Monsieur Snyder’s News
May 2012
Dear Parents:
In math, we are working with the unit on geometry: both plane figures and solid shapes. In this chapter we will also be working with congruency, lines of symmetry and spatial concepts. Activities at home that may reinforce our lessons in these areas could include: finding specific shapes in and around the home, doing jigsaw puzzles, playing with tangrams or art projects involving symmetry.
During the month there will assessments given both in language and in math. Please have your children here on time, well rested and having eaten a good breakfast. There will be a comprehensive math assessment given to all second graders this month. Please, continue to work with your children on the math homework pages. Your continued help is essential to their success.
In preparation for the end of the school year, the children will be tested one final time in the areas of language arts and reading. They will do another dictated writing sample, a phonetic assessment of all the sounds presented to date. All of these assessments will help us to prepare for a smooth transition to third grade.
We continue our voyage throughFrance. We are leavingParisand heading east towards the mountains and the Swiss border. Your children will begin to get a “taste” of the region as they sample local foods. Ask your children what sites they learned about inParis. What big white church is up on a mountain? What is the tallest sight inParis? How can you go on a tour ofFrancewithout walking or riding in a car?
The class will be finishing our introduction to cursive writing. We have completed the entire lower case alphabet and will begin working on the upper case letters. Cursive writing is NOT required in the second grade classroom but its use will be encouraged in third grade. We have entered our final basal reader book for the yearDe Surprise en Surprise. We will continue our focus on comprehension of text and more fluid reading. Our grammar series is teaching the class some basic conjugation as well as classifying words as either masculine or feminine. I would ask again that your children remain focused even with the warmer temperatures and nice days outside.
Our final field trip will be to the Roger Williams Zoo on Thursday May 31st. The rain date is June 5th. There will be an opportunity to have more chaperones for this trip. Please remember to turn in your forms and money by Friday May 11th.
As the temperatures begin to rise, our class can become quite warm. Please send in your children with water bottles to remain hydrated during the day. Dress them appropriately to the weather conditions.
Thank you,
M. Snyder