The Kissing Hand
 The Kissing Hand
Lessons, printables, ideas, and more to match
this lovely story!
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This is a must read book for the
first day of school. Great to read to grades k-2
and even grades 2-4 would enjoy this cute book
about a racoon named Chester who is ready to
start his first day of school. In the story the
raccoon talks about his fear of going to school.
Most of the fears will be very familiar to
primary aged children who are just getting back
to school. Chester's Mom helps him feel loved and
secure by kissing the center of his hand. She
reminds Chester that her love is always right
there and if he should feel frightened or scared
or lonely he should simply hold the hand to his
face and he will feel her love. Read this story
through a couple of times before reading it to
your class. If you are a sap like me, then your
heart will warm up and a tear will appear in your
eye. I love this book!
Many teachers choose to read this
book to their class on the first day. The
children can relate to the little raccoon in this
book. On the first day of school there are many
mixed emotions everywhere. Some children are so
excited about starting school and some don't
every want to leave their parents or their home.
I always choose to read this to my class on the
first day of school. It is a great way to discuss
how the Raccoon is feeling. It also allows
children to see that they have a connection with
Chester. Many children will state to their
classmates that they too felt the way Chester
felt on the first day of school. As a class we
will often chart out our fears for the first day
and some of the things we are excited about.
Another activity that I like to do with my class
after we finish the story is to give them each a
piece of paper with a circle on it. I have them
write their name on the circle and draw how they
are feeling about the first day on the circle
face. I come around and look at the circles and
talk one-on-one with the students. I let them
know that it is ok to draw a sad face in the
circle and that it is ok to be a little bit
scared of the first day of school.
Below you will find printables and
activities I have used in my classrooms. You will
also find ideas from great teachers and awesome
websites to visit.
Updated - July 15, 2005 - More to
Come
Free To Print From Teaching Heart
 Day and Night Activity!
This book is a perfect time to discuss
the term nocturnal.
Night
or Day Sheet
Night
or Day ideas
Use the two sheets above as a group (or
individually) to discuss the things that
go on at night and the things that happen
during the day. You may wish to cut up
the ideas and invite a student up to
place the an idea under the correct
category
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Have each student trace their
hand and then use a sponge heart to make
a kissing hand. Under the hand write the
sentence. __________ came to school and
______ felt ______________.
Here
is a sheet to do this project on.
You could make it into a book or just
send it home with the student.
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Print
Vocabulary Words From The Story!
You could use these in may different
ways.
Put in ABC or on a pocket chart.
To introduce the story.
Parts of speech activity. Read the part
of the book that contains the word and
decide which part of speech the word is!
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Ideas From CDROM
# 4
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The Kissing Hand
1.) Vocab. Strips
- Print, Laminate, and Cut. (k-3)
Use as you wish. They fit well in a
pocket chart or on a word wall.
2.) Day Night Center - Print, Laminate,
Cut, and Use (k-3)
This can be used as a center or group
activity. Students read sentence strips
and place the strip under night or day.
You can place these in a pocket chart or
after you have them laminated and cut,
hot glue a magnet to the back of each and
use on a magnetic white board.
3.) Day Night Activity Sheet - indep.
student activity (follow-up to center
above)
student writes a sentence and illustrates
(k-3)
4.) Kissing Hand Stickers - Print (k-3)
Purchase sticker paper at your local
office store. Print these on sticker
paper and give to students or to the
parents of your students. Use as you
wish!
5.) Raccoon Count By 5 (k-1)
Print, laminate, & cut. Use as a
center or a math game.
6.) Raccoon Kisses - Math Center (k-1)
Student places the correct number of
kisses (lips) next to the raccoon
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Here to Learn More About This CDROM
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Other
Sites With Free Printables
Poems to use with this story
The Kissing Hand
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 more things for you.
So as I change and as I learn
You can witness my growth, too!
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Raccoon,Raccoon
Raccoon,raccoon(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
pointing to imaginary raccoon)
Eating fish and corn(eating motions)
And bird's eggs too.
Raccoon, raccoon,
Hunting at night(hands shade eyes as if
squinting in the dark)
Raccoon, raccoon,
Sleeps in daylight.(sleeping motion
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Poem:
Raccoon, Raccoon
by Pam Miller
Raccoon, raccoon,
(each time you kind of make a mask around
your eyes withyour 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 pointing 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.
