Curlfriends: New in Town,

Learning Goals

• Describe how Charlie feels about starting at a new school and explain how her feelings change as she develops friendships.
• Use dialogue, facial expressions, and illustrations in Curlfriends: New in Town to identify clues about characters’ emotions.
• Explain how Charlie’s experiences connect to belonging, self-expression, and accepting differences, including differences in hair and appearance.
• Create a short comic showing a welcoming action that helps a new student feel included.

Activity Steps

1. 1.Introduce Sharee Miller’s Curlfriends: New in Town and examine the cover. Ask: “What might someone feel when they are new at school?” Explain how graphic novels use panels, speech bubbles, and pictures to tell a story.
2. 2.Read selected sequences showing Charlie entering her new school and interacting with classmates. Pause to examine her expressions and dialogue. Ask: “What does Charlie want others to think about her? What clues show how she feels?”
3. 3.Create a class chart labeled “Charlie’s Feelings,” “Story Clues,” and “Welcoming Actions.” Add examples from the reading, distinguishing between what characters actually do and additional actions students suggest.
4. 4.Discuss how hair and personal style can be forms of self-expression. Ask: “How can friends help someone feel comfortable being themselves?” Emphasize respecting differences without touching someone’s hair or making assumptions about them.
5. 5.Have students create a three-panel “Welcome to Our School” comic: a new student arrives, a classmate offers a specific welcoming action, and the new student responds. K–1 students may draw and dictate captions; grades 2–5 should include dialogue and visual clues to feelings.
6. 6.Invite students to share their comics with a partner and identify the welcoming action. Close with each student naming one action they could take to help a classmate feel included.