Welcome your children back to school with a favorite story: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.
Mommy loves you. Many children feel anxious about the newness of heading back to school, and this sweet book assures them that they are loved and will have a wonderful time. It's great for preschool to second grade, you can find plenty of ways to share and target goals too.
Just so you don't miss it, I have a freebie for you too, so be sure you read all the way through!
The story begins with a little raccoon named Chester.
Chester cries because he is a bit scared to start school. He begs his mama to stay home with everything that is familiar to him, so he can play with his friends, his toys and read his books.Mother gives Chester a family secret: the kissing hand. She places a kiss right in the center of his palm. Now, when Chester places it on his cheek, he can feel the warmth of Mommy's kiss, and he thinks "Mommy loves you."
Chester loves his kissing hand, and he knows his mother's love will go with him... even to school. He loves it so much, that he gives mother her own kissing hand at the end of the story. She presses it to her cheek and she knows: "Chester loves me."
The Kissing Hand is the perfect storybook for back to school.
Here's my plan for Week ONE! We'll read the Kissing Hand with my students. We will talk about feelings vocabulary. So many of my children with language goals have limited descriptions for their emotions: happy, sad, and mad. Sometimes scared. We will talk about words like worried, anxious, excited, fearful.
I needed book companion activities for The Kissing Hand!
School hasn't started yet, but I understand my school has already gained 76 kids this year. That will surely mean more speech therapy IEPs for me. Yikes. This year I will be supervising an SLPA and will be all about multitasking and making things versatile. Starting with week one!
I love that I have small groups, and can really give individualized attention to my children. We'll start by drawing our worries, and talk about what made us feel better.
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| Talk about feelings and worries with this activity |
There are plenty more activities to cover nearly everyone on the caseload. Here are a few pictured here: Category sorting for school supplies. (Everything you see is also available in BW for those who need to be ink-conscious. I always include BW or gray-scale options for you.)
Check out the cute writing craftivity on the left:
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| Who would you give a Kissing Hand too? |
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| Category sorting fun with school supplies |
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| A huge variety of back to school activities |
There are wh and yes/no questions, following directions, story sequencing, story vocabulary, and articulation too.
I made articulation puzzles for minimal pairs.
These will be great for my pre-k and kinders.
I glued them onto file folders to make it easier for little hands and will be adding Velcro when I get back to school. The file folder makes it pretty convenient to hold the pieces. just pop them in a baggie, and into the inside pocket.
Like most of us, I have a range of ages on my caseload.
I needed higher-level activities as well. Vocabulary task cards, more advanced category cards, story map, and an open-ended board game for back to school: Scamper.
I really love using mini-book readers.
The children enjoy the hands-on activity and they are proud to share them at home, giving additional practice. So I created Chester, Chester, I Need a Kiss Quick!
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| Fun reader to learn body parts and where questions. |
Cut out the included heart shapes, or better yet use stickers or die-cut hearts if you have them. Fun! Stick the heart on the children on each page... on a hand, a head, a knee, and on the heart! Your students will practice basic body parts and answering where? questions with this cute little rhyming reader.
If you'd like to have your first two weeks back to school all planned out with these fun activities head over to grab it here: The Kissing Hand Speech Therapy Book Companion
If you'd like to have your first two weeks back to school all planned out with these fun activities head over to grab it here: The Kissing Hand Speech Therapy Book Companion
We will wrap up our first day with this cute little treat.
I created these treat toppers for a sweet little welcome to go along with the story. You can print them double-sided to include a parent note, encouraging story re-tell when the children get home. Tell the children they will get a kiss for themselves and need to share a kiss at home with someone they love.
You can download this FREEBIE in my store here: The Kissing Hand Treat Toppers
Prepping these is easy! Pop a few candy kisses in a baggie, Staple the labels on top, and you are ready to go!
I hope you have a terrific back to school, whether you are starting this week (like me) or in a couple weeks!
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| The Kissing Hand |
Until next time my friends...