Chester Raccoon and The Kissing Hand
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Chester Raccoon Starts School
The first day of school can be very traumatic for both children and their parents. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn is a wonderful tale of a mother raccoon reassuring her baby that he will have a great night at school and that the kiss she leaves on his hand will warm his heart whenever he presses it to his cheek.
This book is a great way to start off the school year. Here you will find lots of activities that compliment the story keeping the children entertained and focused on learning throughout their first day of school.
Make Kissing Hand Cookies, learn American Sign Language, read about the Adventures of Bobby Coon.
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
The Story of Chester Raccoon and the Kissing Hand
The Kissing Hand is one of the best books to give to a parent, teacher or young child headed off to school for the first time.
Chester Raccoon is having a hard time leaving his mom. The wise mother raccoon opens his had and kisses it. She tells him that the love on his hand will go into his heart every time he presses it against his chest.
Chester Raccoon goes to school at Night
Compare Animals that are Active at Night or during the Day
Forest Animals Scrap Picture Sheet
From Available from the German Plaza
Make a flannel board from a refrigerator box, old science project display board and glue on dark felt to one side and light felt on the other.
Find pictures of animals that are awake at night and during the daytime.
Talk about why Chester goes to school at night and children go to school in the daytime.
Put up the words Nocturnal and Diurnal on the flannel board.
Have the children take turns putting the animals on the right side according to when they are most active.
Note: I write the name of each animal on the back and then make separate word cards also with flannel backing to help children when they are writing and learning to read these words. The flannel board will later become a center activity.
The Kissing Hand Word Wall
Word Walls for Chester and the Kissing Hand
Photo Credit: Jennifer Myers' Writers' Workshop
After reading the story ask if anyone remembers a word from The Kissing Hand. Pick two or three words (vote if you have too many) and write them on index cards big enough for all of the children to see them.
Talk about the letters and the sounds in each word.
Show the children the Word Wall with the letters of the alphabet written in order with spaces for attaching words below each letter.
Help the children attach the words to the word wall.
Give each child a chance to remove a word and reattach the word.
This skill will allow the children to borrow a word during Writing Workshop to help them spell it and know how to replace the word when done.
You can find lots more activities to do with words on my Word Walls and Pointers lens.
Compare Chester Raccoon and Bobby Coon
Make a Raccoon Story Comparison Chart
Photo Credit: story comparison chart
1. Photocopy and reduce book covers
2. Glue to the left hand side of the chart
3. Glue category pictures at the top
4. Put stickers or buttons in appropriate book rows
5. Count the elements of the story
Modeling how to make graphs as you compare the two stories is very important at the beginning of the year. Soon you will find that children will begin to make their own graphs.
- Kindergarten Lesson Plans
- Kindergarten lesson plans to encourage exploration, problem solving, creative thought processes and basic skills development.
Patricia started kindergarten-lessons.com with the intention of helping teachers make their classrooms a place of exploration, problem solving and creative thought processes.
Chester Raccoon's Hollow Tree
A Tree for The Kissing Hand retelling
This soft plush tree it the perfect place to act out the story of the Kissing Hand with Chester feeling reluctant to go to school and his mother reassuring him that it will be ok. We they are finished the small plush finger puppets can be stored in the hollow of the trees.
- Chocolate Brown Tree Stump by Fuzzy Town
- Wow! This tree stump allows you to bring the forest inside your home. Why not enjoy an enchanted forest in your bedroom? A safe haven where your plush animals can play and your real animals can sleep. Every animal needs a safe nook to call home, even a stuffed animal. If you are looking for a place where your plush animals can feel at home though they are away from the forest, then consider this triple layer stump. One of the cool things about this stump is that is versatile. If you have a kitty, she might enjoy curling up in one of the nooks to have a cat nap. This unusual stump features two nooks where all animals can make a home.
This large tree stump is from Fuzzy Town's Habitats Collection, which includes habitats for plush animals of all shapes and sizes.
Kissing Hand Poem
by Marjorie Davis in Mailbox (Aug/Sept 2001)
Tune:Twinkle Twinkle Little StarHere's a special trick I know
When I'm sad and scared to go.
Take my hand and kiss it here.
