Lesson Plan: "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn storybook

Starting school can bring big feelings for little ones. ❤️ The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn is a sweet story that eases those worries and celebrates the bond between parent and child. ✋✨ This lesson plan offers simple, meaningful activities to help children feel comforted, connected, and ready for the school day.

TOPIC: back-to-school, feelings

AGE GROUP: 6-10 yr olds

LANGUAGE SKILLS: speaking, listening, writing (or drawing)

THINKING SKILLS:

LOTS:

remember

understand

HOTS

create

analyze

critical thinking

SEL COMPONENT: recognizing and dealing with back-to-school anxiety, develop emotional literacy by learning to express love and connection, build a sense of community in the classroom.

VOCABULARY: back-to-school action verbs

PROCEDURE

Pre-reading

Using the book cover, introduce the two characters. Explain they are racoons. Ask children to speculate on what's the relationship between them: accept all answers until someone says "mum/son". Explain the son is called Chester.

To introduce the title of the story, hold your hand open in front of you and kiss your palm. Ask students to name the action (to kiss). Ask students what part of your body you are kissing. Note all answers until someone says "hand". Now go back to the book cover and show students the title, mime the action of kissing your hand while you read it.

Story time

Hold the book open and start reading the story. If your students are young, you can tell and adapt the story to their language skills and attention span, rather than reading every word from the book.

Ask students to practise active listening by raising their hand every time they hear the expression "kissing hand".

Table time (select activity based on age and skills)

SKILL 1 - Remember

On the board, create a story map and ask students to help you fill it in (students can reproduce the map on their exercise book and complete individually).

Title	Author
Characters	Settings

SKILL 2 - Understand

Discuss what is the problem in the story. Good answers could be:

• Chester doesn't want to go to school

• Chester is worried / scared / anxious

• Chester doesn't want to leave mum

Ask students to:

• (6-8 yr olds) draw a picture of Chester and his mum, then ask simple questions on the drawing

• (9-10 yr olds) write 5 sentences describing: 1. where Chester and mum are, 2. what is Chester's problem, 3. what does mum do to solve it, 4. where does Chester go in the end, 5. how does mum feel after.

SKILL 3 - Create

Ask students to trace their hands on construction paper and cut them out. Ask each student to draw, colour and cut out a construction paper red heart. Assist students in gluing the heart in the center of the palm. Explain that this is their own "kissing hand", a reminder of the love from their families.

Create a class poster by sticking all the hands on it. Connect the hands with kind words for classmates. Hang the poster low enough for students to be able to touch their kissing hand every time they miss home.

SKILL 4 - Analyze (recommended for older students)

In plenary, brainstorm ideas on how you can overcome back-to-school anxiety. Some ideas could be:

• familiarize with the school building

• create routines: e.g. prepare bag and clothes the night before

• buy school supplies

• think positive

• breathe

Run a class survey: ask students to vote for their favourite way to overcome anxiety. Collate results in a graph. Discuss results.

SKILL 5 - Critical thinking / Outdoor learning

Organize a schoolyard scavenger hunt.

Prepare a worksheet suitable for students' age:

• (6-8 yr olds) find objects shown in the picture and tick the box

• (9-10 yr olds) read the sentences, find the object, tick or describe. Examples of sentences to include in the worksheet could be:

• find a shady area

• find a tree used as animal home

• find a creature living under something

• find the windiest spot in the playground

• find something living in a crack

• find something that has been planted by a human

• find something that has never been alive

TEACHING VOCABULARY

Divide the board in two parts. On one side write "at home", on the other side write "at school".

Provide students with a list of actions taken from the story: go to school / stay at home / play with toys / read a book / play with friends / swing on the swing /make new friends

Ask students to help you write the expressions under the correct heading (some can go in both). Reflect on the added value of going to school: not just to study but also to make new friends, play with new toys, read new books, swing on a new swing.

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