Dear Reader,
let us introduce ourselves! We
are Anna and Anna Chiara, two students of Primary Education
Sciences at the University of Padua who share the dream of becoming
teachers.
Anna Chiara came up with the
brilliant idea of connecting our internship
experiences through an outdated medium, sometimes uncomfortable and slow, but
indelibly emotional: a letter.
While fourth grade students
(9-10 years old) of a primary school in the province of Padua were facing the
difficult discovery of places and spaces in their city-province, through the
book "Mistica Maëva and the Starry Tower" by Laura Walter, in a
primary school in the province of Verona, other pupils were deepening the
reading and understanding of written texts, through the story of "Mistica
Maëva and the Venice Ring" by the same author.
Thanks to Mistica Maëva, her funny
friends and incredible adventures, we have found an exciting common story to
live and share in our letters with our pen friends in order to get to know
each other better, between Padua and Verona.
Anna’s VERSION: FROM VERONA ...
Our didactic project was focused
on the promotion of reading, with attention to understanding written
information.
In order to achieve those
competences, we planned listening activities (Night of Tales), reading
activities (analysis of the book "Mistica Maëva and the Venice Ring" by
Laura Walter) and writing activities as means to motivate and develop the
understanding of the text (epistolary correspondence with
a primary school in the province of Padua).
The "Night of Tales",
a Swiss project that has been repeated yearly since 1991, has involved girls
and boys aged five to eleven, accompanied by their parents, in an evening dedicated
to reading books at school.
Nearly eighty children joined, carrying a
comfortable pillow from home, and found a group of twenty parents and two
fifth-grade students who read and acted stories about "All colours!",
the slogan of the evening. The readings continued in the
morning classes with fourth graders, where the children had the opportunity to read
the book "Mistica Maëva and the Venice Ring".
Through cooperative
learning, silent or multi-voice reading, guided reflection on reading
techniques and strategies, the pupils read the entire book, which became the
object of games and challenges. Finally, fifth graders, involved in a peer
tutoring activity, were called to help their fourth grade classmates to learn
how to write a letter.
Epistolary correspondence with the Paduan school began
and allowed a precious space and time to mature the reading of Mistica
Maëva's adventures, to give birth to stories and to share life stories.
ANNA CHIARA’s version: ... TO PADUA
In the meanwhile, in the
Paduan area, two fourth grade classes have made the discovery of the city of
Padua and all its wonders. Three parallel and different paths have
accompanied us in this great adventure with a specific purpose: preparing the children
for the sightseeing of the city, which will soon take place. A question guided
the moments that quickly followed one another in our lessons together: how can
our minds of explorers imagine Padua? Here is when the children began to
immerse in this great challenge with trust and joy in a surprising way.
A first path took place with
the reading of the book "Mistica Maëva and the Starry Tower" which
guided us inside the city of Padua, to discover its smaller secrets. We looked
at photographs and videos, paintings and drawings, and we imagined the beauty
of this city. The analysis of the chapters read in the classroom, helped us to
divide narrative (the story of Mistica and Giaki), structural (streets, squares
and buildings of the city) and cultural elements (idioms, typical foods,
legends and tales).
The second path, intertwined
with the previous one, involved the children in a unique correspondence: the
epistolary one. The children sent several letters to the two fourth grade classes
in Verona, writing about themselves and the adventure of Mistica Maëva, that in
the meantime they were listening to in the classroom, and they slowly discovered
the beauty of having an unusual friend, a pen friend.
The third path, again linked
to the previous two, uncovered the children’s creativity and artistic skills.
We created a city model of some of the most famous buildings in Padua,
where little Maëva accompanied us step by step. We also created small
paintings with different painting techniques, representative of the story that
we read and listened to in the classroom. A small museum will be made for these
works: "Padua in miniature", open to families interested in visiting
it, accompanied by children's stories.
Their great minds and small
hands created much more than what we could have imagined and the discovery of
Padua through reading, imagination and correspondence was truly surprising in
every aspect, for them, and for me.
DEAR TEACHERS,
we hope you enjoyed our educational project!
Would you be interested in knowing more?
Or in sharing your experiences
with us?
Do not hesitate to contact us,
we would be happy to listen to you and tell
you
