September 2007  

We do a unit on The Kissing Hand by Audrey Wood during the first week of kindergarten. In this story, Chester is a little raccoon who is worried about starting school for the first time. To make him feel better, his mommy kissed his hand and told him to hold the kiss to his cheek whenever he felt sad. Here is one of the things we do after reading the story.

Everyone makes a  hand print. Later, we colored and cut out the heart at the bottom of the page and pasted it in the middle of the hand. The worksheet says, "Ask me to tell you the story of The Kissing Hand."

I made "kissing hand cookies" for the children's snack time. I purchased a hand print cookie cutter at a craft store and used Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough. Before cooking, I put a Hershey's kiss in the center of each cookie. I got this idea from Mailbox magazine.

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten
by Robert Fulghum

Most of what I really need to know about how to live
and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain,
but there in the sand pile at Sunday school. These are the things I learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and
draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.

The Reading Mom

I had a Mother who read to me

Saga of pirates who scoured the sea,

Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,

"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.             

 I had a mother who read to me the things

That wholesome life to the boy heart brings-

Stories that stir with an upward touch,

Oh, that each mother of boys were such!                

I had a Mother who read me lays

Of ancient and gallant and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,

Which every boy has a right to know.

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be-

I had a Mother who read to me.

I had a mother who read me tales

Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,

True to his trust till his tragic death,

Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

  Gillian, Strickland, "The Reading Mother."