SortEditi around a long white sheet, the children draw a plate, a tomato, the cutlery, the glass. At a signal of the teacher they exchange place, they make some bending, stretch, stretch and embrace each other. No one remains alone. In the end, everyone puts his “signature” on the side of the plate. The large table is ready. We are in the S. Caterina di Lastra school in Signa, a quarter of an hour by train from Florence. It is part of an comprehensive institute formed by 13 schools – among those of childhood, primary and a secondary secondary school – with 1700 children and teenagers in different countries.
The institute is among the winners in 2024 of the Eita Prize (European Innovative Teaching Award), which is the important European recognition for the best innovative teaching practices assigned to Erasmus+ projects (the European program for education, training, youth and sport). The Tuscany Regional School Office coordinated the winning project, “Across Well-Boing”, to which four comprehensive institutes collaborated: the Sestini of Agliana (PT), the Levi Montalcini of Campi Bisenzio (FI), the IC of Grosseto and, in fact, that of Lastra a Signa.
Eleonora Marchionni, who directs the comprehensive, explains how the project has focused on staff training: “Trentino among our teachers went to learn how well -being in schools of other countries, and following the activities in silence ( Job Shadowing ), is attending courses. To make the community feel good, the individual will be able to enter into relationship with others in the best way. This year, thanks to a new funding of the EU and Indirect (National Institute Documentation Innovation Educational Research) We will start abroad some students of 4th and 5th primary and others of the secondary secondary school, always for a focus on well -being ».
A child draws a circle in Lastra’s kindergarten in Signa (Florence). Photo Lorenzo Pesce.
In kindergarten, children need time
The updating of adults and contact with other educational experiences have a positive relapse on children, because they affect the climate of collaboration, welcome and trust: «We have many projects in progress and a strong link with the territory. Ours is a big family »continues the manager. It is also very important to maintain a positive relationship with mothers and dads“Because in the transition between the nest and the kindergarten there is discontinuity. Here, after the reception period, the parents remain outside, the relationship with the institution is formalized. This necessary detachment helps the child to grow and allows him autonomy ».
At S. Caterina, a pretty house surrounded by a small garden in the town center, The members are 50, divided into two sections, 3-4 years and 5-6. On the central trio, a room opens on the right where the largest draw the common table with the brushes. On the left, in another room the little ones are following on the LIM (multimedia interactive blackboard) a short movie on the ocean. Everyone is concentrated and precisely answer the teacher’s questions.Following, with Lego, they build something at will on the theme: sea, fish and fishermen, boats. Fantasy runs, the work goes on.
“The kindergarten allows children to enter the school community in a serene, active and proactive way, taking into account the needs and the times of learning and growth” says the teacher Cristina Detti, coordinator of the structure. Outside here, children are always running. Instead it takes time to listen to them and help them express their emotions. Have you seen how they embraced each other, after finishing the table design? That moment is important. When they enter the morning, we always ask if they want to say something to his companions, if they feel they have to clarify, so the day begins with peace of mind »he says.
A section of the Lastra’s kindergarten in Signa (FI). Photo Lorenzo Pesce.
In the kindergarten, you learn to share
As part of the wellness project, the teacher was in a school in Cyprus, where he learned the “bomb” game that he proposed to Lastra a Signa. “Children receive a fake “bomb”, any object. When I say “The bomb bursts!” They tell me the emotions of the moment. A variant is the “thought box”, if they pass it and when I say stop they open it. There is nothing inside, then I ask to express a thought. For example: what makes you angry? ” . The child opens and relaxes.
He adds the vice -president Elisa Avola, contact person for the kindergarten: «The child spends many hours in an environment where he enjoys, learns to share, goes to discover the world and acquires confidence in himself. Not everyone has done the nest and for many this is the first moment in which you compare yourself with others».
Another game that the teacher Cristina borrowed from Cyprus, as part of a course on the Education (Education outside), is the “Treasure box”. «Everyone has a box where he puts leaves, stones and twigs he collects in the garden. Upon returning, I ask to bring out the “treasures”. But what remains on the bottom of the box? A mirror. The real treasure is to find yourself».
From Mandala to the golden section
At S. Caterina we also work on curiosity. “Children increasingly arrive already digital experts, and then we must stimulate imagination, lay the foundations for the future»Says the vice -previews. Spess the colleagues of primary and secondary secondary are invited, and together with the discoveries are made:” We were with a mathematics teacher we made a natural mandala with dried apple slices “recalls the teacher Gabriella Panna. «A child noticed the pentagonal form of a core and from there he left with a lesson until he explained the golden section. There are no predetermined limits, it is children who indicate the road ».
Among the challenges of the future, according to the vice -president, there is the relationship with families: «It is essential that it goes in the same direction. Let’s see scared parents, who ask us for help. Many, at the interviews, trust us to feel inadequate. Knowing how to communicate helps everyone to feel good ».
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