Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini

Okay, so the reason I was out in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in the first place was to teach at Arts For The Soul for the second year in a row. AFTS 2005 had 3 one week sessions – each offering classes in poetry, fiction, children’s literature, drawing, watercolor, oils, nature journaling, flute, piano, violin, viola and cello. It was quite an adventure – both for the students and the staff. I taught journaling and children’s literature workshops – and did a lot of journaling myself. To see some of my unpublished journal pages, check out my other website: complicatedoctopus.com.

Happy Friday! Today I spent the afternoon with the kids at Strawberry Park Elementary School. Still in Steamboat Springs. They were super excited about journaling! These are my kind of kids… Here I am with one of the students right after I autographed her copy of A Fly in the Sky. Behind us is a giant mural that the kids created. It says: “Welcome Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini!” and is totally covered with students’ journal entries about local animals and plants. I love it! Thank you, Strawberry Park!

Welcome back to school, everybody! I started this school year with a visit to Soda Creek Elementary in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This is a picture of me with School Librarian Marty O’Leary. She was a magnificent host. I did two presentations this afternoon: one for 2nd & 3rd grade, and one for 4th & 5th grade. In between, I did an interview with Susan Cunningham, who wrote a very nice article about my visit for the Steamboat Pilot & Today. The kids here have only been back in school for about 2 weeks, so it was fun to kick off the school year by talking about how they could use their writing and illustrating skills. Thanks, Soda Creek!