This children's book goes through the different emotions we can feel. It also encourages children to be aware of the feelings they have and in response share about them. Children have big emotions and it's helpful to make them aware of these feelings so they regulate themselves. This story would be of great use during an SEL lesson in the classroom, so that students can continue to learn how to explain how their feeling!

Awards: Teacher's Choice Award

Appropriate Grade Level: Pre-K/Kindergarten

Review: This book takes the reader throughout the journey of a rollercoaster of emotions. In a quick and clever rhyme, Cain outlines different types of emotions and when we might feel that way. Readers can definitely relate and learn some new vocabulary while they are at it!

Reaction: This book is simple and cute. Although I found it a little boring, I think it can be useful in the classroom.

In-Class Uses:

1) This book is a great way to teach children different vocabulary about their emotions. The words can be put on the word wall which will encourage students to use them when expressing their emotions verbally.

2) For ELL's, this book is a great way for them to learn new vocabulary! While native English speakers may know what happy means, an ELL can benefit from seeing the word next to a picture or hearing it said in a certain tone of voice.

Reading Levels
DRA: 18
Lexile: 300L

Explanation of Star Rating: I gave this book four stars because it is a nice, short, silly book. I think this book would work well in an intermediate classroom. The little girl goes through her typical feelings and expresses the feelings she has throughout the day; disappointed, happy, sad, etc. I like how relatable this book will be for students at a young age who have hundreds of different feelings every day.

Most standout trait(s): Voice

The Way I Feel by Janan Cain is a children's picture book describing the multiple different emotions we feel and the possible reasons we feel them. As the author says, this books emphasizes "language for emotions". It encourages kids as well as adults to understand their emotions and be able to communicate them/express them in words. By talking them out we can hopefully understand how to change or appreciate the circumstances causing us to feel a certain way.

I loved this book. The illustrations were colorful, expressive and wild. Two words to perfectly describe it in my mind are, controlled chaos. Despite the font being difficult to read at times, I really like the extension to the description of the emotions. For example, "Im frustrated because I can't do it. It's hard and I want to cry. I don't know whether to give it up or to give it another try" rather than just saying, "Im frustrated. I Can't do it." Thats not relatable or even an honest beneficial way of going about it.

Emotions are a normal part of life for not only children but adults. The ability to acknowledge the emotion, express it correctly, and move on is crucial. Teaching such skills need to be encouraged at an early age. While this book is more of an advanced beginners book it still has a very important concept that would be great to read to a group of kids.

A great feelings book that is fun and rhymes

The book, The Way I Feel by Janan Cain is a relatable story that discusses the complexity of emotions and the many ways in which we feel them. This story can help children to find the words to describe their feelings; the text assists in teaching names of emotions for children to learn and use in their lives to express themselves. Emotions can be complex and hard for young children to understand, but this book can help distinguish the different emotions they feel. By strengthening their lexicon specifically with words to describe emotions, children could build upon many cognitive skills. The useful words they can learn in this book could aid a child’s level of expression and improve their relationships with others around them. This book could be helpful for a child with autism because it gives examples of how to react to different emotions and why they happen. Through communication with the appropriate vocabulary, children will be better understood by others around them and gain more communicative competence. Communicative competence occurs when the speaker is able to influence the listener’s behavior (McLaughlin, 2006, p. 7). With the assistance of the important messages shared in this book, children can learn how to be better equipped at dealing with their emotions and communicating with others.
McLaughlin, S. (2006). Introduction to language development. Singular Publishing Group, Inc.

Date: 02.23.24
Attendees: 60
Theme: Feelings, Emotions

Introduction and announcements: Bread and Butter

Book one: The Way I Feel by Janan Cain

Song/rhyme/game one: If You’re Happy by Super Simple Songs

Book two: Hurty Feelings by Helen Lester

Song/rhyme/game two: The Run Stop by The Funky Monkeys

Book three: Hangry by Drew Brockington

Song/ rhyme/ game three: Shake your shaker eggs

Activity: https://www.cleverhousewife.com/wp-co...

Per my second graders: I liked it because it was telling you how they feel. I liked it because the mommy was playing with the baby and they lady got mad. I liked it because it shows how you feel.

Such a cute book!

The illustrations and the words complemented each other wonderfully. Cain described different emotions and reminded children that every emotion is normal. That is normal to be scared, surprised, happy, sad, angry... She gave children a word to use when describing feelings.

I'm a school social worker and I have a calm space for my kiddos that need time for themselves as they work through their emotions/feelings. I am definitely putting this book in the calm space.

Highly recommend for elementary-aged kids (ages 4-11).

This book revolves around emotions. Students go through many of them. Some emotions are being silly, being scared, being happy, being sad, being angry, being excited, and being proud (Cain, J. (2000). The way I feel. Parenting Press).

The appropriate audience for this book would be kindergarten to fifth grade. It is very easy to read and follow. Several pictures show the many emotions for the children to see.

I chose this book because emotions are something that we deal with every single day. Teachers and students both have them. Students need to understand how they are feeling and why they feel the way they do. Teachers must be able to spot problematic emotions so that they can help the student to overcome them and still learn effectively.

"The way we Feel" by Janan Caine.
This a great book about how people feel and our emotions. Emotions constantly change; we may be happy one day and sad another. The book is cute and excellent at explaining all the different emotions and how we feel doing other things throughout the day. The illustrations were big and colorful. I enjoyed reading this has I have never read a book that focused on multiple emotions and feelings.

This book is a good illustration about the emotions people feel on a day to day basis. This book explains what emotions are and are based on what we think or do. I would say this is a realistic examples as it takes you through a journey of how one may feel when sad, angry, excited, jealous, or bored. Emotions are apart of our everyday life. I think this is appropriate for children as it teaches them to be more aware of expressing their emotions as well as having a way to explain the reasoning behind their emotions. This was a good read, very simple and to the point about each emotion, making it easy to understand and follow along.