This article considers educational policy and practice in a preschool and an elementary school in Modena, Italy in terms of their effects on children's transition to and progress in elementary school. The study is based on a six-year longitudinal ethnographic study that involved direct observation of teacher-student and peer interactions. The ethnographic observations were supplemented with interviews of students, teachers and parents both before and after the children's transition to first grade. The article focuses primarily on what the authors term ‘priming events’, which are activities that prepare preschool children for the transition to first grade academically, emotionally and socially. The findings are placed in the context of preschool and elementary school policies in Italy and how these policies are put into practice in Modena and more generally in the Emilia-Romagna province of northern Italy.
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