Text Leveling System

How to Take the Ache out of Mistakes

RDQ:	962	Max Word/Sent	54	Total Words	3024		Diff Words	697
Lex	730	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	2224	73.5%	Hi freq	270	38.7%
AR	3.6	Long Sentences	7.7	Low Freq occurs	133	4.4%	Low freq	86	12.3%

Introduction: You Must Be Mistaken.
You've probably heard people say, "Everyone makes
mistakes."
And it's true-everyone makes mistakes. Your mom
makes mistakes. So does your dad. And your teacher.
Your principal, best friend, cousin, neighbor, Great
Aunt Tutu, and your favorite sports stars and singers.
The most popular internet video star of all time, the
most famous movie stars, and every politician ever.
(Especially them.) Everyone.]]
So what's the big deal? If everyone makes mistakes,
why do you need a book to learn about them?
Because not everyone knows how to handle
mistakes. People might deny they made a mistake,
or avoid thinking about it, or lash out at others, or get
really mad at themselves.
Because sometimes small mistakes can lead to
bigger mistakes. And big problems. If we don't learn
from our mistakes we miss a chance to do better.]]
Because sometimes making mistakes can leave
you feeling embarrassed or all alone-like you're
the only one who would do something so "stupid."
Because for some people, WORRYING about
making a mistake is a real problem. They stress
about being wrong. They get so wound up with worry
they never try anything new because they don't want
to mess up.
Sometimes making a mistake can give you a sick,
twisty feeling in your stomach.
This book helps you take the ache out of mistakes.]]
Mistakes come in all shapes and sizes, just like the
people who make them. Some mistakes are small, like
tripping over your own feet. Some mistakes are a little
more important, like forgetting to walk the dog or
ignoring a big school project because you just don't
want to face it.]]
Mistakes can be accidents, like striking out in softball
or getting a problem wrong on a math test. But did you
know that sometimes people decide to make mistakes?
It's true. They might lie to a parent, cheat on a
test, or steal from a friend or a store. Their mistake
was choosing to be dishonest. If they keep choosing
to be dishonest, their behavior becomes more than a
mistake. It becomes part of who they are.
Sometimes when people make a mistake, all they
want to do is get away-from the mistake and from
everyone around them. However, hiding is not the
thing to do. Instead, you can deal with your mistake in
a way that helps you. You have the power to move on
in a healthy way.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This book will not teach
you how to never make a mistake again. That's
impossible. It will teach you how to own your
mistakes. It will help you fix them. It will also
show you how to learn from them. And once
you start owning, fixing, and learning from
your mistakes, you'll feel smart, mature, and
independent. Because you ARE smart, mature,
and independent. Others will see you that way
too-no mistake about it.
When you see Parent or Parents in this book, think of the person or
people who are raising you or who take care of you, that may be your 
mom or dad or another adult like a foster parent, a grandparent, an
aunt or uncle or whoever is most  responsible for you.]]
How it feels to make a mistake
Uh-oh, you blew it. You stumbled, bumbled, or fumbled.
You messed up. You really messed up. Or maybe
you just, you know, kind
of messed up. Maybe
no one will notice. Or
maybe it's too late everyone
noticed. ]]
Whether your mistake was big, small, or in between,
it might not feel good. It might even feel really bad. Or
you might be okay with making a mistake, knowing
that it just means you're human. Most kids have a lot
of different thoughts after making a mistake. Screwing
up might lead you to think some of these thoughts:
I don't care, I didn't want to do that anyway.
I knew I's screw it up. I don't know why I even try.
Not my fault!
I wish everyone would just leave me alone.
Ugh, I'm so embarrassed.
I'm the worst.
I didn't get it right this time, but that's okay. No big deal.
Whoops. I'm going to try that again. I know I can do it.
Wow, that was really hard. But I'm proud of myself for trying.]]
Negative Thoughts
Did you notice that there are a lot more "red" thoughts
than "green" ones? That's because mistakes often cause
us to criticize ourselves. And those negative thoughts
can often be a lot stronger than other thoughts.
