First Day

To help ease some of the first day jitters, I read the kids a cute story about a raccoon named Chester who is worried about leaving his mom to go to school.  She teaches him a special trick to help him feel her love while he was away and in return he teaches his mom a trick too! I had our preschool moms help out by writing a note to their kids and giving them a special gift to help them feel comfortable at preschool and they did fantastic! 

The Kissing Hand

For our first day this year we read "The Kissing Hand" This is a story about a Raccoon named Chester who is afraid to go to school.  His mom reassures him that school will be wonderful and shows him a special secret that helps him to feel safe at school.  To add to this activity I had the mom's send a letter to school for their child about how proud they are of them or how they hoped the first day of school would go great for them and then I had them kiss the paper with lipstick or use a lips stamp, sticker or clip art to the letter. After I read the letters to the children we played a color matching game using Chester Raccoon pictures with colors and color sight words which you can find HERE.