Year 3 | Westfields Junior School

Even though for part of the Spring Term we experienced another lockdown, which meant the majority of our pupils were remotely learning; it did not stop Year 3 immersing themselves in our History topic of the Stone Age to Iron Age! We have thoroughly enjoyed learning all about the Stone Age including about the origins of farming, shelters throughout the different eras, clothing and even how to make a fire! Our Stone Age Topic also supported our reading and writing skills. We looked at a range of exciting texts such as ‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King and ‘How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth’ by Michelle Robinson and Kate Hindley. Using these texts, we wrote our own funny stories about the adventures of a woolly mammoth visiting Westfields Junior School for the day and a police report about a sighting of Stig!

We also held our very first Virtual Stone Age Creative Day! The children had a variety of practical tasks that they could select from to complete. We saw some fantastic outdoors maths work where the children created their own way of counting using objects such as sticks, leaves, stones and symbols. We also had a special guest speaker for our task all about Skara Brae! Mr Chaplin (our very own resident expert) transported the children to the beautiful Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands where we learnt lots of amazing facts about how people used to live in this historical location. As well as this, we also used our creative skills to design Iron Age artefacts, make Stonehenge models and even create some amazing cave paintings.

We also took part in the whole school Poetry Slam! Like every class across the school, we enjoyed learning our lines and discussing how to project our voices and recording our actual performance. If you have not already had the chance, we would encourage you to take a look at all of the class videos on our website under each Year Group page (the Year 3 class videos are below).

In Maths, we have focused on developing our understanding of fractions (some of us have found this rather tricky!). We completed a range of challenges each lesson and had the opportunity to develop the children’s ability to reason and explain their answers. Alongside these areas of study, we have continued to focus on key mathematical facts including multiplication tables and conversions as well as extend our mathematical vocabulary.

Another highlight has to be our Design Technology project this term, we designed and built our own moveable cars. We learnt the skills to measure, saw and attach our design to the car’s chassis. But the best bit was definitely when each class spent some time on the playground testing their designs to evaluate success and improvements. We had a wonderful time!

Poetry Slam 2021

Autumn Term 2020

What a wonderful start to Year 3, the children have made this term.

This Autumn, we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time getting to know all of our children, setting expectations, introducing our topic and strengthening our team building skills as well as, of course, introducing them to the wonderful world of Westfields Junior School!

Through our ‘Explore London’ geography topic, we have learnt about the human and physical features of our capital city. We have linked this knowledge with our English work and wrote poems about the firework display in London including referencing specific landmarks.

In Science, we have explored amazing animals during which we learnt all about skeletons and their functions, how muscles work and healthy living. Also, we have experimented with designing our own animals, drawing their skeletons and deciding what joints would be needed to enable movement.

Within our wider curriculum, during PE sessions, we have learnt the basic passing skills for netball and applied these. In PSHE, we will have focused on ‘Relationships’ to develop their understanding of how to develop and maintain positive relationships with family and friends. Our MyHappyMind time, has highlighted the importance of knowing when our brain works the best. We have also practised happy breathing to help us have mindful moments. Our Harvest Assembly this year needed to be virtual! We created, performed and recorded two fantastic poems and a Harvest prayer.

Looking ahead, we are very excited about designing our own shadow puppets later this term and promise to share our final products when they are complete.

Spring Term 2020

Throughout the Spring Term, we immersed ourselves in our History topic of the Stone Age to Iron Age which also supported our English skills! We looked at a range of exciting texts such as ‘The Wild Girl’ by Chris Wormell and ‘How To Wash A Woolly Mammoth’ by Michelle Robinson and Kate Hindley. Using these texts, we wrote our own survival guides for the Stone Age and stories about the adventures of a woolly mammoth.

In Maths, we have focused on developing our understanding of measurement and explored different formal and informal strategies to multiply and divide. We set a range of challenges each lesson and developed the children’s ability to reason and explain their answers. Alongside these areas of study, we continued to focus on key mathematical facts including times tables and conversions as well as mathematical vocabulary.

We enjoyed sharing our musical skills with a performance to parents and family members on the African drums! We demonstrated our knowledge about the different sounds this instrument can make and how to play a variety of rhythms on our own and as part of a group.

Our Year 3 Visit Butser Ancient Farm, was certainly a highlight of the term. We travelled back to Ancient Britain and experienced it all with great enthusiasm! We had the fantastic opportunity to take part in a range of activities such as chalk carving where the pupils carved a picture on a lump of chalk with a sharpened flint or carved it into a representative shape, just as prehistoric people did. We also learnt the skills of wattling with hazel rods to create a fence and as a frame for the walls of a house. The children explored a range of life size model dwellings and sat as a year group in the roundhouse, discovering what people of these ancient times ate, how they made fire, how they survived and where they slept. It was a wonderful experience!

