Illustration introducing main characters of comic, Jun and Theo
Art by Shannon Wright
Mini Graphic Novel,

Pine School Pals: The Pokémon Problem

Meet the Pine School second-grade class. Today Jun and Theo have a problem. Find out what happens in The Pokémon Problem!

By Laine Falk
From the October/November 2024 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will practice finding the problem and solution in a fiction story.

Lexile® measure: 290L
Featured Skill: Use Visuals, Main Idea,
Topic: Social-emotional learning,
Common Core Standards
  • Social and Life Skills
    Resolving conflicts constructively
  • Common Core Standards
    RL.2.1 Key details RL.2.3 Describe how characters respond to events RI.2.9 Compare two texts RL.2.7 Use visuals RL.2.10 Read grade 2 stories SL.2 Talk about grade 2 texts L.2.4a Context clues for word meaning
TEKS Standards
  • Health
    (3) Mental health and wellness--social and emotional health. The student identifies and applies strategies to develop socio-emotional health, self-regulation, and healthy relationships. The student is expected to: (A) communicate needs, wants, and emotions in healthy ways; (F) describe and demonstrate respectful ways to communicate with family members, peers, teachers, and others; (G) identify the feelings and perspectives of others by interpreting their verbal and nonverbal cues; and (H) identify ways to prevent and repair broken friendships.

Magazine View
See Student View

Pine School Pals:
The Pokémon Problem

By Laine Falk

Front row: Niki, Sara, Ben, Ava, Riley, Tate
Back row: Ms. Perez, Nora, Theo, Jack, Jun, Zoey, Malik

video (1)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
video (1)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (3) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Implementation

  • Small group; whole group; independent reading

Pairings and Text Connections

  • This comic is part of a series. Students can look at past print issues or go online to read about the Pine School Pals’ other adventures!

Before-Reading Resources

  • Text Preview Bookmarks 
    (10 minutes) Kids can cut out the fiction bookmark and use it to preview the text.

Suggested Reading Focus

Problem/solution, text navigation (30 minutes)

  • Read the first page with your students. You can assign different students different roles if you want to read this mini graphic novel aloud like a short play! The characters are all called out on the first page.

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. 
  • Story Map: Students can write about events in the story. 

Text-to-Speech