The Kissing Hand

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn is a wonderful story to read on the first day of school. All four of my children started school with this book.


It's about Chester the Raccoon and his fear of going to school. Chester's mom relieves his fear by kissing the palm of his hand and telling him that she is always there with him. If he misses her or becomes frightened or anxious at school, all he has to do is hold his palm to his cheek and feel her love and kisses.

It is truly a sweet story and one that every young child should enjoy in their early days of school.

There are several activities and resources to enhance your child's experience with Chester and The Kissing Hand.

Chicka Chicka Boom boom

I've used Bill Martin Jr.'s Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book to teach all four of my kids their ABC's. It's fun, colorful, and repetitious.

In my opinion asa former teacher's aide and literacy tutor, books that are repetitive help kids (and adults) learn to read faster. They give them more confidence because they know what to expect and will start to recognize the words in other contexts.

There are several activities that can be done with this book. One of my favorites is to draw a coconut tree and put it up on your fridge with some alphabet magnets. As you read the story, have your kids find the right letter and add it to the tree. Before ya know it, they'll have letter recognition down pat.

If you'd rather not have your fridge covered in magnets, you can print out these coloring sheets and let your kids color along while you read the story.

If you're a teacher or homeschooler, you might find this literature unit helpful. It's full of great ideas to go along with the book.

My four year old still loves Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and we've been reading it practically her whole life!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen has been one of my favorite children's books for as long as I can remember. When I was an early childhood teacher's aide about five years ago, we read it every morning as part of circle time. The kids loved it because it was repetitious and fun. We made up actions to go along with the story and the kids really got involved. After a few weeks, every kid in the class could "read" the whole story by themselves.

Scholastic offers an online lesson plan for use with this book. The DLTK-kids website has several bear crafts that would go along with the book as well.

I recommend We're Going on a Bear Hunt to teachers, daycare providers, and parents of young children. You will not be disappointed. Your children will love it and so will you!