Autumn Term 2019

In the Autumn Term, Year 3 quickly settled into life at Westfields Junior School. Through our ‘Explore London’ topic, we have learnt about the human and physical features of our capital city. We have linked this knowledge with our English work and wrote poems about the firework display in London including referencing specific landmarks.

Additionally, in English, we have thoroughly enjoyed writing non-chronological reports using the ‘Book of Bones’ as our stimulus. The children chose an underwater creature then wrote riddles and a non-chronological report that included generalisers, sub-headings and technical language. During this term, Year 3 have also begun to apply their knowledge of addition and subtraction to the expanded column method. In Science, we explored amazing animals; we learnt all about skeletons and their functions, how muscles work and healthy living. Within the wider curriculum, we have designed, created and evaluated our own shadow puppets. We were very proud of our outcomes from our first DT project. Of course, we also all enjoyed our amazing Christmas production of ‘I’m Gonna Shine’ where we learnt our lines, prepared our props and sung our hearts out!

Summer Term 2019

Dressed in their dazzling costumes (including a walking talking pyramid!), Year 3 travelled back in time to Ancient Egypt. Throughout the day, all of the children had the opportunity to investigate the importance of the River Nile for the survival of Egyptians, learnt how the Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics to communicate and designed a necklace fit for a Pharaoh! We were thoroughly amazed by everybody’s efforts with their impressive Egyptian costumes, even the staff! We had a fantastic Creative Day which immersed the children in practical activities to develop their historical understanding. Activities included making a hieroglyph bookmark and designing an Egyptian pectoral for our necklace.

Spring Term 2019

Year 3 Visit Butser Ancient Farm, Year 3 travelled back to Ancient Britain and experienced it all with great enthusiasm! Butser is one of the most interesting archaeological sites in the UK; it is a real working farm that is used as an open-air research laboratory to explore life in the Stone Age to Iron Age. We had the fantastic opportunity to take part in a range of activities such as chalk carving where the pupils carved a picture on a lump of chalk with a sharpened flint or carved it into a representative shape, just as prehistoric people did. We also learnt the skills of wattling with hazel rods to create a fence and as a frame for the walls of a house. The children explored a range of life size model dwellings and sat as a year group in the roundhouse, discovering what people of these ancient times ate, how they made fire, how they survived and where they slept. It was a wonderful experience (and for the first time since I have been at WJS…with no rain)!

Autumn Term 2018

In the Autumn Term, Year 3 has quickly settled into life at Westfield’s Junior School. Through our ‘Explore London’ topic, we have learnt about the human and physical features of our capital city. We have used this knowledge to write a persuasive letter to Gru from the film Minions to encourage him to visit London. Additionally, in English, we have thoroughly enjoyed writing non-chronological reports about house elves and basilisks that included generalisers, sub-headings and technical language. During this term, Year 3 have also begun to apply their knowledge of addition and subtraction to the expanded column method. Within the wider curriculum, we have designed, created and evaluated our own shadow puppets for a small child. We were very proud of our outcomes from our first DT project. Of course, we also all enjoyed our amazing Christmas production of ‘Countdown to Christmas’ where we learnt our lines, prepared our props and sung our hearts out!

Trips and Events

For the following trips and events, further details will be communicated to parents in due course.

September

03.09.21 Year 3 Transition Afternoon

06.09.21 First day of term

13.09.21 Whole School Reading Matters Week

16.09.21 Individual School Photographs (AM)

20.09.21 First week of clubs

20.09.21 Year 3 Meet the Teacher Meeting (2.45pm)

22.09.21 PAWS Welcome Meeting & AGM (7.00pm)

29.09.21 Blue Sky Thinking – opportunity to meet with Headteacher (8.45-9.45am, 2.25-3.15pm, 6.30-7.30pm)

October 2021

01.10.21 Christmas Card Designs home (with leaflet)

04-08.10.21 Walk to School Week

12.10.21 PAWS Film Night (3.15-5.00pm) postponed to Spring Term

15.10.21 Christmas Card Order Deadline

20.10.21 WJS Open Evening – prospective Year 2 parents and children (6.00-7.30pm)

21.10.21 PAWS Mufti Day

21.10.21 PAWS Fundraising Pizza Making Kits to go home

22.10.21 Inset Day

November 2021

06.11.21 WJS/Lions Yateley Fireworks Fiesta – volunteers required

10.11.21 PAWS Meeting (7.00pm)

11.11.21 Whole School Fun Run

12.11.21 3HC Radio Show

14.11.21 WJS attending Remembrance Parade

15-19.11.21 Anti-Bullying Week (Monday 15th Odd Sock Day – commences week with ‘what makes us unique’)

