A Day at Filastrocca Preschool, Italy: Meaning Making Through Literacy and Creative Experience

  • Keely D. Cline University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Carolyn Pope Edwards University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Alga Giacomelli Filastrocca Preschool
  • Lella Gandini Liaison, Reggio Children
  • Donatella Giovannini Infant/Toddler Services
  • Pistoia Annalia Galardini Crescere
Keywords: library teacher, preschool, literacy activities, meaning making, creative experience

Abstract

In this article, we explore how the library teacher of an Italian preschool with a special mission focused on books, stories, and the imagination uses group literacy activities as a context for encouraging shared meaning making through creative experiences. We take readers inside one day at the Italian Preschool, Filastrocca, providing detailed descriptions and analysis of interactions and activities. We suggest that elaborate extended dialogue among children and the teacher, promotion of empathy through opportunities to take others’ perspectives (including book characters’), and group engagement in shared and multi-faceted creativity are important characteristics related to meaning making in the context of relationships. Encouraging creative exploration and play across all domains of intelligence allows the children to develop their individual strengths into a product uniquely theirs.

Published
2012-06-01
How to Cite
Cline, K. D., Edwards, C. P., Giacomelli, A., Gandini, L., Giovannini, D., & Galardini, P. A. (2012). A Day at Filastrocca Preschool, Italy: Meaning Making Through Literacy and Creative Experience. LEARNing Landscapes, 6(1), 107-127. https://doi.org/10.36510/learnland.v6i1.578