On Aug. 26, Whitehall-Coplay School District’s new full-day kindergarten program welcomed its first class of students.

Six portable classrooms were added to Gockley Elementary School this summer. They were finished by Aug. 16, just in time for kindergarten orientation, which was held Aug. 21.

“The planning team had meetings consistently during the 2018-19 school year to be sure that careful consideration was given to all aspects of this project. We visited two other schools that had portable classrooms when deciding on the model for our district,” Gockley Elementary Principal Denise Saylor said. “Ordering all new furniture for the classrooms was another part of the process. Each classroom received new student tables, chairs, cubbies, book shelves, cabinets, small-group instruction tables and teacher desks. These classrooms also received new smart boards and carts of student Chromebooks.”

Safety was a main priority when designing the classrooms. A full-size carpeted hallway connects the extension to the main building, so students do not have to leave Gockley to enter the portables. Classrooms also have their own bathrooms to reduce the loss of instruction time and maintain a safer environment since children do not have to leave the room without a teacher.

“I have been working closely with (Whitehall Police Department) Officer (Matthew) Christman, our school resource officer, to plan our fire exits for the new classrooms and revise our exit plans for the classrooms that used to exit at the location of the portables,” Saylor said. “Christman has also inspected the portables section to plan our security camera system in that area of the building and ensure that the outside entrance of the portables is safe and secure for our students and staff.”

One of the biggest obstacles the district faced was completing the construction and acquiring the certificate of occupancy before school began.

“It was also an extreme challenge for the teachers to wait until Aug. 16 to get into their classrooms and get them ready for their students. They were so eager to begin working to set them up and decorate them,” Saylor said.

Veteran teachers Kelly Chunko, Kristin Roman and Amanda Woolslayer opted to move into the new classrooms, along with newly hired teachers Kaitlyn Kanusky, Heather Marth and Erin Schmidt. Teachers were able to begin preparing their classrooms Aug. 16.

“All of our kindergarten staff is extremely excited about our district moving to full-day kindergarten. The teachers worked together last year to revise our kindergarten curriculum in advance so that we were ready for this initiative. They also worked with the first-grade staff to be sure that the full-day kindergarten curriculum matched with the expectations of the first-grade curriculum,” Saylor said.

“We consulted with other districts that have implemented full-day kindergarten throughout the planning process and when designing the schedule for full-day kindergarten. We wanted to ensure that we were structuring the day in a way that would help our kindergarten students learn academically while also focusing on their emotional and social needs at this level of development. Designing purposeful play activities to teach and reinforce academic skills was one way that we ensured this was being done,” she added.

The full-day program is structured so the majority of instructional time occurs in the morning, with art, gym, music, library and STEM classes taking place in the afternoon.

A new elementary school, including permanent kindergarten classrooms, will be built where the district office is now. The district office will then move into the current Gockley building. Planning for the new school will take place during the 2019-20 academic year.

Last year, WCSD was one of two districts in Lehigh and Northampton counties without a full-day kindergarten program.

“We know that this decision to move forward with full-day kindergarten is the best decision for our Gockley students and teachers,” Saylor said. “It was extremely difficult for our teachers to teach the kindergarten curriculum in a half-day program. The full day offers the opportunity for the curriculum to be taught in ways that allow for interactive and enjoyable learning activities. This is the best way for kids to learn.

“We are so excited to watch this group of kindergarten students as they progress to first grade and beyond with a more solid academic foundation,” Saylor said, “and we are optimistic that they will be better prepared for the rest of their educational years.”