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

1-2-3 Come Make  An I’m A Te-riffic Student T-Shirt With Me!

This is a really fun end-of-the-year activity, but could also be a wonderful way to get to know your students at the beginning of the year too!

The hands in the photo are neon orange.  The feet are much larger, but I took the shot with "Elliot" upside down, so they look smaller, they are actually much bigger than the hands.  

Because this artwork is so big, when I took the photo feet fist, the head looked shrunken. LOL.

Anyway, you get the idea.  I know yours will turn out really cute and be a great keepsake that your students will enjoy making.

I've included 2 different headings on the shorts so you have that option to use at the end or beginning of the year.

The end of the year shorts say: My short shorts of what I want to do this summer, The one for the beginning of the school year says: My short shorts of what I did this summer.

Here’s how to make a “Creative Writing Craftivity Kid”:

Run off copies of the t-shirt and shorts on a variety of brightly colored construction paper.

Students will fill in the writing prompts and cut the clothing shapes out.

Buy a few pair of sunglasses at The Dollar Store in bright colors.  Have your students put a pair on and take a head shot of them.

Print the photo off in black and white and enlarge them on the copier. Students color the sunglasses in with a magic marker to compliment the color of their T-shirt or shorts.

Students trace their hand and foot on a folded sheet of bright or neon-colored construction paper.  By cutting on a folded piece of paper they will get a pair of hands and feet.

Children glue their hands to the cuffs of the T-shirt and their feet to the bottom of the shorts.

These paper kids make an adorable wall display.  Run them under the ceiling, as a border in your hallway.

For another writing extension, I’ve also included a T-shirt where students can list all the Te-riffic things they’ve learned during the year, jotting down the thing they feel they are the most terrific at.

Click on the link to view/download Te-riffic Student T-Shirt Writing Prompt

Feel free to PIN away on my site. I think sharing is so important.  

Do you have something that you do at the end of the year that you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You can also leave a comment here. If everyone adds to each other's bag of tricks how easy our lives become! Thanks in advance.

"There is a brilliant child locked inside every student." -Marva Collins