Our thoughts influence how we feel. So, if you have
negative thoughts, you might have negative feelings.
Have you ever felt the ACHE of making a mistake?
You can feel that ache in different ways. After making
a mistake, you may feel:
 embarrassed
 angry at yourself
like everyone is
mad at you
 guilty
 not good enough
 like everyone is
staring at you]]
The ache can also be a real, physical pain that you
experience. You may feel:
sick to your stomach shaky
red and hot in the face short of breath
sweaty
And with different mistakes, you may react
differently. If you accidentally call someone the wrong
name, you may feel embarrassed for just a second
and then move on. If you forget to meet a friend after
school, you might feel embarrassed and guilty. If you
drop your tray in the cafeteria at lunch, you might start
sweating from embarrassment. You might want to run
and hide. You might even feel bad about yourself, like
you can't do anything right.]]
How do you think you would feel if you made these mistakes?
The score is 1-0, and your team is losing. Only 15
seconds left. Your teammate passes you the puck, and
you have a chance to make a goal. You swing your stick
back, blast it forward, and ... whoops! You shank it off
to the side. Instead of tying up the game, you lose it for
your team.]]
"Put on your clean black shirt for
the concert," your mom says. And
then-uh-oh-you realize you
didn't put your dirty laundry in
the hamper like she told you to.
That black shirt is wadded up in
the corner of your room, and it is
not clean. Big mistake.
You didn't study very hard for
your social studies test-after
all, you always do great in social
studies. But when your teacher
hands back the graded tests,
you didn't do well at all. Several
other kids got a perfect score.
You know you could have too.
You really should have studied.
Your friend invited you to a sleepover at her house, and
you said yes. But then a different friend invited you to
a movie you've been dying to see. You blow off your
first friend to go to the movie with the second friend and
the first friend finds out. Ouch!
Now Playing: The Fair Weather Friend.]]
Taking Control
No matter how you feel after making a mistake, it's
okay to feel like that. Feelings are normal, and we
can't control them. But we can control what we do
after we make a mistake. Taking control and doing
something positive can lead to more positive feelings.
Sometimes those achy feelings help motivate you to
do better next time.]]
Feel embarrassed that you missed that goal? Maybe
you will practice more.
Do you regret not putting your dirty laundry in the
hamper when you promised your mom you would?
Next time you might remember that yucky feeling and
try harder to remember.
Does blowing off a test-and getting a lousy grade make
you mad? Think about that next time you have
a test. Maybe you'll study harder to avoid feeling that
way again. That ACHE just made you a better student.
And what about getting caught lying to a friend?
That can feel really bad. Shameful, even. Apologizing
can help your friend and you feel better. Promising not
to do that again-and keeping that promise-can lead
to being an even better friend .]]
The Mistakes People
Make After Making A Mistake
It's not always easy to make the right choice about how
to react to your mistake. A lot of times, we feel so bad
about our mistakes that we add to the problem with
how we react. Some people ...
Blame others. "You made me
forget sunscreen!"
Deny they made the
mistake. "What are
you talking about? I
didn't leave the freezer
door open."]]
Pretend not to notice. "La la
la, dum dee-dum-dum doo."
Give up. "I'll never be
any good at this, so why
waste my time? If I don't
try, I can't fail."
Have you ever done any of these things? Have you
done more than one of them? People often try to avoid
responsibility for their mistakes in these ways. But
as you can probably guess, that's not the healthiest way
to react to a mistake. Instead, you can take the ACHE
out of mistakes-that's what this book is about (duh).
The first step is understanding what kinds of
mistakes people make. The next chapter will give you
the run-down.]]
The Two Main Types of Mistakes
Some mistakes are no big deal. They might be a little
frustrating. But you get over them pretty quickly.
Other mistakes make you blow your top in anger KABOOM!
Those are the big ones.
Some mistakes affect only you, while others can
hurt your friends, parents, teachers, or someone else.
