By Janan Cain steve Metzger - The Way I Act (1905-07-19) [Paperback]

by Steve Metzger

The Way I Act explores thirteen ways of behaving. The friendly verses and bold illustrations convey many positive ideas of how to act in a variety of situations. In the companion book, The Way I Feel, children learned that feelings come and go and simply are. A little older now, they are ready to think about the ability they have to control how things turn out. Like The Way I Feel, this book is ideal for children with autism.(Ages 4-9)

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Poetry, Emotion

Paperback

First published January 7, 2010

About the author

I grew up in Queens, NY in the 1950s with my “baby” sister, Lois. She is now a wonderful writer of young adult novels and nonfiction. My mother was born in Vienna, Austria, and my father came from Brooklyn – an interesting match! My best friends were Neil, Robbie, Krebs, and Paul. I’m still good friends with most of these guys. It was less hectic in those days – no computers, no emails, fewer TV channels (MANY fewer!) We had lots of fun playing ball and listening to records. I’ll never forget when the Beatles came to America – Beatlemania!
After graduating from Baruch College in NYC, I didn’t know what to do with my life. I bounced around doing odd jobs, including taxi driver, dishwasher, and hotel desk clerk. One day, while relaxing in Central Park (OK, I was unemployed), I saw a group of children from a local daycare center. It struck me that I always liked children -- perhaps I could make a career out of something I liked. Eureka! Ever since then, I’ve been involved, in one way or another, with the lives of young children.

I received my Masters in Education from Bank Street College and taught preschool kids for a bunch of years. I loved the childrens' innocence and vivid imaginations. After moving into school administration for a few years, I began working at Scholastic, where I have been ever since.

At Scholastic, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to write children’s books. The first book that I wrote was "The Dinofours: I’m Super Dino!" Twenty-seven other Dinofours’ books followed. I hope my respect and appreciation for young children shines through in my stories.

Nowadays, I’m lucky to be married to my beautiful and talented wife, Nancy (she’s also a writer). In 1998, we were blessed with a terrific daughter, Julia, who helps criticize my story ideas and lets me play with her once in a while.

And furthermore…any recollections of my life would not be complete without mentioning my grandmother, Mutti. She was an ever present source of love, appreciation, and wisdom.

Reviews

[Megan Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. A person chooses the way in which they behave. The Way I Act explores how different types of behavior looks and feels. With brilliant illustrations, the reader is taken on a journey of poetry and positive behavior.

2. The Way I Act by Steve Metzger is a book that is designed to be simple in order to drive a point across. Each "behavior" come with a poetry-like explanation that tells how to act or what to do in a way for younger readers to understand. Steve Metzger does a fantastic job of balancing colorful illustrations with meaningful text.

3. The Way I Feel by Janan Cain; Conflict Resolution: When Friends Fight by Liz George

4. "When we are cooperative, we don't have time to fight"

[Tami Speakman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very helpful for children to read and see different types of good behaviors that they can do in their day to day. If a child is having mistaken behaviors this book can be read to them to see things they can do instead. The illustrations are very fun and colorful to keep the children engaged and wanting to read more. I would recommend this book to young children to help them learn positive behavior.

[Madison Franklin]

Why do children act the way they act? I don't think they know either, this book put words to actions. When she does something, she learns why she did it and maybe she should or shouldn't have. this is a good resource to have in the classroom, especially in cases where children might be acting out of miss behaving, they do not always know why they did what they did, it was a feeling they acted on that they don't always understand.

[Sara Bushaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has great illustrations that really convey that point of how the way you act can effect others. This book takes a deep dive into behaving, and what the correct way to behave/handle things in different circumstances. This book gives realistic examples on how to do so and is a entertaining book for students to read.

[Melissa Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful story to teach about self-control and emotional regulation with children. Wonderful illustration to engage readers and a read aloud that is appropriate for reading with lots of expression to hook readers into the content of the story.

