Chapter Five Continued: Kindred Spirits

Posted byAllyson ApseyPosted inUncategorized

Dear Student Editors,

Thank you for your incredible feedback and ideas for Mrs. Holiday’s first note back to Kip. I used your input to edit Mrs. Holiday’s response. Specifically, many of you liked the idea of Mrs. Holiday sharing that she moved when she was in school. Additionally, many of you thought that Mrs. Holiday should compliment Kip’s writing. Both of these suggestions are terrific ideas that will help Kip feel closer to Mrs. Holiday and better about her situation. Please check it out below and then see the questions for my editors following Mrs. Holiday’s note to Kip.

You are the BEST!

Love,

Mrs. Apsey

 

Kip,

I am so glad that you moved to Jackson! I love having you in my class already. I definitely understand that it is very hard to move away from everything you know because I had to move to a new town when I was in elementary school. I am glad that we can connect with each other through your Serendipity Journal. Maybe I can help?

I love that you love to write! You are a terrific writer because your voice really comes through in your writing, it is as if you are talking to me. I am impressed with your use of punctuation and grammar also. And, by your picture I can tell that you love to read too. I think we are kindred spirits!

I wonder what your hopes and dreams are for this year? Especially with this fresh start you have–maybe it could be a serendipitous gift?

Love,

Mrs. Holiday

 

Dear Student Editors,

I think you know what I am going to ask you to do! Please give me input on what Kip’s response to Mrs. Holiday will be.

  1. What hopes and dreams do think Kip will reveal to Mrs. Holiday?
  2. If you were Kip, what other information about yourself would you share with Mrs. Holiday in your response?
  3. What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “kindred spirits”?
  4. What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “serendipitous gift”?

Put your answers to the questions in the comments for this post and I will use your feedback when I edit Kip’s second journal entry. Have I told you lately that I think you guys are awesome, and that you are the best editors ever?

Published by Allyson Apsey

Allyson is an award-winning school leader, author, and inspiring national speaker. She travels the country to work as an associate for Creative Leadership Solutions.

57 thoughts on “Chapter Five Continued: Kindred Spirits”

  1. By: Payne and Brody
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    1.If you were Kip, what other information about yourself would you share with Mrs. Holiday in your response?

    If I was Kip I would tell Mrs.Holiday about her old school and her friends from her old school.

    1. What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “kindred spirits”?

    I think it means similar actions.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Payne and Brody,
      Thank you for your feedback! I like the idea of Kip telling Mrs. Holiday more about her old school. Yes, you are on the right track with “kindred spirits”. It means that two people share similar values and interests. Way to go!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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  2. byTy,Kayse,dylan,Gavin.
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    We can relate to Kip and mrs. Holiday because all of us have had to move to a new town and school.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. By: Ally V
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “kindred spirits”?
    I think that Mrs.Holiday means by kindred spirits is that they both connect with each other and have the same likings.
    What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “serendipitous gift”?
    I think that she means that she has a
    gift in writing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Ally,
      You are spot on with what “kindred spirits” means! As for “serendipitous gift” that means that the move might be a happy accident. Thank you for your response!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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  4. By: willa
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    What hopes and dreams do think Kip will reveal to Mrs. Holiday?
    I think that maybe kip will tell her that she want to have friends and she’s getting bullied and doesn’t have any friends yet

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. By: Graham
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    I really like how it is going and hope it says how old Mr.s Holiday is specifically and how old her husband is specifically .Good work it is nice and interesting and my siblings read it on my chromebook and they like it a lot to.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Graham,
      Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing The Serendipity Journal with your siblings! I am so glad they like it too. Keep reading please!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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  6. By: Nick
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    When Mrs Holiday moved to a new elementary school did she like it or not? Getting off on a great start like Kip right now with bully situuation did she have that happen to Mrs Holiday with the bully and if you had bullys did they hurt you?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. By: Gabby
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    3. What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “kindred spirits”?
    According to the dictionary kindred spirits means “a person whose interests or attitudes are similar to one’s own. I think because Kip is so similar to Mrs. Holiday she was inferring to that how they both moved from a place. Thank you so much Mrs. Apsey in my last response I talked about Mrs. Holiday moving and you used it thank you so much for that I really liked how much of a surprise it was to see what I wrote on the board. You are such a kind person to juggle writing a book and responding to each and every one of our responses you are a real role model thank you Mrs. Apsey. You are AWESOME!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Gabby,
      YOU are AWESOME!! How many other fourth graders would express gratitude like you do? Not many–you are special! Thank you for your specific feedback!! I love your ideas!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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      Reply