This kiss from you, I will hold dear.
Down my hand and up my arm,
Into my heart the kiss goes on.
Raccoon Poster
Photo Credit: Can't Get Me by artistch
Available from Zazzle
The Raccoon Family Dollhouse Center
Some children love to act out the stories. It is important to model not only appropriate behavior in the Dollhouse Center but also where things should be stored when finished.
I have an old coke bottle box on a shelf near the Dollhouse Center. I label each box with the name of a stuffed animal, put a picture of it on the back and slip it into a plastic nametag. The nametags have strings attached which are attached to the cubby.
The children put the stuffed animals back into their holes when finished. If they don't remember which hole they just check the tag.
The Kissing Hand Cookie Cutters
Photo Credit: Playdough
on Flickr, Creative Commons
One of the centers that children love to work in is the Playdough Center.
I have shelves with bins of alphabet letters, numbers, rolling pins and shaping tools. Each bin is labeled.
On the shelf I have a cookie sheet that holds the special themed cookie cutters. Each one is labeled with the shape and the word for that shape. This helps the children to associate the word with the object.
At the beginning of the year I model how to put away each cookie cutter, how to clean up the table and floor and how to wash hands after using the Playdough Center.
PLAYDOUGH
2 cups Flour
1/4 cups Cream of Tartar
1/2 cup salt
2 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil
2 cups of water
food coloring
Mix these all together in a pan and cook until it forms a ball. You can add spices or flavoring to make scented playdough. This should keep for months if stored in an airtight container.
Great sites for more Ideas related to The Kissing Hand
- The Kissing Hand (Mrs. Fischer's Kinder~Themes)
- Near the end of the day we practice re-telling the story. I tell the kids that their homework for the first day of school is to go home, give their family the gift and tell them the story of The Kissing Hand. They tell their parents not to be sad and to remember that they are thinking of them each day while they are away at school.
- The Kissing Hand at The Virtual Vine
- There are many students who have anxieties about attending school, not just preschool and kindergarten children. I think this book, accompanied by the appropriate activities, could be successfully used with 1st and 2nd graders as well as Kindergarten and Preschool.
- The Kissing Hand
- Poems & Songs related to The Kissing Hand, the First Day Of Kindergarten and raccoons.
- The Kissing Hand Unit - Mrs. Nelson's Class
- Contains classroom photos, thematic teaching ideas for throughout the year, and resources for teaching reading, writing, and math.
- The Kissing Hand at Little Girattes
- Go on a Chester Chase to familiarize students with the school rooms and personnel I gave each staff member a note to read and a heart sticker to put on the palm of their hand. I taped this note in the back of The Kissing Hand book and we were off to the library.
The Kissing Hand on eBay
First Day of School
Starting the School Year Books
Boy Picks Apples from a Conveniently Low-Hanging Tree Filling a Wheelbarrow
E. LanceBuy This Allposters.com
All through the seasons, Lizzy loves the Apple Tree outside her window.
On her first day of school, she uses it to create a new friend to take along with her: Susanna, a doll with an apple for a head and twigs for its body.
When children make fun of Susanna, Lizzy leaves her at home for a while. Lizzy's mother shows her how to make Susanna into an Apple-head Doll that becomes the model for a class craft project.
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten
This is a great book for learning about the Alphabet and preparing for the first day of school. Miss Bindergarten has 26 new students; one for each letter of the alphabet.
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
This is one of my favorite books. Often thought of as a book for very young children, this book is ideal for Beginning Readers. With a limited number of words that are repeated often and large print, children soon can remember the words and "read" the book.
Use finger paint to make hand and foot prints and once dry have children write the words "hand" and "foot" below each print. You might also find pictures of raccoon prints on the Internet and then cut and paste them next to the children's prints for comparison.
Photo Credit: First footprints
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
Use finger paint to make hand and foot prints and once dry have children write the words "hand" and "foot" below each print. You might also find pictures of raccoon prints on the Internet and then cut and paste them next to the children's prints for comparison.
Paint and Count the Raccoon Paws
Raccoons are known for their very dexterous hands so we make handprints and post them along the top of the chair rail. Later we will use them for counting by 5's.
The handprint stickers work great for making books of word problems.
