LIGHTING THE WAY WITH WORDS

Ohwhatfunitis (13:33)

Carol is way behind with her Christmas preparations when 
she starts to experience some strange symptoms. 
Can her family step up to help her out?

Free audio download: Ohwhatfunitis

 

Blog with activities: Ohwhatfunitis

Today is December 21, 2012. Do you know what that means?

It's the official first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, also known as Winter Solstice. Everything North of the Equator, or the top half of the planet, will face away from the sun. Due to the Earth's tilt, today is marked as the shortest and darkest day of the year. 

I know our family is looking forward to the first flurry of the season. For now, we'll have to settle for making our own, like our friend Viv, in the picture above. Join us in creating some 3D snowflakes to kick off the start of winter! Just follow the link below to the step-by-step video tutorial. Feel free to post your creations on our Facebook Page or send your very own flurry to us at nightlightstories@gmail.com! 

How to Make a 3D Snowflake 

As always, we look forward to watching the glow grow brighter with the many stories, words and snowflakes we can share together.

Episode 53: Ohwhatfunitis

Click here to listen to: Ohwhatfunitis (13:33)

Carol is way behind with her Christmas preparations when 

she starts to experience some strange symptoms. 

Can her family step up to help her out?

Hello All,

Can you believe it? The new year is but a few weeks away! We are excited to present to you our fifth holiday story. We hope that you will be able to take some time over the school break to enjoy your time together. Stay healthy!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

I wanted to take a moment to send out a big 
CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. Chris. His solo
podcast, The A.T.TIPSCAST won the
 Edublog Award for Best Podcast!

Need a last minute holiday gift idea?
A fully illustrated version of Dragonfly, Dragonfly Show Us The Way 

is now available as an in-app purchase from the Flying Books app.

It is available for download on your iPhone or iPad. 

VORACIOUS VOCABULARY

What did you say? A word of the day! In our story

there are many juicy words that are fun to use and say.
 

crescendo: to grow in force or loudness.

delve: to carry on intensive and thorough research for data.

expulsion: the act of driving out or expelling.

malady: any disorder or disease of the body. 

perpetual: continuing or enduring forever, everlasting.

JUST ADD IMAGINATION!

Try these activities to keep your imagination glowing

after hearing the story.

1. Create a 3D Snowflake by watching our step-by-step tutorial. Thanks to our friend, Viv, who made so many snowflake, it looked like a blizzard! 

2. Complete one of these five crafts in the linked article that my friend and I wrote. 'Tis the Season to be Crafty: 5 Easy Holiday Crafts. 

3. Listen to our other holiday stories and visit the blog posts to complete the fun activities we have posted. We've outlined them below.

      Chilly's Christmas: (20:08)

An ornament is accidentally placed on the back of the Christmas

 tree and must learn to experience his favorite season using his 

other senses with a little help from his friends!

Free audio download: Chilly's Christmas 

Blog with activities: Chilly's Christmas

       Inky's Christmas: (21:24)

Inky, a nervous octopus, has to figure out a way to control his inking 

so he can attend all of his friends' holiday festivities.

Free audio download: Inky's Christmas

Blog with activities: Inky's Christmas

Red vs. Green: (22:21)

When a team of Christmas elves goes against a team of 
St. Patrick's Day in the Holiday Hockey Winter Classic, who will win?

Free audio download: Red vs. Green

Blog with activities: Red vs. Green

Candy Cane Catastrophe (14:56)

Tragedy befalls a boy and his candy cane on a long car 
drive to Grandma's for the holidays.

Free audio download: Candy Cane Catastrophe

Blog with activities: Candy Cane Catastrophe

COMPREHENSION CHALLENGE

After listening to the story, can you recall the

details to answer these questions?

1. Who brought Carol a cup of hot chocolate?

2. What fell out of Carol's ear onto the mattress?

3. Where did Carol find tinsel? 

4. Why did Carol need to apply lotion to her arms? 

5. When did Carol tell her family about her strange symptoms?

6. How did Carol's family help her heal from Ohwhatfunitis?

We want to send out bright birthday wishes to:

Robert P of Virginia

Matthew A of South Carolina

Tre of Louisiana
Bill P of West Virginia

Mr. Chris of the Night Light Stories Household

We hope your days SPARKLED!