  8. By: Ryan, Raegan, Grey, and
    Drew
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class.

    Kindred Spirits means two people have a special connection by sharing a bonds. If we were Kip we would tell Mrs. Holiday this: When I was younger I used to not have any friends and it was hard to make friend back home and I didn’t have true friends until last year and it will probably be even harder this year. I wish making friends was easier.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. By:Misty Graham and Kailey Bul
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    What hopes and dreams do think Kip will reveal to Mrs. Holiday?
    We think that her hopes and dreams will be that she makes more friends [Besides Susan.]

    If you were Kip, what other information about yourself would you share with Mrs. Holiday in your response?
    We think that she would say ‘’There is a kid in the school that is making my life miserable’’[She means Cody] Thank you for your support.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Misty, Graham, and Kailey,
      Great suggestions! I like the idea of Kip confiding in Mrs. Holiday about the Cody situation. Thank you so much for your feedback!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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  10. By: Kendall Tenyer
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    I think Kip´s hopes are going to be that she has a great school year,and that Mrs.Holiday is actually going to be her best teacher.I think that Kip´s dreams are going to be that she is going to make a lot of brand new best friends that are not from Grand Rapids,and that she gets to be the best writer in her classes.
    I would say Mrs.Holiday Thank you for starting to be nice to me, I will try to be happy for where I live now,and that she will try not to be sad and try to be happy.

    I think that Mrs.Holiday means that they have related interests.
    I think that Mrs.Holiday means beneficial gifts.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Kendall,
      Thank you for your feedback! I will keep your ideas in mind as I write Kip’s response to Mrs. Holiday. You are right about the meaning of “kindred spirits”! As for “serendipitous gifts”, Mrs. Holiday means that the move might be a happy accident full of unexpected treasures.
      Thank you for your feedback!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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      Reply

  11. By: Lillian
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    I think Mrs. Holiday ment by saying kindred spirits. I look it up, I very much like new and intresting word to find in books. Kindred spirits deffintshion is a person whose intrest or attitudes are similar to one’s own. I’m gessing that Mrs. Holliday is going to be a great teacher to Kip.
    The hopes and dreams Kip might have are more to realate to Mrs. Holiday since she is in her 20 is close to the youngest ages for a techer and is also relateing to the time Mrs. Holiday had to move like where when and why. If I was Kip I would like to conect with my teacher so we could see how each other lives are. Here are my idas about the story.
    I love the story so much and when Mrs. Rudin said we are going to do the Serendipity Journal today I almost juped out of my seat to do the journal. I really think you should add more detalis about Kip’s other classes such as Science or Math thouse are my favorite subject and I hope Kip likes them to. Please add more info about Glenn, Cody, Susan, and add other teacher if you deside to use Science or Math class please.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Lillian,
      I am thrilled to hear that The Serendipity Journal made you jump out of your seat today! Yay! Thank you for your suggestions–I appreciate that readers want to hear lots of details about characters and make connections to the characters. Keep reading and giving me feedback–you are appreciated!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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  12. By: Adam, Isaiah
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class

    If I responded back to Mrs.Holiday I would say:

    Dear, Mrs.Holiday thank you so much for caring and liking me in your class I like you as my teacher you are very fun and kind. And thank you for responding to me in my journal. And I have a question for you do you have any kids and/or pets?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. By: Lauryn
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class
    What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “kindred spirits”?
    On google,I found out that kindred spirits means ¨a person whose interests or attitudes are similar to one’s own.
    What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “serendipitous gift”?

