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Art by Shannon Wright
Pine School Pals: The New Car
Meet the Pine School second-grade class. In this story, Jack has something he wants to show his friends. Read to find out what happens in Pine School Pals: The New Car!
By Laine Falk
From the February 2025 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will practice finding the problem and solution in a fiction story.
video
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video
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Activities
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Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key
(1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Implementation
- Small group; whole group; independent reading
Pairings and Text Connections
- In this issue, these texts all go with the friendship theme:
“The Lonely Little Horse,” p. 6
“The Shortcut,” p. 14
“Pine Street Pals: The New Car,” p. 21
“Poem Pals,” p. 32
“The Lonely Little Horse,” p. 6
“The Shortcut,” p. 14
“Pine Street Pals: The New Car,” p. 21
“Poem Pals,” p. 32
Before-Reading Resources
- Text Preview Bookmarks
(5 minutes) Kids can cut out the fiction bookmark and use it to preview the text.
(5 minutes) Kids can cut out the fiction bookmark and use it to preview the text.
Suggested Reading Focus
Reading fluency, performance (30 minutes)
- Have students read the mini graphic novel aloud in small groups. You can assign different students different roles. The characters are all listed on the first page to make this easy.
- After students have practiced with their small groups, they can perform their “play” for the rest of the class (while reading from the magazine—they don’t have to memorize their parts).
- Then you can discuss the story. What was the problem in the story? What was the solution?
After-Reading Skills Practice
(15 minutes for each activity)
- Problem and Solution: This activity helps students reflect on the structure of the comic they have just read.
- Video: Choose one of two videos to show students. “What Makes a Good Friend?” will help illustrate what friendship can look like. “What’s in a Comic?” is a fun video that helps kids understand features of comics, like speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and more.
- Friends Chart: Compare the themed texts in the issue.
Text-to-Speech