How I Teach The Humble Pie: Read Aloud Activities and SEL Lesson Plan
Teaching The Humble Pie With SEL Lesson
I’ve always been a huge fan of the author Jory John, and his book The Bad Seed has been one of my favorite back-to-school read-alouds for many years. When I first discovered he had a new book, The Humble Pie I knew I had to have it. I got myself onto the preorder list, and as soon as the book arrived, I read it, created a lesson plan to go along with it and taught it all in that same week. It is a great story with meaningful social-emotional lessons that are very relevant to classrooms of all ages. I used this book to teach the character trait of humility and also reinforced what it means to be a great partner on a group project. The pie theme naturally makes the book and lesson pair well with Thanksgiving time, though Pi Day (March 14th) would be another great time to teach this lesson.
Below I’m sharing how I teach The Humble Pie and how I use my companion resource to make the lesson engaging and standards-aligned while also teaching important social-emotional skills.
The Humble Pie Book Summary
The story follows Humble Pie who is quiet and enjoys being in the background. His best friend, Jake the Cake, is completely the opposite, always the center of attention, bubbly and social. When they are paired together for a group project, Humble Pie is initially excited, but quickly feels stressed and overwhelmed as Jake is continuously absent to pursue his busy social calendar, and Humble Pie ends up doing most of the work. Humble Pie has to gather up his courage in order to confront his friend to do his fair share.
This book is an awesome read-aloud for the quieter members of your class who will see themselves represented by Humble Pie, but just as relevant to the outgoing members of your class that will connect more with Jake. The Humble Pieteaches that being humble doesn’t mean being unappreciated or letting yourself get taken advantage of. It also includes valuable lessons on how partners should work together on group projects, which is so relevant for any classroom.
Step by Step: How I Taught The Humble Pie
Step 1: Set the Scene, Read Book and Discuss
Before diving into reading, I ask some beginning questions to prompt students to think deeply about the concepts that will be covered.
What does it mean to be humble?
When working on a group project, how does a good partner act?
Then I read The Humble Pie aloud to the class. I love stopping to model think-alouds while reading:
How is Humble Pie different from Jake the Cake?
How is Jake doing as a partner on their group project?
How do you think Humble Pie is feeling?
What lesson do we think the author wants us to learn?
We pause often to notice the contrast between the two main characters. These quick turn-and-talks help students get ready for the comprehension activities that follow.
Step 2: Build Reading Comprehension Skills
After reading, we move into a series of short, differentiated comprehension pages. I give my students a double-sided page with comprehension questions and a compare-and-contrast Venn Diagram on Humble Pie and Jake the Cake. I usually let students work with partners to complete these pages, because one of the main points I’m about to make is about how to be a good partner!
Step 3: Connect to SEL: How To Be Humble / How To Be A Great Group Partner
I actually teach two separate SEL lessons to go along with The Humble Pie. First, I teach a lesson on how to be humble. I give my students two charts (generally printed double sided) while I draw the charts on the board, and we together as a class brainstorm what it looks like, sounds like and feels like to be humble, with lots of opportunities for pair shares. Then we also do the same thing for what being humble does NOT look like, sound like and feel like, since that is a key part of the book as well, since Humble Pie specifically learns what it doesn’t look like. Then we move onto the writing craft (described in the next section), which students do not finish in one day generally.
On day two, we do similar Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like charts (as well as what it doesn’t) for being a great group partner. This is so relevant for the classroom, and I think it is such a valuable discussion with the class! Then students finish their writing craft they started the day before.
Step 4: Apply It With “How to Be Humble” Pie Writing Craft
This is the students’ favorite part!
Each student creates their own “How to Be Humble” Pie foldable craft with three tabs:
What It Is
What It Isn’t
How I’m Humble
The finished pies make a great bulletin board display, and the writing reflections give me a window into each student’s social-emotional growth. It’s a great blend of art, writing, and SEL. It generally takes us two days. The first day paired with the “How To Be Humble” lesson and the second day for “How To Be A Great Project Partner” lesson as discussed previously.
Why I Love This Read Aloud Book and SEL / Reading Comprehension Lesson
First of all, this is just an enjoyable read aloud and a fun craft. But the SEL lessons are so relevant to the classroom and they are skills not yet hit by other books in my library. The main lesson of Humble Pie actually targets the quiet kids in class and encourages them to speak up for themselves WHICH I LOVE! But I also love just as much that it includes an opportunity to highlight how important it is for all partners to work hard in a group project. That is definitely always super relevant in my classroom and I’m sure I’m not alone.
I really enjoyed this book and lessons with my class, and I definitely plan on reusing it next year too. Even though I do love the idea of pairing it with Pi Day (03/14) personally I think I will continue to read this book and teach the lesson in November because it allows us to discuss the SEL concepts earlier on in the school year.
Ready To Try It?
You can grab the full Humble Pie Read-Aloud Reading Comprehension and SEL Lesson Product here in my Mighty Joy Teaching shop. It includes 4 differentiated comprehension pages, 4 SEL charts, and the “How to Be Humble” craft. It’s print-and-go, easy to differentiate, and guaranteed to bring both rigor and joy to your classroom.
Book cover shown for educational review purposes only. I am not affiliated with the author or publisher of The Humble Pie.
