The Kissing Hand

The Kissing Hand

:Books:

:Poems & Songs:

My First Day Of Kindergarten It's my first day of Kindergarten and I'm thinking of you. I made these precious handprints So you will think of me, too. It's my first day of school and The Kissing Hand is what we read. It's about a raccoon who did just as his parents said. Like the raccoon's first day at school I was scared and a little shy. But because of what you said I was brave and I got by. All through the year I'll make things for you. So as I change and as I learn you can witness my growth, too!	The Kiss Goes On [Twinkle, Twinkle] Here's a special trick I know, When I'm sad and scared to go. Take my hand and kiss it here, The kiss from you I will hold dear. Down my hand and up my arm, Into my heart the kiss goes on.
Raccoon [tune: Kookaburra] Raccoon sleeps in a hollow tree While sun shines on you and me. Sleep, raccoon. Sleep, raccoon, Warm and cozily. In the darkest part of night Raccoon has the best eyesight. Look, raccoon, Look, raccoon, My, your eyes are bright. Raccoon hardly makes a sound when he prowls all around. Hunt raccoon, Hunt raccoon, Find food on the ground.	Raccoon, Raccoon by Pam Miller Raccoon, raccoon, (each time you kind of make a mask around your eyes with your fingers) Up in a tree, (both arms raised) Raccoon, Raccoon, You can't see me. (cover eyes) Raccoon, Raccoon, I can see you one hand on your eyes, one pointed out to imaginary raccoon) Eating fish and corn and birds' eggs too. (imitate eating motions) Raccoon, raccoon, Hunting at night, (hands shade eyes as if squinting in the dark) Raccoon, raccoon, Sleeps in daylight. (make sleeping motion)
A Family A piece of me I give to you, This special heart because "I love you." The heart is you, the hand is me, It shows that we are A Family	Raccoon Sitting In a Tree [tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle"] Raccoon, raccoon, climbing a tree Wearing a mask, you can't fool me. Hiding there so I can't see, What you're doing in that tree. Raccoon, raccoon, climbing a tree, Wearing a mask, you can't fool me.

:Reading:

R Is For Raccoon

Teacher's Helper, Sept/Oct, 1999 has a worksheet for children to color all the pictures that begin with /Rr/.

Chester's Day

Students can recall the details of the story by completing individually (or could be done whole group) this worksheet from Teacher's Helper, Sept/Oct, 1999. Students color a picture to answer questions about the story.

First-Day Fears

Another worksheet from Teacher's Helper, Sept/Oct, 1999 - children color and cut pictures from the story and put them in correct sequence.

Chester's Hearts Match

Match the raccoon uppercase alphabet card with the lowercase letter card.I use my Ellison heart diecut for the heart patterns.

Kissing Hand Alphabet A-F Kissing Hand Alphabet G-L Kissing Hand Alphabet M-R Kissing Hand Alphabet S-X Kissing Hand Alphabet Y-Z

Chester Loves School!

This is a wonderful emergent reader that is offered at The Learning Leap . I hope that her website will be back online soon!

:Math:

Raccoon Rings

Teacher's Helper, Sept/Oct, 1999 has a worksheet for students to draw the correct number of rings on each raccoon's tail. (number sets to 5)

Chester's Hearts

Students will match the Chester's numeral with the correct set of hearts. Laminate raccoon cards and heart cards and add to a Math station.I used Printmaster 20 to create the graphic cards.

Chester's Hearts Cards 1-8 Chester's Hearts Cards 9-10 Chester's Heart Cards

Heart Stamps

Make a flip book using 3 sheets of copy paper. Cut the book in half width-wise to save paper. Program the cover of your booklet, "Heart Stamps" and then program each of the steps with a numeral 1-5. Allow students to use heart stamps to create a stamp for each number they see on the step. If the page says 1, student will stamp one heart, and so on.

Pocket Chart Counting

Make a set of number cards 1-10. Use the handprint notepads (laminated) from Carson Dellosa (CD-8830) to create the sets. Place the number cards in the pocket chart and have children come up to create the correct set for each card.

Kisses!

I saw this idea on a website a few years ago and giggled when I red it. I can just hear my kids - especially the boys, saying, "EWWWW!" when I tell them what game we're gonna play. The game is one of matching sets. I will use my racoon number cards and some wonderful Kiss Cards for students to create the correct set.

Pocketchart Patterns

Use all the wonderful cutouts that you have for this unit to work on modeling and reproducing ABAB patterns.

Chester Finds His Mom

Make a simple gameboard using Chester as the "start" of the game. Program the path with hearts. Students will roll a die and move that number of spaces. The winner is the one who gets to Chester's mom first.

:Science:

Real Raccoons

Discuss raccoons. Share photos of raccoons. My dad has a picture that a friend gave him of a mama and baby racoon peeking out of a tree. It is soooo precious! I use it every year to show them "Chester" and his mama.

All About Raccoons

A good emergent reader can be purchased at www.kindergarten.com. The book gives great information about raccoons.

Daytime and Nighttime Animals

Explain to students that, like some other animals, raccoons like to come out during the nighttime to hunt and play. They like to sleep during the day. Introduce the word nocturnal to them. Make a web of all the animals that are nocturnal using pictures.

Daytime and Nighttime Animals Worksheet

As you continue talking about nocturnal animals you can use a good worksheet from www.kizclub.com to give children more practice. Students will cut out and paste each animal to the appropriate box. Daytime animals go in one box. Nighttime animals go in another box.

Night and Day

In the story, Chester goes to school at night. He plays with his friends at night. Ask students to think about some of the things that we do or that happen at nighttime. Next do the same thing for daytime activities/events. As a review - give children some examples and have them decide if they are daytime or nighttime activities.

:Art:

Handprint Poems

Use the "My First Day of Kindergarten" poems xeroxed on the righthand side of a landscaped piece of construction paper. On the left, have children dip their hands in tempera paint and add their handprint to the poem.

Raccoon Paper Bag Puppet

Enchanted Learning has a real cute and easy paper bag puppet craft.

:Writing:

First Day Jitters

Story starter: On the first day of school I felt _________.

Classroom Kissing Hands

Use a class set of this story frame to create a classroom book for the children to enjoy. Program a sheet of paper to say: "This is _______'s Kissing Hand" and have them write their name on the line. Then have them put their handprint at the top of the page using a large size washable inkpad. (or you could have them make this page of the book whenever they do their "First Day of Kindergarten" poem/keepsake for their parents and save time!

:Snacks:

Kissing Hand Cookies

Roll out sugar cookie dough. Use a hand-shaped cookie cutter to create a hand. When the hand comes out of the oven, press a hershey kiss on the palm. Let cool - and EAT!