    On google,I found that serendipitous gift means ´he faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident 18 coined Horace Walpole, from the Persian fairy tale three princes serendipity, in which heroes possess this gift define serendipitous obtained or characterized serendipity a sentence phenomenon finding valuable agreeable things not sought.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Lauryn,
      Great job looking up those terms! I love the idea of serendipity–of LOOKING for the valuable and agreeable things in everything we experience. I wrote a children’s picture book that is a retelling of the Persian fairytale you discovered. I will include a link here to my new book–it was just released last week!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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      Reply

  14. By: Julie
    From Mrs. Rubin’s Fourth Grade Class
    What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “kindred spirits”?On google I found that “kindred spirits”means .A Person whose interests or attitudes are similar to one’s own
    What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “serendipitous gift”?On google I found that the meaning of Serendipitous gift is The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accidentc18 coined horace walpole, from the persian fairytale three princes serendip, in which heroes possess this gift define serendipitous obtained or characterized serendipity a sentence phenomenon finding valuable agreeable things not sought for; Also an instance

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  15. Hi Mrs Apsey

    The students in 4K/F think Kip would share details about her family, and life before she moved, as well as how she is finding things in Jackson. They think Kip would share that she hopes she will have an amazing year, and that she thinks Mrs Holiday is going to be her best teacher ever.

    There were some different ideas about what ‘kindred spirits’ means – quite a few thought it had to do with kindness, but also that you are alike and have something in common.

    Thoughts around ‘serendipitous gift’ were to do with a beautiful, unexpected gift, but I love the way Lucy put it: Well I know that serendipity means that you stumble upon something beautiful, so I think serendipitous gift means a special gift that holds beauty, but you can’t touch it.

    From 4K/F and Mrs Caswell

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Students of 4K/F and Mrs. Caswell,
      Thank you so much for your feedback! You have great insight into the vocabulary. I agree with Mrs. Caswell, Lucy did a great job describing a “serendipitous gift”.
      I love hearing from you!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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      Reply

  17. In Kip’s response she can ask what kindred means and then tell her all about how excited she is to have a super happy teacher and that she’s already made new friends

    Liked by 1 person

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  19. I think that Kip might talk about what she wants her new life in Jackson to be like. Maybe she could ask Mrs. Holiday for advice about how to get involved in the school or community. I think that when Mrs. Holiday says “kindred spirits” she means that her and Kip are alike in the way that they both had to move towns. When she says “serendipitous gift” I think she means that it will be an unexpected and surprising gift that Kip could potentially receive.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  22. I like how Mrs. Holiday can relate to Kip. I think some hopes and dreams Kip could reveal is maybe that she wants to write a book someday, considering she said that she likes to write without prompts in another chapter. Kip could also say that she wants to make some more friends.
    Great job!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  23. I think kindred spirits means that you think and act like someone else and have the same opinions. Mrs. Holiday and Kip think and act similarly to one another. They both like to read and they both had to deal with moving away in their lives.I really like the Mrs. Holiday character.Great job!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  24. I think kindred spirits means that Kip and Mrs. Holiday are connected in some way. That they are already close even though they have only known each other for a short time. Mrs. Holiday and Kip are very similar. I think Kip is going to have a great school year with Mrs. Holiday! Can’t wait to read more!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  25. By: Meredith N.
    Dear Mrs. Apsey,
    This chapter really reflected the meaning of short and sweet. 🙂
    I would like to answer the the 3rd question you asked. In my opinion, kindred spirits means being similar to another person, like sharing the same hobbies. Anywhoo, I really liked this entry and love reading your writing;)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Meredith!
      Thank you so much for your feedback. I actually broke chapter five up into several posts, so it will be a longer chapter than it appears. I am so glad you are reading The Serendipity Journal and giving me feedback!
      Love,
      Mrs. Apsey

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  27. Dear Mrs. Apsey,

    What do you think Mrs. Holiday means by “serendipitous gift”?
    I think that she means that Kip moving will be a blessing in disguise.
    I noticed that “serendipitous gift” ties in with the title “Serendipity Journal”
    Wow, I love the book so far, I can’t wait to read the next chapter!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  28. Dear Mrs. Apsey,

    I think that Kip will reveal her thoughts on the town and on her school in general. She also might reveal her love and passion for music. I really like this chapter so far, and I can’t wait to read chapter 6!

    Liked by 1 person

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