The activity starts out with a read aloud of the book, The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. The Kissing Hand is about a young raccoon named Chester who does not want to go to school but would rather stay at home with his mother. His mother tells her son that she has a wonderful secret that will make his time at school “warm and cozy” just like his days at home. The secret involves Chester’s mother kissing his palm and telling him to press his hand to his cheek whenever he is sad or lonely and Chester quickly learns the power of that kiss. This wonderful story can help sooth the nerves of our young students during their first day of school.

After reading the book you can have a discussion with the class about being nervous for the first day of school… this is a good time to let them in on a little secret which is that teachers are nervous too!

After the class discussion there are fun art activities you can do as well. I’ve seen a few ideas but the one I like best is having the children make a handprint in red and then on another piece of paper draw a picture of their family. Then you staple to the two together and have them glue a heart in the middle of the hand. This is a great present for their families after the first day of school. Another cute idea is to have hand shaped cookies made and let students put Hershey’s kisses in the palm. Of course please make sure your school allows you to serve students food and make sure there are no allergies!

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate

An adorable tale that follows Miss Bindergarten as she prepares for the first day of kindergarten and the arrival of her 26 new students (one for every letter in the alphabet) who are preparing for the first day as well.

Miss Bindergarten has a whole series of books that would be a great addition to any class including a book about going on a field trip, the 100^th day of school, and the last day of kindergarten. There is also a cute Miss Bindergarten doll to go along with the stories.

Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come by Nancy Carlson

A fun tale about little Henry who is so excited about kindergarten he forgets to do all the important things we need to do in the morning like get dressed, brush your teeth, and eat breakfast! Henry becomes a little overwhelmed when he finally makes it to school and realizes it’s a little bigger then he expected, with the help of a new friend he quickly realizes that kindergarten is fun! (Also available in a Spanish edition)

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg

A twist on the traditional tales about the first day of school jitters. The book takes us through the tale of Sarah who is nervous and anxious about the first day of school. All along the reading is thinking it’s the student who is worried about how school will be; we find out in the end that it is actually the teacher. This is a great story to read to students who might have concerns about the first day; it shows them that even the teacher can be nervous too!