Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 20
Word Count: 1,310

Book Summary
Eleventeen follows young Sarah as she works through the emotions of her upcoming birthday. Frustrated that she isn't quite a teenager yet, like her sister, she finds herself trying to explain to her family that turning eleven is not what she wants at all. She retreats to her room and decides to follow the advice of her father, who always tells her to "weigh the facts." As she compares ages eleven and sixteen on paper, she realizes that the responsibilities of becoming eleven aren't really that different from sixteen--especially when she renames her age eleventeen. Illustrations support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of making, revising, and confirming predictions to understand the text
• Identify story elements
• Identify and understand the use of pronouns
• Identify and use contractions

Materials

• Book -- Eleventeen (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Index cards
• Dictionaries
• Prediction, story elements, pronouns, contractions worksheets
• Discussion cards

      Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary

• Content words: accomplished, adolescent, columns, comeback, completed, concluded, dawned, definitely, dilemma, extraordinary, possibilities, responsibility, retorted, sarcasm, unison

Build Background

• Ask students if they have siblings and, if so, whether their siblings are older or younger. Invite them to share their feelings about having a brother or sister. Ask them how they get along with their siblings.
• Explain to students that in this story, Sarah wishes she could be a different age than the one she is. Discuss with students how it feels to be the age they are, and ask them why people might sometimes wish they could be older, or younger, instead.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students their copy of the book. Guide them to the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type of book it is and what it might be about.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

• Explain to students that good readers often make predictions about what will happen in a book based on the series of events and what the characters say, do, and think in the story. As they read the story, readers revise or confirm their predictions based on what they learn from reading. Before reading a book, readers can use the title and illustrations as the basis for making predictions.
• Model using the title and illustrations to make a prediction.
  Think-aloud: When I look at the illustration on page 3, I see a young girl blowing out candles on a cake. I count eleven candles on the cake. It seems as though she is celebrating her birthday. The title of the book is Eleventeen. I know that eleventeen is not really a word, so I wonder if it is a word that the girl has created on her own. I wonder if the story is about a girl named Sarah, who is having a birthday party. Because there are eleven candles on the cake, I predict that she is turning eleven and is excited about it. I'll have to read the book to confirm or revise my prediction.
• Create a four-column chart on the board with the headings Make, Revise, Confirm, and Actual. Model writing a prediction in the first column, Make. (For example: Sarah is turning eleven and is excited about it.)
• Introduce and explain the prediction worksheet. Have students preview the covers of the book and the title page. Ask them to make a prediction before they begin reading and write it on their worksheet in the Make column. Discuss with students that the reasons behind their predictions are what make their predictions valuable. Invite them to share their predictions and why they think those events might happen.
• As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Story elements

