"The participants involved in the project have been from five countries: Italy, Germany, Latvia, Romania, Turkey. The project started from the idea that a child who reads books will be an adult who thinks, books are the most important means to develop critical thinking, language skills and reading abilities. All partners have worked on the belief that education is powerful and it is the most important strategy that people can use in order to develop their economic, social and democratic condition. Through the school support, students can effectively learn how to read a book from a critical point of view, they can think about different aspects of life, values. The objectives of the partnership have been: - to form in students the behaviour of reading daily and finding pleasure in reading books, also different genres of books, - to raise the percentage of involvement in activities related to Arts, ICT, Media, Social, Literary and Volunteering activities, -to teach students how to use a book in order to produce their own products, developing creativeness and spirit of enterprise, -to develop ICT skills, which have played an important role too, throughout the project,- to stimulate peer from peer education, - to boost the feelings of being an important part of the European Community. The actions that have taken place during the implementation have been:Involving the students in activities that implied reading different genres of literature (philosophical books, novels, poetry, biographies) from their own national literature and working on the extracts to create the tasks as required in each meeting (writing scenarios, essays, developing a poetry magazine and shooting short movies). The teachers’ support has been relevant in each activity. They have coordinated and supervised their work. The students have used creativeness and ICT skills and developed critical thinking , through the discussion with other partners, through exchange of ideas, besides students’ communication and social skills, have been developed, as well as personal and interpersonal ones. In the first meeting in Turkey we have planned all the activities and defined the tasks for each country. So: Erasmus corners, a project website, brochures, an e- book of the project have been created.Meeting in Italy and results: The title of the event was Reading Novels & writing scenarios. The students in groups have worked on some scenes of the Italian Novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio” and after having been explained how to write a scenario, they have written it and performed on a stage.Meeting in Romania and results: The title of the event was: Reading Simplified Philosophy books & Writing essays. Students and teachers divided into different groups have taken part to the lessons, through observation but also through activities on the topic “Philosophy books"". The students have discussed on five topics: Life, Love, Nature, Family, Friendship. Students have been divided into five groups and five essays have been created. Meeting in Latvia and results The title of the event was: Poetry reading – Magazine creation. After a workshop on the topic “Creating a magazine"". Divided into mixed groups, students created a final poetry magazine. Meeting in Germany and results The title of the event was: Reading biography – filming a short movie. The students had to read the biography of a famous writer of their country and shoot a short movie about his/her life. The chance that the project offered to the participants, to get in direct contact with each other at an international level, to work together to obtain mutual goals have brought positive impact and changes on the participating institutions. Both the direct and indirect participants have been greatly influenced by the partnership. Teachers’ feedback is positive: they are now more experienced and have learnt from their peers’ experience to organize different local activities and to organize international project departures.One of the most relevant result of the project has been the impact on students in term of ‘educating’ and forming ‘active citizenship’. The most part of the families have taken part to the project with enthusiasm and then they have confirmed their will to host other children in case of future projects. The experience has been positive from many points of view, but according to the feedbacks, this raise of the feeling of being part of a European Community has been the most significant as longer-t"

ContextStories represent holistic approaches to teaching and learning that allow children's involvement with rich, authentic material. Stories are an essential communication tool for experiential learning because they have the power to safely move participants from their comfort zones to encounter something totally new. They offer a whole new imaginary world created by language that children can gain access to and learn to enjoy, while also acquiring language on the way. More than anything, our children need something to spurt their creative capacity.The project idea was developed as a result of the needs identified in all partner schools - that of helping students to get to know their cultural heritage and the European cultural heritage, while also boosting and exploring their creativity through the medium of stories. Our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds - mainstream, minorities, students with SEN, students with behavior problems, high achievers, students in orphanages. The main priority of our initiative is to create a culture of acceptance and respect among these. By involving them in activities related to stories, they will be able to acquire values and principles in a non-threatening environment. The world of stories is a world without boundaries or frontiers.ParticipantsThe target group consists of 240 students aged 6-11 in all the 5 schools. Among the students in the target group, there are students at risk of dropping out, students of Romani ethnicity, abandoned children, students with disabilities, immigrants, students with integration problems and, of course, mainstream students. Those who face difficulties represent almost one quarter of the TG. There will be 110 students who will attend the meetings, among whom 16 with special needs/financial, social or economic obstacles, cultural differences. The participating teachers are English and literature teachers, who will work to create the project outputs, but also teachers of other subjects who will be involved in the organization of project activities. There will be 5 teachers per country participate in each exchange.Objectives:1. to involve students in their own learning and motivate them; (minimum 50% of target group)2. to develop students' language skills, literacy, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability;(min. 60% target group)3. to develop intracultural and intercultural understanding; (minimum 70%)4. to promote European values and develop cohesion among European citizens. (measurable by analyzing students' and teachers'attitudes to other cultures, as seen in the post-LTTA discussions)5. to create an atmosphere of non-discrimination and mutual acceptance in each partner school.6. to produce sustainable materials which will be used on a regular basis in the schools - collection of materials for teachers, set of adapted materials for SEN students, collection of stories illustrated by children.ActivitiesTurkey hosts and evaluates C1, November 2020; creates and updates Facebook Fan Page.Italy hosts and evaluates C2, February 2021; creates the project website.Greece hosts and evaluates C3, May 2021; creates the logo of the project.Latvia hosts and evaluates C4, November 2021; creates the eTwinning account.Bulgaria hosts and evaluates C5, May 2022; creates the project calendars and CDs.Results and impactProject results include the website, eTwinning account, Facebook page, CDs, calendars, initial and final evaluation documents, progress and final reports, dissemination materials, certificates of attendance, Europass certificates, collection of stories from all around Europe, collection of activities for developing interpretative skills (special activities for SEN students), collection of creative activities starting from stories around Europe (special activities for SEN students), collection of activities and tasks developing critical thinking skills, map of European story characters.The impact will be observable at the level of students (cultural awareness, acquisition of European values, development of skills, acquisition of knowledge, improvement of school results, self confidence), teachers (better cultural awareness, improvement of leadership, communication, presentation skills, experience in projects), institutions (improvement of human resources, increased group cohesion, positive image).Long-term benefitsThe results will be used during current class work by English teachers and the schools will also set up story clubs, in which students will cooperate with their peers, read common stories, discuss them, create artwork based on them. Schools will improve material basis and will earn Erasmus+ management experience, so that they can apply for new project in the future years.