Pine School Pals: The Class Door

Small group; whole group; independent reading

• What’s in a Comic? video (5 minutes)
  Show students the video What’s in a Comic? to help them understand features of comics, like speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and more.

Reading Focus: Problem and solution (30 minutes)

• As you begin to read, ask students to pay attention to the problem and solution in the story. What is Sara having a hard time with? Did she and the other Pals come up with a solution to that problem?

(This page can be printed from our website.)

• Problem and Solution: (10 minutes) This activity helps students reflect on the structure of the comic. First they’ll write down the Pine School Pals’ problem (there could be a few possible problems, but one is that the kids are having trouble agreeing on an idea for the class door design). Then they’ll write down the solution (the kids come up with a design they’re all happy with).

Our Mini Graphic Novels are a great way for kids to practice reading fluency. Here’s how they can do it:

• 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?