Gockley’s picture retake day is scheduled for tomorrow, Nov. 18. Students who were absent or did not have their orders on picture day can have their pictures retaken. Please return the first packet to your child’s teacher on that day.

Any new students who enrolled after the original picture day will receive a picture order form.

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As a reminder, the middle school’s holiday hope chest drive began Nov. 14 and ends Nov. 23. Please look for the detailed flier from your middle-schooler to hear how you can help. Students learn how to reach out to help others during this drive.

This is an annual event and is always a huge success!

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Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for this month - Nov. 21-23. Your child’s teacher will schedule an appointment time with you for your conference.

Kindergarten children will not have school on the days of conferences.

The final regular school day for kindergarten is Nov. 18. Other elementary students will be dismissed 11:45 a.m. during conference days.

Lunch will not be served on these dates.

Additionally, Gockley’s spirit wear sale will be held during parent-teacher conferences. A display table will be set up in the office area.

There will be a supply of sweatshirts, T-shirts, sweatpants, shorts and more in limited children’s sizes - cash payment only.

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Schools will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday Nov. 24-28. Students return to school Nov. 29.

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Mark your calendar! The Whitehall High School swim team is hosting a designer purse bingo featuring Michael Kors, Coach and Vera Bradley Dec. 3 at the Egypt Memorial Park pavilion. Doors open 4:30 p.m., and bingo begins 6 p.m.

The cost of a ticket includes 20 games of regular bingo. Food, raffles and specials will be available for an additional cost.

Email whitehallswim@gmail.com to purchase tickets. This was a sellout event last year, so purchase your tickets early!

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Steckel and Zephyr elementary schools will be participating in the fourth season of Community Canvas 2016-17, an innovative arts competition that teaches children to make better, healthier choices while having fun creating art.

The program is sponsored by Lehigh Valley Children’s Hospital in conjunction with Kellyn Foundation and Lehigh Valley Art Spark.

Students will be engaged in classroom programming and assemblies at their schools. A public art event leading up to the Community Canvas finale is in May 2017.

“Community Canvas has a proven formula of engaging children on the ground at their schools, encouraging parental involvement at neighborhood evening events and keeping the focus on what the students learned throughout the year with a strong finale event,” said J. Nathan Hagstrom, MD, Lehigh Valley Health Network’s (LVHN) chair of pediatrics.

Kellyn Foundation is supporting the initiative by providing proven healthy lifestyle programs to the six schools and promoting the overall effort to the teachers and students. Kellyn’s Healthy Families Need Healthy Roots school programming is based on age-appropriate education and active hands-on involvement by the students. The programming progresses over a three-year period, building a foundation of healthy living knowledge.

In third grade, students learn the differences between fresh, healthy, whole food and drinks compared to processed “unhealthy” products. The students sample local farm-fresh produce.

In fourth grade, students learn how to read packaged food labels and identify the level of sugar and fat content in products.

Fifth-graders learn how to make the healthiest choices when they are out at restaurants or away from home with friends as they are led through a virtual menu tour of many of the common fast food establishments and analyze calorie, salt, fat and sugar content of many of the entrees.

The art portion of Community Canvas comes into play as each school will have ten students selected at random to be artist contestants at their school’s Community Canvas event following the Kellyn Foundation programming. Two students from each school’s art event then will be chosen - 12 in all - to participate in the Community Canvas finale in May 2017. There will be a 13th student artist chosen to participate in the finale from a poll on LVHN’s Facebook page leading up to the concluding event. The final winner receives a $250 value worth of prizes from Lehigh Valley Art Spark.

All art works from each pre-qualifying event, in addition to the finale, will be displayed throughout LVHN.

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Whitehall-Coplay School District has an anonymous tip line for anyone who believes a student could be in danger from another person or himself/herself. If you are aware of a possible situation, call 610-435-4638 and leave a message.

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Do you have any school news? This column is a compilation of upcoming school events in the Whitehall-Coplay School District. Teachers, administrators, parents, students, coaches, PTSA’s, club advisers and any other community members are invited to share their upcoming activities. Email me at jamb87@hotmail.com with “Whitehall-Coplay School News” in the subject line at least a week before an event.