(the usual sleeping motion we all do)
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Great Ideas
Make your class a special
treat. Buy a hand heart cookie cutter and some
Sugar Cookie dough. Make each student in your
class a cookie to eat after reading the story. If
you cannot find a cookie cutter with the heart in
the hand, buy a hand cutter and place a candy
heart or hershey kiss in the center. I found my
hand cookie cutter at a Gourmet Chef Store.
At Amazon you can purchase
a racoon puppet. It can be used as a treat for
students that keep a neat desk. The racoon puppet
will pick a favorite desk to stay in for the day.
Learn
More About the Puppet
Before school starts, send
each parent a large piece of construction
paper. Ask them to trace each family
member's hand on the banner and write theirname
next to their hand. They can decorate their
banner with crayons, markers, ribbon, colored
glue, paint, stickers, photos, etc. Ask
them to send their banner in with their child on
the first day of school. The children
willhave a great time looking at the banners.
This also provides them with a sense of
familiarity. Adapt this activity for the first
homework.
Purchase enough heart
shaped stickers for each student in your class.
When you meet the parents of your students before
school starts, read them the book and give them
each a sticker to use with their child on the
first day of school.
Math Game - Pocket Chart
Place the Racoon with the number
in the pocket chart. The student must put the
correct number of kisses (lips) next to the
Racoon.
Teaching Heart Mailringers Share
Their Ideas!!!
Read The Kissing Hand to
the kids on the first day. After you finish, say
something like, "I wonder how many kisses
would fit on your hand????" They'll
immediately start kissing their hands, some will
say "infinity", etc. Have them try to
think of another kind of "kiss" that
they can actually count. They may (or may
not--mine didn't) come up with Hershey's Kisses.
Give each child a worksheet to take back to their
tables, where there's just a handful of kisses
(enough for each child to have one). On their
paper, they should trace their own hand (some
will need help). Also on their paper (you've
already set this up before xeroxing it), there's
a sentence that says, "I think _____kisses
will fit on my hand." After putting one kiss
on their traced hand, as a reference, they should
write their estimate. Then, discuss with them how
they'll figure out how many actually fit on their
hand. Someone will probably say, "trace
them". Then YOU need to model how to trace
the kisses so they touch each other. You will
need to put out a few more kisses at each table,
because their warm little hands start melting the
kisses! When they're done, have the kids discuss
how they'll count the kisses without skipping any
or recounting them. Hopefully, someone will say,
"put a mark in each one as you count
it." Some of mine alos wrote the actual
number in each circle. Then, each child should
write a sentence at the bottom of their paper
telling how many kisses actually fit on their
hand.
For homework, have a worksheet
ready for each child to take home, which will be
tracing their mother's (or grandmother's, or
father's,whomever--think ahead on this one, if
you know the families!), and estimating how many
kisses will fit on that person's hand. I didn't
explain myself well enough, so I actually had a
few parents go out and buy candy kisses that
night and complete the homework with actual
numbers of kisses, but that was what I wanted the
kids to do during math the 2nd day of school.
ONLY the estimating is done at home--you can send
a kiss home in a ziploc bag for them to use as a
reference only.
This was a fun way to start the year, even with
kids I knew well.
Good luck!
Melissa/VA/K-1 looping
In the midst of telling
the story of the Kissing Hand to my Kindergarten,
my daughter Jodi popped in for a visit. She
was leaving for college. I opened her hand
and kissed her palm, with a little explanation as
to why I was doing this very unusual
gesture. The Kindergarten was delighted to
see this in action. Jodi said that it did
warm her heart.......she added that Kindergarten
teachers have a way of doing strange things....ha
Just wanted to share. Barb
I made these up this
summer for my Khand unit and just converted them
to pdf to share with others. Hope the files
aren't too big. An alternate idea I use with my
students is to give students a dab of my special
smelling lotion to rub on their hands. I tell
them that whenever they are feeling lonely or sad
they can smell their hands and it will remind
them of how much they are loved. I use this with
my personal children on days that they have tests
or special projects in school as well (which is
where the class activity stemmed from). My
students will often ask for a dab of my lotion on
days that something bad has happened to them or
they are just feeling yucky. It is really neat to
see them perk up after getting a wiff. :-) --
Shana/MS/1st gr.
Here is a
pocket chart activity that I made.
Shana/MS/1st
gr.
Hi, I teach
Head Start and every year I read the Kissing Hand
to my children, I had some children that didn't
want to leave their mom so I took a picture of
mom and child, traced the child's hand, and cut
the picture to fit on the palm of the hand and
then laminated it, and made a necklace for the
child, so when the child go tlonely for mom all
she/he had to do was lok at the picture and this
really helped marilyn
White
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