- Fir Tree Junior School
'Learning and Growing Together'
Home Page- Claire Archer
- Fir Tree Junior School, Radnor Road,
- Wallingford, England, OX10 0NY
- Email: office.2578@fir-tree.oxon.sch.uk
- Tel: (01491) 836341
- Headteacher: Mr M Knight
Willow Year 3
Welcome to Willow Class 2025-2026
Hello and welcome to Willow Class webpage.
Willow's teachers are Miss Raheem and Mrs Fairbairn.
Mrs Fairbairn will teach Willow class every Monday.
Miss Raheem will teach Willow class every
Tuesday through to Friday
Mrs Johansen is our wonderful teaching assistant. She will be in Willow Class every morning.
Term 3
PE will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please wear your PE kit to school on these days.
This page will be updated termly with information that may be of interest to you regarding projects, timetables, the curriculum, videos, pictures and more. It will be useful to keep checking this page for any helpful documents that will keep you informed about this year. You will also find some useful resources that can be used to help your child with their learning. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch using the contact box below.
Year 3 Parent Information
Useful Information and Links
Reading Information and book ideas
Contact Us
Art: Stonehenge Silhouettes
In maths, we have been learning about multiplication. We have used arrays to help us understand how numbers can be grouped into equal rows and columns. Arrays help us to see multiplication clearly and support us with counting in steps, solving problems, and checking our answers. We have also practised writing multiplication number sentences to match the arrays.
Science - We have been learning about the fossilisation process and how fossils are formed over millions of years. We followed instructions to make a model ammonite fossil and learned how fossils can give us clues about plants and animals that lived long ago. Some children also chose a different type of fossil and thought creatively about how to model it. We discussed what information fossils can provide us about life on Earth millions of years ago.
PE: We have been developing our hockey skills. We have been learning how to control the ball using a hockey stick, practising dribbling, stopping, and passing. We have also worked on improving our coordination, teamwork, and confidence.
Art: Taking inspiration from ancient cave paintings, we used charcoal to draw around our hands, just like early humans did. We experimented with different techniques to create artwork similar to cave art.
This half term, Willow have been exploring poetry. First, we identified key features like onomatopoeia, alliteration, repetition, and similes. We looked at some good examples of poems to see how these techniques are used effectively. Then, we experimented with them in our own writing. It’s been exciting to see the creativity emerging as everyone explores how language can create sound, rhythm, and vivid imagery. We focused our poems around Bonfire Night, using these techniques to capture the crackle of fireworks, the sparkle of flames, and the excitement of the night.
Here are some wonderful examples:
Whoosh, Zip,
Crimson sparks spiral,
Like ribbons spinning in the sky,
On Guy Fawkes Night.
By Tejiri
Bang, Whoosh,
Twisting rockets twirl,
Like stringy spaghetti,
On Fireworks Night.
By Alex
Crackle, Bang,
Shimmering sparks shower the sky,
Like a pride of lions pouncing,
On Bonfire night.
By Matilda
Team games with Year 6 Active Leaders. Willow Class had a fantastic time!
A special visit from PCSO Susan Haynes from Thames Valley Police. She spoke about the differences and similarities between people and how it's important to celebrate the differences in people.
In writing, we have been exploring how to use onomatopoeia, alliteration, and rhyme to create spooky Halloween poems. Willow Class worked incredibly hard and produced some fantastic poems full of creativity and imagination!
In PE, we’ve been enjoying a variety of fun team-building games that have helped us to strengthen our communication and teamwork skills.
RE - Willow Class have been learning about Diwali, the festival of lights, and they have created beautiful pictures to celebrate it. They have done a wonderful job!
Reading - In light of Black History Month, Willow Class have been reading Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. Through this story, the children have been developing important reading skills, including vocabulary, inference, and retrieval. It has been wonderful to see the children engage with the text and explore its meaningful messages.
Science - A special treat, exploring the British Geological Survey rock kit!
Art & Design - We’ve been experimenting to find out what happens when you use a scrap piece of newspaper and a pencil. It was a fun and creative lesson full of exploration and imagination!
English - This term we’ve been learning how to write compound sentences using coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, or, so. The children have enjoyed practising joining ideas together to make their writing more detailed and interesting. We’ve been using UG: Boy Genius of the Stone Age by Raymond Briggs as inspiration for our writing. It’s been a fantastic way to link our English learning with our Stone Age topic. The children have produced some brilliant sentences and are becoming more confident writers — well done Willow Class!
In PSHE lessons, we have been learning about why rules are needed and how they relate to our rights and responsibilities. Working in groups, we've created our 'Dream school' and 'Nightmare school'.
Science
In Science, our topic this term is Rocks. To start our learning journey, we drew on our own experiences. Working with a partner, we explored our ideas and answered some key questions:
Where did they find their rock?
What does it look and feel like?
Where did they put it?
Why did they pick that one?
What do they already know about rocks?
We encouraged the children to begin thinking like scientists! We have been developing our observation, reasoning and discussion skills. Using an image as a stimulus, we zoomed in very closely before slowly stepping back. At each stage, the children were asked:
What do you think the image is? Why?
Does it remind you of anything?
They carefully considered the colours, shapes and textures, and reflected on whether their ideas changed as more of the picture was revealed. This led to some wonderfully thoughtful and often surprising responses:
“I think it’s ice with a fish on it. The fish is frozen, it is at the market.” Imogen
“I think it’s moon rock. I watched something about Space, and I think it’s something to do with the moon or part of a meteor.” Jude
“I think it’s salt, but now I have changed my mind I think it sand.” Gioia
“I think it’s a rock pool, before I thought it was ice. There are rocks around it. I can’t tell what the white things are.”
“My brother has a shelf full of crystals and rocks, it looks like something you’d find in a rock on the beach.” Beth
“I think it’s grains of rice. It’s all white and kind of looks like rice.” Teddy
“I think they have zoomed in on a bit of sand. Sand has different colours and crystals.” Dot