are in danger.
Arwen - I'm happy because the animal I chose is one Miss Smith and I really like. It's a Tawny Frogmouth. They sleep in the day time and camouflage in trees.
Sophie - I chose a Blue Tongue Lizard to study because I learned what burrows are and Blue tongue lizards have burrows.
Jasmina - I chose a pink and grey galah because they are my favourite animal. Did you know that the females have red eyes and the males have brown?
Cali - I want to learn more about a Tasmanian Giant Crab because I don't know much about them. I found out that the males have one super-sized claw.
Sabiha - I liked the vocabulary we learned, like camouflage, monotreme, llfe cycles and nocturnal.
What a fun and busy term!
Year 2
Year 2 finished our unit on Earth and Spaces Sciences with a fabulous science excursion to the Grote Reber Museum! We learnt all about radio telescopes, had a go at finding satellites and rockets with the mini telescope, watched the giant dish move, explored the control room, and even enjoyed some 3D space documentaries. We have all fostered a passion for space and there are many budding scientists in the classroom.
Year 3
What a fantastic Term 3 it has been for our Year 3 students! We've been busy exploring the world around us and diving into new subjects with a lot of energy.
In Science, we became experts on the states of matter, discovering how adding and removing heat changes things like ice, water, and steam. The highlight was our trip to the senior school labs for Science Week, where we had a great time experimenting to see why some objects float while others sink.
Our HASS lessons focused on our community. We explored the people and groups that have shaped our area, and we discovered how they continue to influence it today. We also had a wonderful time on our excursion to the Tasmanian Transport Museum, which really brought our learning to life! In English, we used Ted Hughes' captivating book, The Iron Man, as our inspiration. It led us to learn all about the properties of iron and write our own information texts.
In Maths, we've been working hard on a wide range of topics. Students have sharpened their skills in multiplication and division and explored new concepts like perimeter, fractions, length, and mass.
We are so proud of all the hard work and enthusiasm the students have shown this term. We hope you all have a wonderful break and look forward to a fantastic final term!
Year 4
The past term was a whirlwind of activity and learning for our Year 4 students! They showed incredible teamwork and sportsmanship at the Athletics Carnival and celebrated their creativity at the Arts Festival. The students also had a fantastic time dressing up and sharing stories during Book Week and explored sustainability and science inquiry skills during Science Week. Here are some highlights from the students:
“My favourite thing this term was performing at the Arts Festival because it’s such a big event and parents and families can come and watch us.” – Sia
“I liked running the 800m at the Athletics Carnival and playing all of the games and novelty events.” – Clare
“I really liked doing Science Experiments in the lab for Science Week because we could physically observe what was happening in the ‘dancing raisin’ experiment.” – Zara S.
“The sustainability excursion was fun because we saw two worm farms and got to see what other schools are doing for climate change and the environment.” – Ellie
Year 5
The culminating challenge in the Term 3 integrated unit, Life in the Freezer, was to assume an area of expertise and present at an Antarctic forum. Our Year 5 students worked cooperatively and creatively as meteorologists, marine biologists, politicians, journalists, base managers and historians.
Laudato Si' - Caring for our Common Home
A number of our Year 4 students, along with College Environment Leaders, Emme Mulcahy and Evelyn Smith, attended the Laudato Si': Regenerating Integral Ecology Together Program at John Paul II Catholic School last week.
They began their day with Trish Hodge, a First Nations storyteller, who shared her Aboriginal cultural practices and lived experiences caring for our country.
Throughout the day the students connected with creation, learning about Pope Francis's, Laudato Si' goals and learning about the Laudato Si' Action Platform for schools.