This First Grade Teacher Took Her Students On An Elaborate Mock Trip To Mexico

Sonja White wanted her first grade students to experience the excitement of going on a trip to Mexico as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. Obviously, she could not take dozens of first graders on an international vacation on her own, so she did the next best thing. She put together an extremely detailed mock trip to Mexico for her students, complete with laminated boarding passes and passports. And if we could go back to school for just one day to be in her classroom, we absolutely would after seeing the amazing viral TikTok of this experience.

Sonja White shared a video on her popular TikTok account to share her students’ recent pretend trip to Mexico, which started with the students headed over to the passport office to get their photos taken, all of them lined up to get their photos taken.

“Come along with first grade to Mexico,” White said in a voiceover in the video, which has since gone viral with other 2.5 million views. “Here we’re taking passport pictures. I’m going to laminate some boarding passes, and I’m going to laminate some sombreros and make them our placemats.”

The students packed carry-on bags to bring on their trip, and White went on to change her classroom into a plane, even having the students line up outside the classroom to board their “non stop flight to Mexico” with their boarding passes in hand. She sat at a desk outside the class as a TSA agent, matching up their faces to their passports to “make sure they are who they say they are.”

After takeoff, which White simulated with a video of a plane taking off on YouTube on a television screen at the front of the class, she turned into a flight attendant. Handing out chips and drinks (which she presumably paid for herself since teachers in this country have to pay for all of their own classroom supplies) on their 15-minute flight.

The class arrived safely in Mexico, where they received a stamp on their passport and their paychecks since it was pay day. Which meant that “everything from here on out, they will have to pay me for,” including gifts at the gift shop for family members, and dinner at the restaurant that was provided by some of the moms.

Folks on TikTok truly could not get enough of this amazing experience. “This would have been the best day ever. Those kids will remember it the rest of their lives,” one viewer wrote, while many people admitted the video got them emotional. “That little boy in the poncho saying ‘were going to mexico!’ Just stole my heart. Too adorable.”

This isn’t the first time Sonja White’s creative teaching process has gone viral. Back in August, she made headlines when she shared her students’ job interviews for classroom jobs on TikTok. Kids showed up to explain why they might be best for jobs around the classroom, with one little boy even coming with a resume.

Sign us up for Ms. White’s class right now, please.