• Explain that fictional stories contain five different elements. Write the following on the board: characters, setting, problem, events, and solution. Tell students that the characters are the people in the story, and the setting is when and where the story takes place. Explain that a writer usually poses a problem to one or more characters and that the rest of the story evolves around solving the problem. Review or explain that a problem is something that is difficult to deal with or hard to understand and must be worked out or solved. A solution is an act or process of solving the problem, and the events are the things that happen to the characters as they are finding the solution.
• Ask students to turn to page 4. Read this page of the story aloud as they follow along silently. Discuss with students the story elements that are already disclosed, such as characters (Sarah and her mother), the setting (in the kitchen at home, on a Saturday morning, a few weeks before Sarah's birthday), and a problem (Sarah is bored with being ten).
• Point out that as the story progresses, the elements will be added to and expanded upon.
• Think-aloud: To better understand what is happening in a book, I look for the elements of the story. Then, in my mind, I think about them for a minute and remember the characters, setting, problem, events, and solution. I know that I will remember more about the story when I do this, so I'm going to look for the elements of this story as I read.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Write the following words from the content vocabulary on the board: comeback, dilemma, concluded, unison, retorted, and possibilities.
• Give each student three index cards. Have them choose three words that they are unfamiliar with from the board. Instruct them to write each of their chosen words in large, clear handwriting on one side of the card. Tell them that they will create flash cards to help them memorize the meaning of each word. Model how to write the word adolescent in large, clear handwriting on an index card.
• Review or explain that the dictionary contains a list of words and their definitions, along with their pronunciations.
• Model how to use the dictionary to find a word's meaning. (Point out that this book does not contain a glossary at the back of the book.) Invite a volunteer to read the definition for adolescent in the dictionary. Help students create a clear, concise definition, and write it on the reverse side of the example card for adolescent. Then have students follow along on page 10 as you read the sentence in which the word adolescent is found to confirm the meaning of the word. Tell students to repeat the exercise with the vocabulary words they have written on their index cards.
• Give students time to work on memorizing the definitions on their flash cards. When ready, have them check their memory by working with a partner. Once they have committed each of their vocabulary words to memory, encourage them to trade cards with another student to learn three more new words.
• After reading the book, quiz students using each of the six flashcards to check for student understanding and retention of the vocabulary definitions.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book, making predictions about what will happen in the story based on what the characters say, do, and think. Remind them to revise or confirm their predictions as they learn more about the events of the story.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read from the beginning of the story to the end of page 9. Encourage those who finish early to go back and reread these pages.
• Model revising a prediction
  Think-aloud: I predicted that Sarah is turning eleven and is excited about it. As I read, I learned that Sarah is bored with being ten. However, I also read that she thinks that being eleven will be boring, too. I think she wants to be a teenager like her older sister, Kate. I inferred this information because of the title of the book, Eleventeen, which is a made-up word, created by adding the word teen onto the age of eleven. On page 3, it says that Sarah is very excited about turning eleventeen. I'm revising my prediction to: Sarah thought that turning eleven would be boring, so she decided to call her age eleventeen to make it seem more like being a teenager. I will write this prediction on my chart next to my original prediction in the Revise column.
• Encourage students to use the information they've read and discussed to revise or confirm their prediction. Have them write their revised prediction under the heading Revise on their worksheet. Remind them that if their first prediction has been confirmed or has not yet been proven, they may write another prediction in the Make column of their worksheet. Model for students how to think through whether or not their predictions were confirmed and, if not, why not. Help them to think about whether or not their reasons for their prediction were valid.
• Invite students to share elements of the story that they have identified so far (characters: Sarah, Mom, Dad, Kate, and Noah; setting: in the kitchen at home, on a Saturday morning, a few weeks before Sarah's birthday; problem: Sarah is bored with being ten and thinks that turning eleven will be boring, too; events: Kate argues that Sarah wants to be a teenager just like her, Noah says he wants them both to be eighteen and out of the house, Dad is confused).
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 11. When they have finished reading, have them share their predictions and the outcome of their predictions. Remind them to revise or confirm their predictions and write what actually happened on their worksheet.
• Ask students whether Sarah realizes her real problem (she needs to be a teenager). Point out that the setting has changed for Sarah (she is now in her bedroom).
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Encourage them to continue to make, revise, and confirm their predictions as they read the rest of the story.

      Have students make a question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. Encourage them to use the strategies they have learned to read each word and figure out its meaning.

• Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Think-aloud: I predicted that Sarah thought that turning eleven would be boring, so she decided to call her age eleventeen to make it seem more like being a teenager. My prediction was correct. I read that Sarah followed her father's advice and "weighed the facts." I learned that through this exercise, she realized that being eleven is a whole lot closer to being sixteen than she originally thought. She would be more responsible, earn money babysitting, and make her own decisions about how to spend it. I will write this information next to my prediction under the heading Actual.
• Independent practice: Have students complete their prediction worksheet. Invite them to share their predictions, reasoning, and revisions, and to tell how their predictions related to the actual outcome of the story. Ask students to explain how the strategy of making, revising, and confirming predictions helped them understand and enjoy the story.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Remind students of the story elements already identified in the previous discussion (character, setting, problem, events). Now that they have finished the story, ask them whether those elements were added to or expanded upon (characters were added after the first discussion, the setting changed for Sarah, the problem evolved, and more events took place).
• Ask students to recall the problem of the story (Sarah wanted to be a teenager). Discuss some of the events leading to the solution of Sarah's problem. (Sarah stopped bickering with her siblings and went up to her room, she followed her father's advice and "weighed the facts," she created a chart in which she compared age 11 to age 16, and so on.) Ask students to identify the final solution to Sarah's problem (she realized that eleven was closer to being a teenager than she originally thought and decided to call her new age eleventeen).
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the story elements worksheet. When students have finished, discuss their answers aloud.
• Enduring understanding: In this book, you read about Sarah realizing that taking on more responsibility made her more like a teenager, even though she was still only eleven. Now that you know this information, how does this make you feel about appreciating your age for what it is? Why is it important to find the good in things and not dwell on the bad?