15-19.11.21 Road Safety Week (Friday 19th Time to Shine)

19.11.21 English Parents Workshop available online

24.11.21 Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

25.11.21 Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

27.11.21 Yateley Christmas Market

30.11.21 Whole School Flu Immunisations

December 2021

02.12.21 PAWS Christmas Pop-up Shop

08.12.21 Year 3 Christmas Production (2.00pm and 6.00pm)

10.12.21 Christmas Extravaganza (afterschool – all welcome)

14.12.21 School Carol Concert at St Swithun’s Church (10.30-12.00 parents welcome)

15.12.21 School Disco (Year 3 & 4 5.00- 6.15pm/Year 5 & 6 6.30- 7.45pm)

16.12.21 Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas Lunch

17.12.21 End of term (1.15pm finish)

January 2022

04.01.22 Inset Day

05.01.22 First day of term

14.01.22 World Religion Day

21.01.22 3CC Class Assembly (10.00am)

February 2022

03.02.22 Year 3 Westfields Has Talent Auditions (lunchtime)

03.02.22 PAWS Film Night (afterschool)

04.02.22 Year 3 Stone Age Creative Day

08.02.22 Safer Internet Day

11.02.22 Westfields Has Talent Showcase

18.02.22 PAWS Mufti Day

18.02.22 3HC Class Assembly (10.00am)

March 2022

02.03.22 Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

03.03.22 World Book Day

03.03.22 Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

10.03.22 Year 3 Butser Ancient Farm

11.03.22 3MP Radio Show

14-18.03.22 Science Week

25.03.22 Whole School Poetry Slam (World Poetry Day – 21st March)

25.03.22 PAWS Quiz Night

30.03.22 Year 3 Drums Performance to Parents (2.45-3.15pm)

April 2022

01.04.22 Year 5 Fiver Challenge (afterschool – whole school welcome)

05.04.22 Potted Sports Afternoon

06.04.22 School Disco (Year 3 & 4 5.00- 6.15pm/Year 5 & 6 6.30- 7.45pm)

08.04.22 Easter Raffle and Last Day of Spring Term (1.15pm finish)

25.04.22 First day of term

27.04.22 PAWS Meeting (7.00pm)

May 2022

02.05.22 Bank Holiday

13.05.22 3MP Class Assembly (10.00am)

19.05.22 Year 3 Local Area Walk

20.05.22 The Great Debate Event

23.05.22 Year 3 Egyptian Creative Day

24.05.22 PAWS Film Night (afterschool)

26.05.22 PAWS Mufti Day

26.05.22 Empathy Day/Pay it Forward

27.05.22 Inset Day

June 2022

14.06.22 Class photographs and Year 6 Photograph

July 2022

05.07.22 Sports Day

06.07.22 Celebration Evening (3.30-5.00pm – all welcome)

08.07.22 3CC Class Radio Show

12.07.22 Reserve Sports Day

21.07.22 Last day of term

Letters

Whole school letters and newsletters can be found under the Parents tab (link to whole school letters)

Name
Year 3 Topic Web Autumn 2021 » Year 3 Topic Web Autumn 2021.pdf File Options Download Description Preview Other Versions Goto Post
Year 3 Newsletter Autumn 2021 » Year 3 Newsletter Autumn 2021.pdf File Options Download Description Preview Other Versions Goto Post

Home Learning

Year 3 Home Learning

During school closure all home learning can be found under the menu Pupil\Home Learning, then select the appropriate Year Group. Click here to go direct to page. The home learning link can also be found on the home page under useful... read more

Year Group Spelling List

The National Curriculum set out the spelling rules and patterns as well as spelling lists children in each year group need to learn. To help you spell these words, we set weekly spellings for you to learn and we provide spelling booklets which contains all your weekly spellings for the year.

Each week, you will learn a set number of spellings that follow a spelling rule or pattern and then you will have additional words which are words children in your year group should to be able to spell. To help you with your spellings, your teacher will teach you the rules and patterns and in your booklets, there is space for you to carry out the ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ strategy at home. This will help you learn your spellings; you can also practise rainbow writing (writing out your spellings on top of each other in different colours, spell them out to an adult, be tested by an adult, write sentences with the spelling word in and you can also make mnemonics e.g. because – big elephants can’t always use small exits.

You will be tested on a Monday and on Tuesday, after your teacher has checked your spellings, you will tick the words you have spelt correctly in this booklet so you can keep a record of your progress. At the end of each half term, you will have a spelling test of selected words from the previous half term to see what you can remember!

Remember…Practise makes perfect!

Spelling Booklets will be handed out at the beginning of the academic year and need to be in school every Monday and Tuesday. If they are lost, please see your classteacher. You will need to bring 50p in for a replacement booklet.

Spelling Booklets