Sometimes your gaffe can make you laugh.
Sometimes your blunder is as loud as thunder. And
sometimes, just sometimes, your slipups can give you
the hiccups. (But really only sometimes. Like hardly
ever. Mistake Mistake]]
There are many, many kinds of mistakes. A good
way to start thinking about mistakes is to put them
into one of two main categories. Both types can be
BIG: or small or in between. The categories are:
l, Honest mistakes
2., Intentional mistakes
Honest mistakes include things like forgetting
something, accidentally breaking something, or trying
to do something and failing (like answering a question
in class and getting it wrong).
Intentional mistakes can be things like lying,
avoiding responsibility, and doing something else you
know is wrong. In all these cases, you know the right
thing to do. Your mistake is in deciding not to do it. Mistake Mistake.]]
Honest Mistakes 
Have you ever felt like this?]]
When you mess up in front of others, it can be very
embarrassing. It might feel like everyone is laughing at
you. Sometimes you just want to crawl away and hide
from the world.]]
It's true, missing a kick in kickball is embarrassing,
But don't hide from the world! Missing a kick is an
example of an honest mistake. Here are a few other
examples:
Dropping something and breaking it
Spilling your cereal.
Losing something like your keys or phone.
Accidentally farting in front of your friends.
Calling someone by the wrong name.
Missing a dig in volleyball.
Flubbing a line in a play.
Screwing up a skateboard trick.
Messing up the mittens you are knitting.]]
It Was an Accident
An honest mistake has no trickery behind it. There
is no selfishness behind it either. Often, you couldn't
have even prevented it. It just happens.
Even though the mistake is "honest," most people
feel embarrassed to some degree after making a mistake
like this. If it's a small mistake, like spilling or dropping
something, they usually forget about it soon after. And
that's good. These mistakes are small.
Some people have a harder time letting go of a small
mistake. They might feel like everyone is laughing at
them or judging them. They might even feel like they
have a big spotlight on them.
(Don't worry! Chapters 3, 4, and 5 will help you
stop feeling like a spotlight is shining on you every
time you make a mistake.)]]
Whoops! Did You Forget Something?
One specific kind of honest mistake is common for
kids: forgetting.
Everyone forgets to do things sometimes. Unless
you're a robot with a computer brain, you have
forgotten too. Maybe you forgot to do a chore at home
like take out the garbage.
Or maybe you forgot to text back a friend about
homework help.
Maybe you forgot something big, like inviting a
friend to your birthday party.]]
Just like other honest mistakes, forgetting can be
anywhere from no big deal to sort of a big deal to a
really big deal. Using that scale, how would you rate
these forgetting mistakes?
No Big Deal? Sort of a Big Deal?
Really Big Deal?
I forgot to ...
meet my friend at her locker after school and
now she's pretty mad
call my grandma to wish her happy birthday
feed the dog
 cover my mouth when I coughed
 thank Dad for making dinner
get ready for soccer practice on time, so I was late
 flush.
zip my zipper
 wear my helmet on my bike
do my social studies homework.
 tell my mom I need a costume for the play and
the play is tomorrow ".
stay quiet during silent reading time.
Relax! There are no right answers for any of these.
It's all about seeing the big picture and recognizing that
mistakes come in all different shapes and sizes. And the more you understand your mistakes, the better you can own, fix, and learn from them.]]
Intentional Mistakes
Sometimes people make mistakes that are not
accidents. For example, have you ever said you would
do something, but then you didn't do it? Maybe you
didn't do it because ...
but I'm supposed to take out the garbage.]]
Or maybe you didn't do it because ...
YOU FAINTED AND DIDN'T
WAKE UP FOR 10 DAYS.
But I'm supposed to play football with my friends.
or maybe it was because.
The queen needed your help.
But I'm supposed to babysit my little cousin.
These are all good reasons for not doing something
you said you would. But do you know what is not a
good excuse? Turn the page to find out.]]
I didn't feel like it.
You may be thinking: "But that's the perfect reason
not to do something! Why should I do something if I
don't feel like it?"
