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Three children play together by animating a butterfly and two toy turtles. These animals become the central characters around which the children collaborate to develop a pretend script. Study how the children use symbols in their play and consider why some symbols are constant while others change. Observe how pretending together encourages the children to reject certain symbols while accepting others. When Charlie and Oz animate their turtles to fly, Jason says, “No, you have to stay on the ground, but you can hop.” Observe how the children demonstrate knowledge about negotiating pretend play scripts with peers. As you notice how the teacher works to extend the children’s pretend script and what strategy she uses to hold the children accountable for their symbol use, consider where you think she is most effective.

Keywords: Fives, Teaching, Children-Teacher, Symbolization, Pretense, Negotiation

Length of stand-alone master video clip: 2 minutes 36 seconds