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As I began writing this middle grades chapter book, I shared drafts of the chapters on serendipityjournal.blog. Children from all over the world were invited to be my editors, and they took me up on the offer. It was an incredible journey! There are many reasons I did this. First, I love to write andContinueContinue reading “Feedback from Student Editors for The Serendipity Journal”

This is a portion of Chapter 8, and it takes place on Monday. “So, are you still planning on this weekend?” Susan asked Kip. “I was able to sneak in a quick ride on Bess after we got home from our trip last night and it was awesome. She is such a fun horse toContinueContinue reading “Chapter Eight: An Evil Plan”

“So, want to hang out next weekend?” Kip turned her head when she heard that question, wondering who was asking Susan. She saw Britt standing near Susan’s desk and tried to smile at her, but Britt didn’t look at Kip. Purposefully? Kip slowly closed her notebook, wondering how Susan would respond. Would she tell BrittContinueContinue reading “Chapter Seven Continued: Susan Cautions Kip About Britt”

September 6, 2017 Kip, I really love your goals. When I was in college, I learned a valuable lesson about goals. The best goals are SAMIC: Simple Attainable Measurable Immediate Contingent only upon yourself Let’s look at your goals to see if they meet this criteria. So your first goal is to make at leastContinueContinue reading “Chapter Seven: Mrs. Holiday Writes Back”

She heard the chaos before she even walked into her grandpa’s house that afternoon. Jeff was at it again, pestering Jill until she started screaming. It was a recipe she could predict every time. Jill would get annoyed with Jeff and Jeff would ramp up his annoying behavior until Jill screamed. A + B =ContinueContinue reading “Chapter Six: Taco Night”

Dear Student Editors, I LOVE the feedback and ideas you shared about Kip’s journal response to Mrs. Holiday. I used many of your ideas when I edited the response this weekend. This week, I want to introduce a new character to you. Here is another portion of Chapter Five: “Usually I ride Bess on SaturdayContinueContinue reading “Chapter Five Continued: A New Character Introduced”

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. HolidayContinueContinue reading “Chapter Five Continued: Kindred Spirits”

Kip practically ran over to the bin to grab her Serendipity Journal the next morning. Mrs. Holiday said that she spent her evening reading through what each student wrote and responding to everyone. Kip thought to herself, “I bet Mr. Holiday wasn’t too pleased!” “Okay my seventh grade friends, we will have ten minutes todayContinueContinue reading “Chapter Five: Mrs. Holiday Writes Back”

“That’s right. No prompts, just put the date at the top and then start writing. There will be a few guidelines to help us. Please don’t use other students’ names in your writing. You could give them a different name, or just use pronouns like she and he. Also, please don’t write insults or meanContinueContinue reading “Chapter Four: Don’t Stop Believin’”