Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2026 Newsletter was a moment of wonder and mutual recognition.
The project created genuine educational continuity between preschool and primary school. Younger children explored through play, manipulation and storytelling; older children reworked through writing, reflection and structured artistic production. Picturebooks acted as a pedagogical bridge, allowing children to grow within a shared narrative and cultural framework. Their multimodal nature fostered inclusion, participation and motivation, making learning a vivid and collaborative experience. In this way, Animals of Europe became much more than a project about animals: it became a shared European story, a pathway of citizenship and a collaborative experience that made learning visible through storytelling, creativity and care.
Bibliography * Bruner, J.( 1990). Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. A theoretical reference on narrative as a cultural and cognitive mediator. * Council of Europe( 2018). Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. Relevant for connecting the project to European citizenship, intercultural collaboration and shared values. * Munari, B.( 1981). Fantasia: Invention in Art and Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. An essential contribution from an Italian author on creativity, visual language and the pedagogy of images. * Nikolajeva, M.( 2014). Reading for Learning: Cognitive Approaches to Children’ s Literature. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. A key reference on how picturebooks support cognitive development and meaning-making. * Salisbury, M., & Styles, M.( 2012). Children’ s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling. London: Laurence King. A foundational text on the multimodal nature of picturebooks and the role of visual narrative.
* Serafini, F.( 2014). Reading the Visual: An Introduction to Teaching Multimodal Literacy. New York: Teachers College Press. Useful for framing picturebooks as tools for multimodal literacy and inclusive learning.
Mary Nacca is a primary school teacher teaching Italian, Art, and Music at the A. Argoli Comprehensive Institute in Tagliaccozzo, Italy. She is also a trainer, an indirect internship tutor at the University of L ' Aquila, Faculty of Primary Education and an Erasmus Ambassador for the Abruzzo Region Schools.
Flavia Cruciani is a preschool teacher at the A. Argoli Comprehensive Institute in Tagliaccozzo, Italy. She is also a pedagogist, an indirect internship tutor at the University of L ' Aquila, Faculty of Primary Education, and an enthusiastic eTwinner.
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