IF YOU ARE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT...ENTER THE CONTEST!

Hi All!

First things first. We are working on new stories that we hope to have out by the end of summer.

Mr. Chris and I were asked to be involved in a really innovative curriculum project for the county in which we teach, so as of now, that is where our creative writing is flowing. Whenever we have something new for you to check out though, we'll post it here. For now, I hope that this contest can tide you over!

The first half of summer vacation has been busy! We have just returned home from two weeks of traveling to Buffalo, NY and Boston, MA to visit our lovely families. During our trip to Boston, we took a mini-vacation to North Conway, NH to a place called Story Land.
It is a place where they bring many children's stories to life in very creative ways. While my wonderful father was taking pictures, I had an idea for a contest. I contacted one of our favorite children's book publishers, Barefoot Books, and they generously donated a perfect prize to help keep your minds illuminated the rest of the summer!

Here is how the contest works:

1. Look at the pictures below from Story Land.

2. Identify the children's story that each picture features. For each one you identify, that will count as one entry! So, if you correctly identify all 5 of the pictures you have 5 entries.

3. The last picture that is included is the BONUS picture. If you can tell me which children's story it is from, then you will receive an extra 2 entries.

4. If you share this with 5 other people (proved by including me on the email) or posting it on your blog (send me your blog site) you will recieve 5 extra entries.

5. Visit www.barefootbooks.com and search around their easy to use and eye catching new website. Share something you really enjoy about their site and receive an extra 3 entries. Also, if you place an order by today, July 15th and enter the code HAPPY during check out you can receive 20% off your order!

6. Leave a comment on the blog, send me your entries at nightlightstories@gmail.com, or Tweet me at nightlight08. Do just one thing or do them all! Any one of these you choose to post will enter you for a chance to win.

7. Contest ends August 1st!

PICTURE #1

PICTURE #2

PICTURE #3

PICTURE #4

PICTURE #5

BONUS PICTURE (Hint: Search around the blog)

What Do We Win?

I am so HAPPY that you asked!

Barefoot Books is generously sending us a copy of their new book with singalong CD:

"Clap your hands and sing along to this fresh take on a traditional singalong.

The multicultural children in this colorful early learner encourage action and imagination, and two full spreads at the end teach "hello" in thirty-six languages, and the names of the children and their countries of origin."

Even if you do not win the book, everyone can still be a winner! Today, July 15th, Barefoot Books is offering a free download of IF YOU ARE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT on their site. Here is the link to the download. Please click away and ENJOY!

IF YOU ARE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT FREE DOWNLOAD

As always, I look forward to watching the glow grow brighter with the

many stories we can share together.

AND THE WINNER IS...

COLBY!

Congratulations Colby!

Great job and thanks to the shining entries from:

Joe

Will

Emma

Abigail

Zachary

Remember, there is still time to enter our Squircles contest! Draw us a picture OR leave us a comment on the blog about 3 shapes you see throughout your day! Enter by February 14th to receive some beautifully creative books from our sponsor Barefoot Books.

As always, keep your light glowing brightly.

Update on the Contests!

Hi All,

Our Episode 3 contest ends this Wednesday! You still have some time to enter and win a free set of Goosie Cards. Check out the post on Episode 3 for all the details. While you are there, check out all the great entries we have received and posted in our Fan Art.

Our Episode 4 contest ends on February 14th, 2009. We can't wait to hear about what shapes you see throughout your day! Simply leave us a comment on the blog and you could win the following five innovative books from Barefoot Books!

Herb, The Vegetarian Dragon by Jules Bass and Debbie Hartner
My Granny Went to Market by Stella Blackstone and Christopher Corr
Shopping with Dad by Matt Harvey and Miriam Latimer
The Story Tree: Tales to Read Aloud retold by Hugh Lupton
We All Went on Safari: A Counting Journey through Tazania by Laurie Krebs and Julia Cairns

As always, keep your light glowing brightly!

Episode 4: Squircles

Click here to listen to Squircles

Hello All,

We are excited to introduce our first "flashlight" episode. A "flashlight" episode is shorter than other episodes, but we think you'll find them just as illuminating. In honor of this being our first "Flashlight", we are giving away some great books generously donated to us by our sponsor, Barefoot Books. Their books are original, entertaining, and so imaginative. There are two ways to enter and you can do just one or both!

The first way is to draw a squircle by listening to the poem. Now, take that squircle and make a picture. Your picture can be just one squircle colored in, or a bunch of squircles put together to make something new. Your picture can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. We'd love to see what you can come up with using your imagination! Send your works of art to nightlightstories@gmail.com. We will post all the entries in our Fan Art slide show for everyone to enjoy.

The second way is to simply leave us a comment on the blog telling us THREE shapes you see throughout your day and where you saw them. One winner will be chosen randomly on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2009 to receive a set of five books from Barefoot Books. We look forward to seeing your creations.

Speaking of creations, entries are starting to come in for the Goosie Card contest. The details for that contest are outlined in episode #3.

This episode and any past or future episodes is protected under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License which means that you have permission to share these stories but don't sell or alter them in any way.

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

What did you say? A word of the day!

That is right! In our story there are many juicy words

that are fun to learn and say! I am going to post some words

from the story that would be fun to try to use in your

conversations throughout the week.

Squircle: a mathematical shape with properties between those of a square and those of a circle.

Phenomenal: highly extraordinary or prodigious; exceptional.

Fret: to feel or express worry, annoyance, discontent.

Galore: in abundance; in plentiful amounts.

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peak at a couple of the books

you could win from Barefoot Books! We look forward to

sharing these wonderful treasures with you!

JUST ADD IMAGINATION!

Try these activities to keep your imagination glowing after hearing the story.

1. Use different shapes and colors to create a pattern (blue circle, red square, orange squircle, blue circle, red square, orange squircle)

2. The directions to make a squircle are in a specific order. It is important to follow the directions in the order they are given to have success in creating a squircle. Think of something you do everyday that is important you do in a specific order.