“This is the most compelling part of a new teacher’s role: getting kids to read and write. It will be essential for them to grow responsible citizens. ” LEGO® EDUCATION: THE POWER OF READING AND STORYTELLING FOR CHILDREN

Lauren, recent graduate educator

“We create the story, the teacher only reads it! It’s really funny!”

Gabriel, 6 years old

Lauren has just started teaching but she already has a shelf full of books in her class, which the class spends at least an hour every day. The “literature” lesson is held together by Lauren and her children: she reads a story and her students build it, live it, recite it! They use all sorts of materials: games, disused clothes, constructions, carpets… because Lauren wants to share with her children a reality rich in literary experiences. Together, they establish a frame, a canvas for the lesson: she reads a story and each child has to look for objects in the classroom that remind him of elements of the story; alone or in pairs or in groups, they “create and shape” a sequence of the story. Then Lauren asks them to summarize it, draw it or write it. Obviously for the pre-school age, “To write” means only to draw graphic signs; however the teacher noticed that,with the stimulus of “being writers” or “being authors”, children are encouraged to learn to write their first letters and words . It’s a fun way to get started first with literacy and then with literature in a broad sense.

The educator documented the children’s speeches and discussions while working on this project and drew important conclusions:

• children are able to re-tell a story with an incredible wealth of detail , sometimes even invented. Storyboard created with real-life objects aids their memory and fosters imagination.
• everyone was attracted to different aspects of the literary experience : not only by the story itself, but also by the characteristics of the characters, by the illustrations in the book, by the emotions that the story provoked in them and, even, by the written words (“how do you spell princess ? ”,“ do these letters mean dragon ? ”,“ the word ghost is not scary! ”).
• the lexical baggage of each child has been enriched .
• the relationship between the members of the class was strengthened : the children learned to deal with each other, albeit with conflicting ideas, and established a very positive climate of collaboration.
• since the exercise had been given a deadline, the children were able to organize their own time to meet the deliveries .

Some researchers have shown, in fact, that first literary experiences like these help children in the composition of thoughts, speeches and, finally, stories, fictional or not, at first oral and then written level.

A first knot to tie them, inextricably, to the love for literature.