CHECK IT OUT! 

Nature's Clean Choice antimicrobial baby blankets are now just 

$12. A great gift for the holidays for a little one on your list.

Don't forget to enter 'nightlightstories' at checkout to 
receive a 5% discount.

Lighting The Way With Words

Red vs. Green: (22:21)

When a team of Christmas elves goes against a team of St. Patrick's 
Day leprechauns in the Holiday Hockey Winter Classic, who will win?

Free audio download: Red vs. Green

Blog with activities: Red vs. Green

With the holiday season in full swing, there are lots of edible goodies all around us! Our tradition in the Night Light Stories household is to make "Turtles" each year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are made of pecans covered with homemade caramel and melted chocolate. The recipe was passed down to me by my aunt and grandmother. Each year, while making them, we always end up with too much of something. This year, it was the melted chocolate. That wouldn't be right to waste it, so I cut up some apples and we got to dipping. It was a yummy treat!

Are there any special, edible delicacies you look forward to making or eating this time of year? Share them with us in the comments or send a picture to nightlightstories@gmail.com. 

As always, we look forward to the many words we can share together! 

LIGHTING THE WAY WITH WORDS

Chilly's Christmas: (20:08)
An ornament is accidentally placed on the back of the Christmas tree 

and must learn to experience his favorite season using his 

other senses with a little help from his friends!
Free audio download: Chilly's Christmas
Blog with activities: Chilly's Christmas

Our other words that begin with "D"

Delicious

Devour

Digits

Dimples

Disguise

Episode 52: Auntie Kerry and the Paskamansett Pumpkin Regatta

Click here to listen: Auntie Kerry and the Paskamansett Pumpkin Regatta

Auntie Kerry recruits her family to fulfill her dream of competing in a unique river race but when she gets sick they are forced to come together as a team without their fearless leader.
 
Hi All, 

Happy Thanksgiving! We want to send out a special thanks to Parsonage Soap for sponsoring us this week. I'm sure everyone in our latest story could have used some Parsonage Soap after they were finished at the pumpkin regatta. Check out all of their holiday selections such as Balsam Pine, Gingerbread, and Bayberry Spice!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

 

A fully illustrated version of Dragonfly, Dragonfly Show Us The Way 

is now available as an in-app purchase from the Flying Books app.

It is available for download on your iPhone or iPad. 

VORACIOUS VOCABULARY

What did you say? A word of the day! In our story

there are many juicy words that are fun to use and say.
 

cadence: (n) rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words.

crack: (adj.) first rate, excellent.

heave: (v) to raise or lift with effort or force. 

JUST ADD IMAGINATION!

Try these activities to keep your imagination glowing

after hearing the story.

1. Create a comic strip of the sequence of events in the story by using http://bitstrips.com, http://pixton.com, http://toondoo.com or http://makebeliefscomix.com. Send us your finished product at nightlightstories@gmail.com

2. Make up a name and design a banner for your own pumpkin regatta race. 

3. Write an acrostic poem using the word TEAMWORK.

 

COMPREHENSION CHALLENGE

After listening to the story, can you recall the

details to answer these questions?

1. Who had a life-long dream of racing in the Paskamansett Pumpkin Regatta?

2. What did Auntie Kerry's sister make to help the kids count down the days until the race?

3. Where did Rowan sit in the pumpkin? 

4. Why were they slowing down in the end? 

5. When do you think this story took place? In the summer or the fall?

6. How did the team know they won?

We want to send out bright birthday wishes to:

Camden of Maryland

Tre' of Louisianna

Andrea of North Carolina

Stephanie of West Virginia

Papa G of Massachusetts

Uncle Markie of Massachusetts    

We hope your days SPARKLED!

CHECK IT OUT! 

Nature's Clean Choice antimicrobial baby blankets are now just 

$12. A great gift for the holidays for a little one on your list.

LIGHTING THE WAY WITH WORDS

Captain Destructo: (6:34)

A poem about having patience with a younger sibling.
Free audio download: Captain Destructo
Blog with activities: Captain Destructo

When a problem confounds me, I try to approach the situation in different ways. Whether it is a math problem or a toy train that won't 

'chugga chugga choo choo' anymore, I don't give up.  I stop 

and think about what I know about the problem or toy. 