Chester Raccoon Makes Hand Print Quilts
The Kissing Hand Theme expended throughout the Year
You might add a heart to each of the hands to continue the Kissing Hand Theme.
- Crafty Quilts
- Each month we have fun using our hand prints to create our "crafty quilts." At the end of the month, these special quilt pieces are placed in the children's kindergarten memory books.
Chester Raccoon Learns Sign Language
Sign Language as part of a Raccoon Unit Study
Raccoon's hands are very important to them and this makes the perfect time to introduce American Sign Language.
1. Have the children trace around their hands and cut them out.
2. Place a heart to show where Chester's Mom kissed his hand.
3. Fold the fingers down to make the American Sign Language signal for I love you.
4. Glue the hands to a stiff paper that is just smaller than a plastic sandwich bag.
5. Write the words I Love You under the hand.
6. Put the hand in the bag and put them in the children's backpacks to take home and remind the children to tell the story of the Kissing Hand for homework.
The Ear Muff allows children to experience what it would be like to be deaf or hard of hearing. After modeling how to use and put away these materials children could use them in a Sign Language center practicing signing to each other.
Photo Credit: Practicing Sign Language
on Flickr, Creative Commons
1. Have the children trace around their hands and cut them out.
2. Place a heart to show where Chester's Mom kissed his hand.
3. Fold the fingers down to make the American Sign Language signal for I love you.
4. Glue the hands to a stiff paper that is just smaller than a plastic sandwich bag.
5. Write the words I Love You under the hand.
6. Put the hand in the bag and put them in the children's backpacks to take home and remind the children to tell the story of the Kissing Hand for homework.
The Ear Muff allows children to experience what it would be like to be deaf or hard of hearing. After modeling how to use and put away these materials children could use them in a Sign Language center practicing signing to each other.
Sign Language Games
Extending the Kissing Hand
These blackline masters are set up to be printed back to back cards.
1. Make two of each page to play Concentration or Go Fish.
2. Mix up the cards and put them back in ABC order.
3. Ask individuals to color them and then use them to label the room.
4. Use them to play a silent Simon Says game.
Once children have learned the signs they can use them to silently communicate across the classroom or across the playground.
1. Make two of each page to play Concentration or Go Fish.
2. Mix up the cards and put them back in ABC order.
3. Ask individuals to color them and then use them to label the room.
4. Use them to play a silent Simon Says game.
Once children have learned the signs they can use them to silently communicate across the classroom or across the playground.
Learn more about Raccoons
GramaBarb will help you learn even more about these amazing creatures of the Woodlands on her Raccoons 101 lens.
My Raccoon Unit Study has more information about raccoons as well as dozens of classroom activities related to the raccoon theme.
My Raccoon Unit Study has more information about raccoons as well as dozens of classroom activities related to the raccoon theme.
Raccoon Mask
- Raccoon Mask
Wild Animal Baby Magazine shows how to make these Raccoon Mask Glasses which the kids love to use for Read the Room activities.
Raccoon Costume
1. Make a mask from a long piece of felt with eyes cut out like the Lone Ranger.
2. Put on a black or dark brown turtle neck and leggings.
3. Stuff black soccer socks with crumpled newspaper.
4. Glue strips of brown felt onto the sock with Tacky Glue to make tail stripes.
5. Glue a large white felt oval to the stomach of the turtle neck.
The Kissing Hand Printable Activities
These are printable games that could be added to the Raccoon Literacy Bag
- The Kissing Hand Tic Tac Toe
- Printable Tic Tac Toe game with hands and raccoons.
- Measuring Raccoon Tails
- Printable Raccoon Tails
The Kissing Hand Literacy Bag
Add:
1. A copy of The Kissing Hand
2. A non-fiction book about raccoons,
3. A few raccoon math and language arts activities such as the Tic Tac Toe Game above
4. A stuffed raccoon
5. A journal to record your raccoon's adventures
And you have a Literacy Bag that is so much fun that the children will be begging to take it home.
I Love Raccoons Tote Bag
Price: 
Sweetheart Raccoon Tote Bag
Price:
Raccoons live in the Woodlands
Check out these other lenses about Woodland Creatures...
