Joy On A Dime : Pre K learning through PLAY!

I am temporarily teaching my 4 year old grandson 2-3 days a week. What joy it gives me to teach a child who is eager to learn! Yesterday we started off with him tracing the letters in his name and went to writing his name on paper and followed up with writing it with chalk on the driveway.

We played Go Fish with cards that had upper and lower case letters on them along with pictures of animals to match. He beat me both times!!Next I asked him to draw a picture of himself on paper and then followed up with chalk outside! Tyler traced shapes,cut them out and colored and glued the to construction paper. Learning shapes and using scissors combines math and fine motor skills.

My sister is on the New Jersey Department of Education over Early Childhood Education. She told me that kids learn best through play. I tried to incorporate this in todays plans! We played the color and number Go Fish game.I read several books to him and while I was reading I asked alot of questions such as:How many ducks do you see? What does disappear mean? Why do you think that happened? What sound does that word start with? What rhymes with cat?This is probably the best way to encourage reading to Pre K students. Vovabulary is also increased!

When I cooked him lunch I asked him to count his blueberries. After he ate a couple I asked him to count again and subtraction was used.There are learning opportunities in every situation!