5 Step Stories - useful for parents and teachers

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I don't know about you but my brain goes blank sometimes. Usually when I get asked a question. Something like, what's your favourite film? What's your favourite song? My brain shuts off in those moments like I've never seen a film ever before and no music exists in the world. 

The worst is at bed time when your child says Tell Me a Story. I am certain he doesn't want to hear one  that goes "There once was a boy, he went to sleep, The End." 

But I now have a strategy for telling a story. It doesn't take too long and as long as you follow the 5 steps I'm going to detail below then you can have a story quiet easily without too much brain fade. You can also get your listener to give you some of the information as well which makes for a tailored story for them.  

In school the teachers had a training session regarding story telling and it now seems so easy. It may not be new to some of you but it provided clarity for me. There are a variety of different descriptions of this structure but this is how our teachers made it really simple for the kids to follow as well. 

For this method we use the following sentence openers to get you going.   

Step 1. Once Upon A Time.... as many stories do. Then you just add a Who, Where and What. Someone is in a place and you decide what will happen to them. 

Then you continue with 

Step 2. Early One Morning....This just uses the Someone in their place and you decide that they will be doing an activity. 

Step 3. Unfortunately......Something unfortunate happens to your character or their place. 

Step 4. Thankfully......Something comes to the rescue be that another character or something your character can go to help themselves

Step 5. Finally......You finish off the story with a happy ending. 

Once upon a time Sherlock Holmes was sitting in his living room enjoying a nice cup of tea. Early one morning Dr Watson came bursting in with news of a case involving a cat stuck in a tree. Unfortunately Mrs Hudson took their ladder the previous day so they could not rescue the cat. Thankfully their neighbour managed to coax the cat back down with a can of tuna. Finally everyone went to bed safe and sound and had a good sleep. The End. 

Just a little random story for you. Obviously you just tailor it to suit your needs but the steps are quite easy to remember and you will have something better to answer the question, Can You Tell Me a Story?

Until next time xx

                                            Photo by Pixabay via Pexels


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