Trains, boats, planes, rockets, time travel, horse and cart, on foot, by bike, space travel… There are so many ways to travel, and all of these could be used as inspiration for National Share-a-Story Month 2019.

This May, why not harness the power of telling and sharing stories and get your pupils excited about literacy? As teachers, we all love stories and the power of reading, but sometimes our pupils don’t necessarily share our fanaticism.

Children who are less confident readers may feel stressed at the thought of having to read or write stories, but most will still enjoy listening to them. Here are some ways you can encourage your pupils to share stories!

1. Share your own favourites

As when modelling the perfect grammatical structure, we need to show children what a love of reading is. Tell children what your favourite books were as a child. Suggest that they give them a go, or read them out loud and talk about why you love them so much!

2. Create their own stories

Let children have the option to come up with their own stories independently or in partners/small groups. Use talking tins or recording apps for children to tell their own stories, or draw storyboards to use as reminders. This takes away the pressure of writing and lets children’s creativity flow!

3. Partner readers

For the month of May, partner children up based on common interests. If you want to be ambitious, try doing it across the school!

They could take it in turns reading excerpts of their favourite books to each other, or have one child read out loud while the other follows along.

4. Celebrate children’s stories

Record children reading out their short stories and show it to the whole school in a special celebratory assembly.

To spice it up, why not hold several competitions with different categories and then make your celebration assembly unique by asking children to come dressed in their best red carpet outfits and give out awards? If you have willing parents, roll out a red carpet and get them to cheer the children in!

5. Blog the hard work

Share your children’s stories on blogs and invite people around the world to read their work and comment on it. Share the link on Twitter and use the hashtags #NSSM, #TravellingTales and #shareastory to reach a wider audience. Why not tag some of your favourite authors as well?  

Feeling inspired? Read our blog for some more story-related ideas! How do you plan on celebrating National Share-a-Story Month?