Gockley Elementary

2932 Zephyr Blvd., Whitehall, PA 18052 • 610-433-7551
Mrs. Denise Saylor, Principal

Mrs. Bethany Koenig, Assistant Principal K-3
Kindergarten and 1st Grade Building
Student Day: 8:35 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.

Website: https://www.whitehallcoplay.org/gockley
Location: Clarence M Gockley Elementary School, Zephyr Boulevard, Whitehall, PA, USA
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wcsdgockley
Twitter: @gockleyk12

The students just finished up the soccer unit by playing competitive soccer games last week. This week, the students started baseball and many of the students showed tremendous improvement during their first few attempts to hit the ball. The baseball unit will include a wiffleball game where the students have the choice to use the tee or hit the ball out of the air. The students are looking forward to that. After baseball finishes, the students will start practicing for the much anticipated field day in May. This is definitely a favorite time of year for the students in Physical Education!

Kindergarten is concluding a multi-week introduction to abstract art and are finishing their colorful circle art designs. First Grade is in the midst of our exploration of color. They are finishing up painting color wheels and then moving onto a hands-on color mixing experiment using Model Magic clay.

Kindergarten is finishing up an author study on Eric Carle. They have focused on his illustrating style. The students have also noticed that he writes fiction books, but puts nonfiction parts in his books. This means they have also learned some facts about sea creatures and other animals throughout the author study too! The highlight to this study was the baby animal quiz!

First grade is finishing up an author study on Kevin Henkes with a focus on his two distinctive illustrating styles in his picture books. Students have also had an introduction to note taking in this author study, as they discussed and wrote down two notes that went with each of the two stories read each week. The students did a great job!

Students have been having lots of fun this month in the music room! Kindergarten students continue to practice steady beat while they explore musical opposites like loud & quiet, fast & slow, and high & low. This week, Kindergarteners looked inside the piano while we discovered that bigger instruments make lower sounds and smaller instruments make higher sounds. Kindergarten March repertoire has included folk songs from Norway, England, America, and Spain.

First Grade students continue to practice reading music notes on the music staff, recognizing rhythm and steady beat, and exploring musical silence. This week, 1st Grade Students played songs with Boomwhackers while we discovered beats with no sounds, which we learned are called rests. 1st Grade March repertoire has included folk songs from America, Denmark, Peru, England, and Columbia. Our picture shows 1st Graders from a few weeks ago learning a scarf passing song called Plainsies Clapsies! Families can always stay up to date on the latest happenings in music class by checking Mrs. Saunders' online music room at https://bit.ly/3ciyhd6

Kindergarten Discovery has been talking about colors! Students did a fun walking rainbow experiment that they really enjoyed, and they were amazed to see the colors “walk” to make new colors. Classes discussed the primary colors and did some color mixing with crayons to make the secondary colors. Students thought that was so cool to see them mix and change! Classes have also been talking about our I CAN expectations. Students are excited for the remaining Discovery lessons to finish out the year!

The students and staff really enjoyed our theme days to celebrate SWPBS Booster Week. Take a look at some of our Gockley photos from the week!

Schools will be closed for Spring Break from Thursday, April 6th through Monday, April 10th. Students and staff return to school on Tuesday, April 11th.