Stone Stoup Homeschooling Online Unit Study Directory
Chester Raccoon and The Kissing Hand is in the Stone Stoup Homeschooling Online Unit Study Directory
Thank you to the Four Wheelers for having included the Chester Raccoon and The Kissing Hand in their directory. This directory has now been passed on to Stone Soup Homeschooling.
- Unit Studies: Stone Soup Homeschool Network - Stone Soup Homeschool Network
- Stone Soup Homeschool Network We are very excited to be entrusted with this rather comprehensive Unit Study Database. It was started many years ago, and maintained for the last decade by the
Look Who's Twittering about American Sign Language
-
- LiveDreamReach
- “@ZBJKING: ADELE Rolling In The Deep in American Sign Language: http://t.co/GeOZDQhC via @youtube CHECK OUT MY VIDEO!!!! #PROMOTE” 👍👍👍👍
-
- CRAVEsomeRAVE
- RT @ZBJKING: BEYONCE LOVE ON TOP in American Sign Language: http://t.co/DnkpTKuM via @youtube CHECK OUT MY VIDEO!!!! #PROMOTE
-
- _MarryMeRihanna
- RT @ZBJKING: BEYONCE HALO in American Sign Language: http://t.co/3i8cTFux via @youtube CHECK OUT MY VIDEO!!!! #PROMOTE
-
- ZBJKING
- BEYONCE LOVE ON TOP in American Sign Language: http://t.co/DnkpTKuM via @youtube CHECK OUT MY VIDEO!!!! #PROMOTE
-
- ZBJKING
- BEYONCE HALO in American Sign Language: http://t.co/3i8cTFux via @youtube CHECK OUT MY VIDEO!!!! #PROMOTE
automatically generated by Twitter
Chat with Chester:
Have you read The Kissing Hand and if so how have you used it in helping a young child deal with separation?
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Pastiche
Aug 13, 2011 @ 5:16 pm | delete
- I just learned about The Kissing Hand, and now I want to read the book. I adore this unit you've shared ... blessings!
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KokoTravel
Dec 18, 2010 @ 2:05 pm | delete
- I haven't ... YET! I am going to recommend this to my daughter!
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lisadh
Sep 2, 2010 @ 5:18 pm | delete
- My kids both love this book. Great ideas for complementary activities.
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science_fiction_novels_cyberpunk
Nov 3, 2009 @ 9:37 am | delete
- Lovely lens, full of helpful advices. Excellent job, 5*!
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ChineseKitesforKids
Sep 3, 2009 @ 6:22 pm | delete
- I actually have this book (well my kids do). It's a great story and love how you've incorporated activities along with it. Great job! I've lensrolled you right back to my American Sign Language Alphabet lens as well as my American Sign Language Colors lens. Thanks for sharing! 5*****
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StephenC
Feb 15, 2009 @ 8:48 pm | delete
- Good lens, terrific stuff. Have not read The Kissing Hand, but will try in the future.
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RedPanda25
Oct 9, 2008 @ 6:01 pm | delete
- Great job, this lens is great! By the way, Welcome to my Children's Books Group! Keep up the good work!
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debnet
Sep 4, 2008 @ 1:10 pm | delete
- Lovely Lens Evelyn :) Thank you for joining The Emotional Wellbeing Group :)
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jaktraks
Sep 1, 2008 @ 8:45 am | delete
- Love your lens! Welcome to the Mental and Emotional Health group.
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mulberry
Aug 24, 2008 @ 8:44 pm | delete
- Sounds like a great book and you have so many great classroom ideas!
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A_RovingReporter
Aug 24, 2008 @ 2:50 am | delete
- A great book that should be a great companion to parents with school-going kids. A great lens by a great lensmaster and an educational consultant. Five stars.
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Barkely
Aug 23, 2008 @ 10:30 am | delete
- Too cute, I'll have to check out this book. Sounds like a great one to add to my collection:)
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About the Author of this Lens
Activities to augment The Kissing Hand
Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog.
A lensography is a compilation of all the webpages someone on Squidoo has written. You can find hundreds of more teaching ideas by checking out my other lenses.
Chester Raccoon in the Kingdom
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Evelyn_Saenz
My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning... more »
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