Welcome to Mrs. Strapec's  Second Grade Class

Room 56

Welcome to my Teacher Webpage for the Spackenkill Union Free School District website. You'll find links to relevant resources, our specials and homework information.

Hello! This is my 22nd year working at Nassau Elementary School and I am thrilled to be teaching Second Grade this year. I have been teaching for 28 years now and very much enjoy working here in Spackenkill with your children.

When I am not teaching, I enjoy spending time with my husband and our adorable cat. In my free time I love to read, bake, visit friends, go for walks on the beach, visit family, and play cards.

I believe parent communication to be very important so please feel free to contact me by writing me a note and putting it into your child's folder or call me at 463-7844. Together I know we will have a wonderful year!

Happy September!!

We are enjoying school and learning many new things. We have been busy getting to know each other and making new friends. We have read many stories and the students have been busy writing a variety of wonderful things. They wrote about why they like school, things they want to learn about and they all have “bright ideas” which are delightful. The students are working hard every day.

The students love their new books and supplies and seem to really like having a planner to copy their homework into. Many say they feel very grown up! They are enjoying being the role models in our school.

We are reviewing many things about books. We reviewed how to pick out "Just Right Books" and talked about ways for choosing books to read. We have been talking about the author, illustrator, setting and characters in books. We will practice making connections while reading.

Keep up the amazing work Second Grade!

Our First Day of Second Grade!!

    Happy October!!

A Daily Dose of Kindness

Mrs. Strapec's Second Graders spent the month of September getting used to the routines and the responsibilities of Second Grade.  They also spent a lot of time talking about how to be a good classroom and community citizen.  The discussion of being kind to others was woven into daily lessons and as a class Mrs. Strapec's Second Graders are spreading around the slogan: "A Daily Dose of Kindness will keep your heart feeling well".  The students understand that not only is it nice to have someone be kind to them but also how it makes them feel good inside when they are nice to others as well.  On a daily basis Mrs. Strapec is noticing students trying to help each other and she is hearing them use kind words.  Some things she has observed is someone helping to tie someones shoelaces, another student helped a student open a juice bag and students are helping each other if they drop something.  Keep up the great work!

Jack O'Lantern Creations!

Mrs. Strapec's Second Graders used their chrome books to practice cutting and pasting.  Their job was to design a Jack O'Lantern while using the google slides program.  This was a tough task for the students since it was their first time experimenting with this but after a little while they started getting the hang of it.  The students really enjoyed the challenge and asked to do this type of activity again.  Maybe next month we will try to decorate a turkey.   Here are some pictures of the students learning how to do this.  Thank you  Mrs. Byrne for coming in to help us learn how to cut and paste. 

Fire Safety

We learned many things during fire safety week such as how to stop, drop and roll, to be sure to have 2 exits out of a room and to be sure to have a meeting spot for your family at home if there was ever an emergency.  We also learned that smoke detectors help save lives so it is very important to check the batteries in the smoke detectors in our homes.

Happy Halloween!

What a wonderful day we all had!  Thank you to everyone who brought in delicious treats for us to enjoy at our class party.  The costume parade was a lot of fun.  Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us.

Happy November!

The students are enjoying our science unit which is learning about the properties of matter.  The focus question for the students is "Why are swings made of different things".  After they learn the properties of matter they will work together to try to design their own piece of playground equipment.  We are working with another Second Grade class on some of these science lessons.  Both classes are very excited to be working together on this unit.  

We are Thankful for Many Things

Mrs. Strapec's Second Graders enjoyed working with Mrs. Strapec and Mrs. Byrne to learn how to cut and paste while working in the google classroom.  The students then typed what they were thankful for after they assembled their turkey.  Mrs. Strapec and her class hopes everyone has a nice Thanksgiving.

Happy December!

The month of December was filled with fun.  One thing the students enjoyed doing was writing about gifts that come from the heart.  The students spent time making gifts for special people in their lives.  We want to thank Mrs. Parsons for coming in to help us work on a very special project.  Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to help us.  That truly is a gift from the heart.

12 Days of Kindness

Our class has been focusing on kindness since September.  During the month of December the students were encouraged to do at least 12 kind things and we called it  "The 12 Days of Kindness Challenge".  Most students did more than 12 things!  

Mrs. Strapec and her class wishes everyone a lovely holiday season and a Happy New Year! 

Happy January!

Happy New Year!!

We hope everyone had a lovely holiday season and are now ready to start a fresh new year!  The students were busy talking about what a resolution is and they had a great time writing their own resolutions.  These beauties are hanging up in our classroom to remind us what we are striving for but be sure to ask your child what his or her resolution is.

Martin Luther King Day

Mrs. Strapec's Second Graders read the book Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport.  The students discussed what these "big words" meant and then they each chose a word to discuss why it was important. The students then made posters and microphones and wrote the "big word" on them. The students were proud to shout out these important "big words" the way Martin Luther King did. Great job second graders!     

Happy February!

Communities

Mrs. Strapec's Second Graders have been busy learning about communities.  The children have read many books on urban, suburban and rural communities.  The students worked in groups to make Tree Thinking Maps to classify the information they were learning. The students enjoyed writing about these types of communities in class as well as make great illustrations to go with their writing.  Some students are having fun noticing things that they are learning in class while they are out and about while visiting different types of communities.  One student was so excited to actually get the chance to ride on a subway while another student was able to see a silo while visiting family in the country.  One student decided to make a community out of Legos at home.  The parent emailed Mrs. Strapec over the weekend and she was so delighted to hear that the things she is teaching in class is being discussed and extended at home without her asking. Great job Second Graders!

Valentine Fun!

The students had a great time using their chromebooks to write Valentine sentences.  Then they removed a word and inserted a fun emoji to replace the word.  The students had the chance to practice "cutting and pasting" while typing up some great sentences.  The students had to use capital letters when necessary and they are learning how to put one space in between each of the words that they type.

The students had a blast at their Valentine's Day Party!  Thank you to all the parents who donated delicious treats for us to enjoy.  The children loved passing out their cards to all of their classmates.  A very special thank you to Mrs. Sandhop for bringing in the fun craft.  The children loved making their Valentine ornaments.  

We wish everyone a lovely Valentine's Day!

Happy March!

Scientists at Work

Sand Castles in the Classroom!

Our class learned about erosion this week.  The students worked together to see what would happen when wind and water was applied to a sandcastle that they tested in class.  Students were very serious and even wore safety goggles while doing this experiment.  The students charted their findings.  They then were given some items that they could use to protect their sandcastle from the effects of erosion before preforming the experiment a second time.  The students enjoyed sharing their findings together.  They learned a lot and had a great time.  

Clay Islands

Mrs. Strapec's Second Graders have been learning about many land forms.  The students then participated in an activity where they were able to use clay to design an island.  The students enjoyed working together while learning. 

Technology Tips

This is a link of a short video to help you get to the "Clever" dashboard which is where many of the learning platforms we use in class are located.  It also gets you to the Google Classroom.  Please click on the link below.

Nassau Login to Clever and Google Classroom Video

Optional

I am attaching a link here that has many free online books that are available.  Please feel free to check them out.  Happy Reading!

Free online reading material that can be used if desired 

Google Classroom

Video to show you how to turn in work in the Google Classroom