[KELSEY · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book explores a child who interrupts too much with his important words and is perfect for ages 4-8 and. It takes the main characters himself to get interrupted during an important presentation for him to realizes what his interruptions do to others. This story uses language that is appropriate for children and the illustrations engage the story and the mood of the story. Another positive about this book is that children are exposed to multiple perspectives. The genre of this book is fiction and fits perfectly into my social-emotional learning text set.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great simple book to use at the start of the school year. Can also be used when discussing character traits. How actions show us character.

[Casey Weisner]

Such a cute book! This book lists a bunch of different words that describe what kids feel and do and defines them in a very memorable and basic way for students.

[Little Seesaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has very colorful and happy illustrations. It describes different words and gives children good ideas for good behavior.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflecting on behaviors/social skills.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet book naming different ways to act for different situations.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It talks abt emotions cool 😎

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feelings vs. actions

[Brhea P · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for teaching children how to understand feelings and that they come and go. This book also teaches children how to label their feelings. Great illustrations, and useful for social emotional development.

[Katherine Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary
This poem goes over the many adjectives that you can use to describe yourself. Are you curious, respectful, or thoughtful?
Reaction
This simple poem had nice illustrations and is a good book for younger students who are learning adjectives. I think is was a fine book.
Lesson
I would have students write about themselves in the same way as the book. They would describe themselves in two sentences and end with the sentence “I am...” ending with their chosen adjective.

[Jordyn Styskal]

1. Opening:
As you know, in our classroom everyone is part of our team. Each person in here is a player that makes up our team. The decisions you make in here matter. The choices you make in here matter. The way you act in here matter. Being apart of this team means we treat one another with respect and we make responsible choices to keep our team safe. As I read The Way I Act by Steve Metzger, I want you think about each situation and think of a time your positive actions made a difference.

2. Opening moves:
Prompt brief sharing of personal experiences related to the topic or theme, share a personal connection you have with the text, raise interest in a topic or theme, invite personal connections

3. Rationale:
I selected this book because it focuses on a variety of social skills. Each page has a thoughtful way to provide examples of a character trait through a rhyming scheme. Students can easily make real life connections to the scenarios expressed throughout the book.

4. Book Review:
(2011, April 1). School Library Journal. http://www.booksinprint.com.leo.lib.u...#

[Relyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little young for my third graders, and I wonder how much they would have liked it if our librarian hadn't read the companion book to them last year. Though it is young, it's a great introduction to a character discussion about self-control and the way that feelings lead to actions.

[Suburban Homeschooler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I'm missing something. True, the verses are clever, and the illustrations charming. however, I don't feel the book does what it hopes to. It does give examples of certain character traits, but elementary students were no closer to knowing what "capable" meant after reading the book than before we read it.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pair with The Way I Feel, but this is less natural and appealing to me, since it involves various behaviors the youngest might cognize, but offers language not as readily recognized by them. Something about this one comes off as more preachy than the original.

[Ubalstecha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice primary level book on different character traits. Sadly the language is not clear enough for younger children, leaving this as a shared book where the adult reader spends a lot of time explaining things to the child.

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved that it covered:
Curious
Responsible
Compassionate
Trustworthy
Brave
Friendly
Persistent
Respectful
Cooperative
Capable
Active
Considerate
Imaginative

[Rosanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because it discussed lots of fabulous character traits in a very simple way.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

About positive character traits.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vivid illustrations make the lesson of learning how to act fun for students. This book is appropriate in the younger grades, as it teaches them how our actions affect others.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very colorful and I hope a useful book for parents and educators to use from our library. We already had The Way I Act, so I thought this would be a good addition to our parenting section.

[Heather Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

megan summer reading 2016, children's book, picture book, emotions, actions, consequences, morals, first grade, prek, kindergarten, second grade, third grade

[The Styling Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Way I Act verses by Steve Metzger, illustrations by Janan Cain – love all the action examples connected with life traits such as friendly, brave, considerate, curious, etc.

[Jessica Gunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book teaches children about how our actions can affect others. It's also about compassion and bravery.

[Maren Prestegaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A school book. Not a saver but was fun to read and imagine with the kids.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shows a wide variety of ways to act. A terrific second book with The Way I Feel for helping young reader identify their actions.