Content area
Full text
It is the third week that Ms. Sotto's preschool classroom has been turned into an airport. The literacy center is a ticket counter, with a travel agency complete with child-made passports, tickets, and travel brochures. In the block area the children have constructed a walk-through X-ray scanner from cardboard boxes. A smaller box with openings on both ends functions as the screening device for carry-on luggage. There is an airplane cockpit made out of a big piece of cardboard with child-drawn instruments, an upside-down egg carton for a keyboard, and a paper plate that functions as the steering wheel.
Sophia tells her friend Vince that she is going on a trip and that she is going to forget to take out her water bottle. Then she won't be able to get through security. Vince says he is going to go to Puerto Rico where his grandmother lives. Sophia puts on her backpack and stands in line behind Vince. Finally it's her turn.
"Where are you going?" asks Tanya, the child behind the counter. "I'm goin' to Puerto Rico too." "OK. Here's your passport and your ticket to Puerto Rico. Your flight leaves at 77 o'clock." Tanya hands two pieces of torn construction paper to Sophia. Sophia goes to another center and takes off her shoes. She puts them in a basket with her backpack, then pushes the basket through the scanner. Amir, who is the security guard, waits until Sophia walks through the X-ray frame, then waves a paper towel roll wand over her head. "OK," he says, "you can go now." Another security guard, Milda, is standing with Sophia's backpack, holding the bottle of water that Sophia "forgot" to take out of her backpack. "This is more than three ounces!" "Oh, I forgot. I'll put it in my cubby," says Sophia as she takes the bottle and runs to her cubby. Her next stop is the passenger lounge.
What is happening in Ms. Sotto's classroom is an example of what most early childhood educators mean when they talk about make-believe play - a fantasy world created by children where their imagination soars, their language expands, and their social skills develop. Unfortunately, play observed in many early childhood classrooms rarely reaches this level; often children...