Display the cover of the book and ask students to make predictions about the story. Note the students’ answers on chart paper. As you read aloud, model good reading strategy by wondering aloud what might happen next. Ask the children about Chester’s activities at school, and about his feelings as his first day progresses. At the conclusion of the story, compare the students’ predictions to what really happened. Assure them there are no right or wrong answers in the prediction exercise. Create a simple craft by tracing the children’s hands on construction paper. Cut out the hand and have the students place a heart-shaped sticker on their hands.
Read the story aloud. Discuss that every story has a beginning, middle and end. Guide the students through composing one sentence to summarize each of these parts of the story. Display the summary on chart paper. Construct raccoon masks out of paper plates. Prepare white paper plates by cutting eyeholes, using a paper punch to make holes on the side of the plate for string, then tying a 12-inch piece of string through each hole. Direct the students to cut triangles out of black construction paper for ears and to glue the ears to the back of the plate. Students can then color the black “mask” on the raccoon face, and draw a nose and mouth.
Explain that Chester is a nocturnal animal. Discuss the characteristics of nocturnal animals. See if the students can name other nighttime animals. Generate ideas for ways in which your students can help younger children enjoy school and cope with leaving a parent on the first day. Students can compose letters to kindergarteners and first graders advising them. Post the letters on a “Kissing Hand’ bulletin board. If possible, invite kindergarten and first grade classes to view the bulletin board.
For kindergarteners and first-graders, post the following vocabulary words on a word wall or on chart paper: carefully, forward, scamper, strange, secret and warmth. Model how good readers learn the meaning of unfamiliar words through picture and context clues. Explain the meaning of the words that students are stuck on. Ask students to construct a sentence using each of the words. For older elementary students, use the following vocabulary as a past tense verb lesson: learned, promised, teased and tingled. Discuss that regular verbs use the “-ed” ending to convey past actions. Invite students to discover other verbs in “The Kissing Hand” with the “-ed” suffix.