Send Them Off With A Kiss!

I LOVE the book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. The gist of it is that a baby raccoon wants nothing to do with going to night school.  He’d just as soon stay home with his mom and continue to play in the forest.

Mama raccoon wisely explains that he’ll make all sorts of new friends, naming several other nocturnal animals and that he’ll really like his new teacher (an owl of course) and doing all sorts of fun school activities.

She places a kiss on his hand that travels up his arm and straight into his heart, warming him instantly.  Something he can look at all evening long reminding him that “Mama loves you.”

As he excitedly scampers off to school, he pauses to kiss his mommy’s hand, letting her know that “Chester” loves her too.

My Y5’s really enjoyed this story, especially petting my soft pet raccoon puppet that would not come out of his garbage can at first because he was frightened.  It’s a wonderful way to introduce feelings and graph how children felt on this first day.

I found if they got to put on a mask and pretend they were raccoons that even my shyest children could talk and tell me how they really felt.  Anyone holding the raccoon was the one who got to speak and share.

Because this story is extremely popular I decided to dream up some activities your students would enjoy doing during the first week of school. Perhaps even on the first day, if it isn’t too hectic and packed with other “must get done” rules and regulations activities.

The 24-page Kissing Hand Packet includes two keepsake “craftivities” involving tracing students hands. These make wonderful and easy back to school bulletin boards.

To expedite this with little ones, have a room helper trace and cut them out in the morning, so they are ready in the afternoon.

If you don’t have anyone helping you, think about including a piece of flesh-toned construction paper in your summer note, or open house packet with an explanation to have parents trace and cut their child’s hand and return it for the first day of school.

You could also set this up as a quick “Please do!” station at your open house, if you have one before school starts.. Parents stop at the station, “get it done” and then leave it in the basket.

Click on the link to view/download The Kissing Hand Activities The Raccoon upper and lowercase letter activity packet helps with Common Core State Standard RF.K1d and RF.1.1a

Use them as flashcards, Memory Match Concentration games, or play ‘I Have, Who Has?” later in the year.  I include a tip list of what else you can do with the cards.

If you want to use them on the first day, you can sprinkle them around the room, and have students find them.  See how many students can identify any of the letters.

A really fun thing to do, would be to pass out the raccoon masks from the first packet. (Make ahead of time out of foam and hot glue to paint sticks.)

Tell your little ones that they are going to be Raccoon ABCDe-tectives and look for Chester's ABC card clues he’s hidden around the school. Tape them to places you want the children to learn about.

Put the Bb cards by the bathroom and then check it out. Find  the Ll cards by the library, and then have the children meet the librarian.

Give the Pp and Ss cards to the principal and secretary and make a stop at the office.

Gg is for gym, Mm is for music,  Cc is for computers or cafeteria.  Your students will have fun spying the cards, while they tour the school and learn where things are.

Rr can land them back to your room where you can have a note from Chester and a Hershey kiss waiting on their desk.

Click on the link to view/download Raccoon Upper and Lowercase Letter Kissing Hand Activities

I hope you enjoy these activities and your first week of school is simply fantastic!

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find helpful.

“A good teacher is like a candle, which consumes itself to light the way for others.” -Unknown