here is my poor urban child trying to play soccer with his friend during a visit.  note his poor urban sister screaming in terror as the ball approaches.  no room in the yard because of those pesky plant beds.

and here is a visual cue created by my first grader.  definitely looks a bit like the visual cues we use at my work with not very verbal preschool visual learners.  she has been wanting to play school constantly lately, always taking the teacher role.  she seems kind, patient, and creative, which makes me think her teacher is good this year.  however, during school play about 90% of the time my daughter is dealing with behavior.  one doll gets a sticker for good behavior, another gets warning checks, a stuffed basset hound gets very jealous of the doll's sticker.  there are many references to this chart which tells the student to "keep eyes on the teacher" "don't talk" "raise your hand" "stop" and "sit cross-legged".  when is asked why playing school is not more about learning things i was told that this was "behavior school".  i asked if real school was like this and was told no, but it is hard not to wonder.

i can also see that playing/being teacher gives my daughter a socially  acceptable way to have total control during play.  i know she can't stand playing school with her brother because he always plays the back-talking class clown who she has to discipline.  maybe they both need that, being in and being out of control.  maybe we all need some more of one of those things...