I test different solutions to see if I can solve 

it or make it work.  What strategies do you use 

to help solve a problem that confounds you? 

Share with us in the comments below. 

LIGHTING THE WAY WITH WORDS

Mojo's Cousin Trouble: (11:12)

Mojo's ferret cousins come to visit for the holidays and stir up 

all kinds of trouble. Can Mojo settle them down?
Free audio download: Mojo's Cousin Trouble
Blog with activities: Mojo's Cousin Trouble

Have you seen our other words that begin with the letter B?

 You can see them all by clicking on the links below: 

 

Balmy

Believe

Bewildered

Bliss

Bond

Episode 51: The Yawn Contagion

Click here to listen to: The Yawn Contagion

Princess Ennui is bored with everything until she meets an imp who offers her a magical intervention with unexpected results. Can Princess Ennui find a way to save the kingdom?

Hi All,

We want to send out a special thanks to Jeff Kinney, award winning author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, for recording a bumper for us. We were fortunate enough to go to see a special sneak preview of the latest Diary of Wimpy Kid Movie: Dog Days. If you get a chance to see it, you should definitely check it out.

We know we don’t have a Halloween episode this year, but that doesn't mean we forgot about the holiday! We recorded a special Halloween episode over at Mr. Chris's podcast the A.T.TIPSCAST! Our whole family got involved and we think your whole family will really enjoy it! The episode is called It's Alive and you can check it out at http://attipscast.com. We hope you enjoy it and we hope you have a safe Halloween season!

VORACIOUS VOCABULARY

What did you say? A word of the day! In our story

there are many juicy words that are fun to use and say.
 

agitated: disturbed
cerulean: deep blue
shrill: high-pitched and piercing in sound quality
tedium: the quality or state of being wearisome

 

JUST ADD IMAGINATION!

Try these activities to keep your imagination glowing

after hearing the story.

1. Is yawning really contagious? Test it out! Try to yawn in front of someone and see if it really makes them yawn too. 

2. Check out these Halloween jokes and practice telling them to your friends.

3. Did you know we have three Halloween stories? You can listen to them by clicking on the links below: 

    Our spoooooooooky story:

Click here to listen to: The Heebie Jeebies

Our not-so spoooooooky stories:

Click here to listen to: The Patchwork Pumpkin Part 1

Click here to listen to: The Patchwork Pumpkin Part 2

Click here to listen to: A Glummy, Gloomy Halloween

COMPREHENSION CHALLENGE

After listening to the story, can you recall the

details to answer these questions?

1. Who sees Princess Ennui yawn from the window?

2. What happened in the kingdom that made everybody stay indoors?

3, Where did the princess meet Stim? 

4. Why couldn't the imp fix the problem?
5. How did Princess Ennui keep from getting bored at the end of the story?

We want to send out bright birthday wishes to:

Ana of Pennsylvania
Isabella of Maryland
Giulietta of Massachusetts
Morgan from Across the Pond in England
Lauren from South Dakota
Maggie of the Night Light Stories household

We hope your days SPARKLED!

LIGHTING THE WAY WITH WORDS

Dragonfly, Dragonfly, Show Us the Way: (15:03)

Three unique friends embark on a journey of discovery

which reveals their individual talents.

Free audio download: Dragonfly, Dragonfly, Show Us the Way

Blog with activities: Dragonfly, Dragonfly, Show Us the Way

The illustrator for our e-book, Dragonfly, Dragonfly Show Us the Way, drew this avatar of us. You can find the very talented, Regina Silva,

 over at her blog, Wedgienet.net. Tell her we say hello!

As always we look forward to watching the glow grow brighter 

with the many words we can share together! 

LIGHTING THE WAY WITH WORDS

The Hike: (13:26)

The sequel to "The Walk" describes the boy's 
adventures he has on a hike with his family.

Free audio download: The Hike

Blog with activities: The Hike

Tomorrow, Mr. Chris is going to run his first 10K. That's 6.2 miles! His zippy training has prepared him to make it to the finish. The kids and I are hoping to be there to cheer him on. That is, if everyone is feeling better. Our daughter is not feeling zippy at the moment due to a nasty virus. But don't worry. We're taking it slow today in order to get her back to her zippy self.

We hope your weekend is full of zippy activities
and fantastic family time!