Grammar and Mechanics: Pronouns

• Write the following sentence on the board: Sarah thought for a long time about the chart. Replace the words the chart with a pronoun (Sarah thought for a long time about it). Ask students to tell what the word it refers to (the chart). Explain or review that a pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Write examples of pronouns on the board: I, she, it, they, ours, and so on.
• Ask students to turn to page 9. Write the following sentence on the board: "So what's the big rush to be eighteen?" he asked. Ask students to identify the pronoun (he) and underline it on the board. Ask them which word he stands for (Dad). Have a volunteer repeat the sentence using the proper noun Dad in place of the pronoun he, ("So what's the big rush to be eighteen?" Dad asked.) Write that sentence under the first example. Point out to students that the pronoun and the noun it replaces are interchangeable within the sentence.
• Have students turn to page 15. Write the pronouns she and they on the board. Ask students which pronoun represents one person (she) and which word represents more than one person (they). Write the following sentence on the board: Now that she was turning eleven, she did get more responsibility. Point out to students that readers know the pronoun she refers to one person only (Sarah). Write the following sentence on the board: They could go any time they wanted as long as it was before dark. Point out to students that readers know that the pronoun they refers to more than one person, so we know that Sarah did not go to the park alone.
• Have students use the words she and they in oral sentences. Discuss the reasons why authors use pronouns in the place of nouns (to make the writing flow better, to avoid repeating words, to make the paragraph sound better overall, and so on).
• Check for understanding: Write the following pronouns on the board: her, I, them. Discuss the appropriate use of each word and have students work with a partner to practice using them in oral sentences.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the pronouns worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Word Work: Contractions

• Direct students to page 4 and point to the word I'm. Review or explain that this word stands for two words. Ask students to use context clues to identify which two words were joined together to make the new word (I and am). Write both the contraction and the two words on the board. Point out that the letter a in am is dropped to make the contraction.
• Ask a volunteer to read aloud the first sentence on page 4, substituting I am for I'm to check if these words make sense. ("I am bored," said Sarah.)
• Review or explain that a contraction is a word formed by joining two words, and that an apostrophe shows where one or more letters have been left out.
• Ask students to turn to page 8 and identify the contractions (Sarah's, won't, and we've). Ask students to identify which two words were joined together to make the new word Sarah's (Sarah and is). Ask students to identify which two words were joined together to make the new word won't (will and not). Ask students to identify which two words were joined together to make the new word we've (we and have).
• Ask students to identify which letter was dropped to make the contraction Sarah's (the i in is). Ask students to identify which letters were dropped or changed to make the contraction won't (the o replaces the ill in will, and the o in not is dropped). Ask students to identify which letters were dropped to make the contraction we've (the ha in have). Ask a volunteer to read page 8, substituting Sarah is for Sarah's, will not for won't, and we have for we've.
• Have students turn to page 17. Point to the word table's in the first sentence. Have a volunteer read the sentence aloud, substituting is for 's. (As Sarah looked down at her table is columns, she began to realize something.) Ask students to explain whether the sentence makes sense. Review or explain that an 's that shows possession is not a contraction. In this sentence, the 's shows possession: her table's columns. Point out that using context clues helps readers determine whether a word is possessive or a contraction.

      Check for understanding: Have students circle all of the contractions in the book and write the two words each contraction stands for next to the word. Remind them not to circle any words with an 's that shows possession. If time allows, discuss their responses.

• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the contractions worksheet. If time allows, discuss their responses.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

• Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students also take home their prediction worksheet and explain to someone the process of making, revising, and confirming predictions.

Realistic Fiction Writing Connection
Have students write a fictional piece in which their character experiences frustration with a part of his or her life. Tell students that the frustration might be something that their character is experiencing at home or in school. This problem may be with a family member, teacher, or friend. Remind students to keep the characters and events believable since they are writing a realistic fiction piece.

Visit Writing A–Z for a lesson and leveled materials on realistic fiction writing.

Social Studies Connection
Provide Internet resources for students to research teenage life worldwide. Have them look for information such as when teenagers can drive, what the typical curfew is, how long they live at their parents' house, when they can vote, what freedoms they are given and when, along with any other interesting facts they might find. Have them use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the lives of teenagers where they live and the lives of teenagers in any other country of their choice.

Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the book are provided as an extension activity. The following is a list of some ways these cards can be used with students:

• Use as discussion starters for literature circles.
• Have students choose one or more card and write a response, either as an essay or a journal entry.
• Distribute before reading the book and have students use one of the questions as a purpose for reading.
• Cut apart and use the cards as game cards with a board game.
• Conduct a class discussion as a review before the book quiz.