The Smart Cookie book by Jory John is a fun read aloud with an adorable main character, a sweet and smart cookie, teaching such an important message about self-confidence. With the help of these The Smart Cookie activities ideas, your students will definitely learn anyone can be a smart cookie if you just believe in yourself!
The Smart Cookie activities: WRITING and DISCUSSION questions
The Smart Cookie by Jory John is a perfect read aloud to practice different writing types. For example, you can practice informational writing by learning how to structure a baking recipe for a cookie. A fun idea my students loved was a ‘cookie research‘: each student had to pick their favorite cookie (what, just one option???) and learn how to bake it. Then they had to share the recipe with their classmates.
In my TPT resource, I offer a graphic organize to practice establishing text-to-self connection by asking the students to describe the time when they had an ‘AHA!’ moment. The Smart Cookie discovers that she doesn’t need to have perfect grades to believe in herself and discovers she has a talent to write beautiful poems. My students loved reflecting on their strength and writing to share their experience.
The Smart Cookie CRAFT
The main message of the book has to do with confidence. You don’t have to have good grades, there are many ways to be smart. Promote this message with the help of accomplishment certificates or affirmation messages. Don’t prepare it yourself though, gave your students prepare them for each other! Getting a message of encouragement from their peers will truly boost the confidence of your students.
In my TpT resource with the Smart Cookie read aloud activities, I offer to share affirmation messages hidden inside fortune cookie paper craft. Prepare the craft with one of the many messages and distribute the cookies to your students. Make sure to emphasize that everyone got the right message: the cookies found their owners 🙂
Some encouragement messages to help promote self confidence are:
You are a rockstar!
I am so proud of you!
You can move mountains!
You are smart in so many ways!
The Smart Cookie LESSON PLAN idea
For a single The Smart Cookie lesson, I would suggest structuring the lesson as follows:
- Discussion: Briefly discuss what it means to be “smart” and different types of intelligence.
- Read Aloud: Read The Smart Cookie to the class, pausing to discuss the main character’s challenges and growth.
- Text-to-self connection: Talk about times students have felt frustrated but eventually succeeded.
- The Smart Cookie Craft: Students create their own “smart cookie” with a personal affirmation or strength.
- Wrap-Up: Students share their creations and reflect on how we all learn differently but can all be “smart” in our own way.
The Smart Cookie book activities to learn new VOCABULARY
The main focus of the book is on the power of self-confidence. The author teaches young readers to always believe in yourself and the things you love to do, so it is a great idea to teach growth mindset and positive reinforcement with the help of The Smart Cookie activities vocabulary unit. Here is a helpful list of words to target in The Smart Cookie vocabulary practice:
- supportive
- fantastic
- mesmerizing
- speak up
- share ideas
- cakewalk
- confident
- solve the puzzle
- original
- keep up
Unlock More Learning: Fun The Smart Cookie book activities
I hope you and your students enjoy the free The Smart Cookie activities shared in this unit! If you’re looking for a low-prep option with 40+ engaging activities tailored to this book, consider purchasing the complete 5-day unit. Plus, you can save even more by grabbing the bundle that includes all the books from the Food Group series! Every unit in the series includes 5 days of detailed lesson plans and over 35+ engaging activities designed to explore the book’s key themes and lessons, as well as a variety of writing crafts.