Here's why: When you don't do something you
said you would do, you disappoint the person who
was relying on you. You may even cause problems for
that person.
Imagine that you've told your little brother that you
would take him on a bike ride. He waits for you outside.
But you stay in your room playing video games. You've
changed your mind. So you blow him off. He probably
feels sad and rejected. You have also wasted his time. He
could have done something fun rather than just sitting
around waiting for you.]]
Your Behavior Affects Others
Blowing off people is one kind of mistake you can
prevent. We call this an intentional mistake, because
at some point you decided to do what you did-on
purpose. That doesn't mean you're a bad person. It
means you messed up. And you can choose not to mess
up next time. Making a more positive choice helps
keep your mistake just that-a mistake.
Other kinds of intentional mistakes include lying,
cheating, and being mean. Can you guess what these
mistakes have in common? One thing is that they are
dishonest. The other is written at the top of this page!
That's right: These mistakes affect others.
This is true about intentional mistakes even if
you don't mean to hurt anyone. For example, when
people blow off things, they usually are not trying to
be hurtful. They think skipping the task is easier than
doing it. They don't want to pull weeds like they're
supposed to, so they don't. The math homework is
hard, so they avoid it.
Sometimes you don't mean to blow off something.
You just decide to put it off. And put it off ... until it's
too late. Other times, you may decide right from the
start to blow off something. Either way, it's easy to think
it's no big deal. After all, it doesn't really affect you.
But it does affect others.
If you don't feed your
neighbor's cat when you
said you would, the cat
goes hungry.
If you don't bring the
book your friend needs to
write a report, your friend
might get a bad grade.
If you don't show up
to basketball practice,
you might miss an easy
layup during a game and
cost your team points.
Blowing off things really IS a big deal.]]
Speak up
Maybe you really can't do something you .said you
would. Maybe you are supposed to meet a friend, but
you need to do your homework. Or maybe you told
your dad you would clean the garage, but you want to
take a babysitting job that just came up.
So what do you do? You speak up! Talk to the person
who is relying on you and explain the situation. Give
a plan for how you will make it up to the person. Here
are some examples:
Hey, Omar! I know we are supposed to meet at the skate park today. But I have a killer science test tomorrow that I have to study for. Let's meet after school tomorrow, Okay?]]
If it's all right with you, Dad, I'll clean the garage tomorrow instead of today. That way, I can babysit for the Andersons and make some money. Can I do that?
By speaking up ahead of time, you show respect
for the person who is relying on you. You show that
you know their time and needs are important. You
show that you care about the person and that you are a
responsible person. And you avoid making the mistake
of blowing off something.
If you speak up, it's unlikely the person will get mad
at you. (If they do get mad, they probably won't stay
mad.) Most likely the person will understand. That's
typically what happens when you are honest. People
around you will trust you, believe you, and want to
help make sure things work out for you.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Oral/Natural

Inferences: Some implications

Captions

Inserts/Side bars

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Headings

Author's purpose: Obvious

Features

Second Person

Topic

Attitudes

Right/Wrong

Honesty

Decisions

Social Skills

Choices

Goals

*Feelings, Behaviors

Responsibility

Low Frequency Words

accidentally	ache	achy	affects	andersons
cafeteria	categories	concert	criticize	deny
dishonest	embarrassed	embarrassing	embarrassment	fault
flush	foster	frustrating	gaffe	guilty
healthiest	healthy	honest	hurtful	i's
ignoring	independent	influence	intentional	internet
introduction	judging	kaboom	knitting	knowing
lash	laundry	layup	likely	lousy
mature	mistaken	motivate	negative	neighbor
neighbor's	ourselves	physical	politician	positive
prevented	project	puck	purpose	raising
react	realize	reasons	recognizing	regret
rejected	relying	respect	responsibility	responsible
science	selfishness	shameful	shank	situation
sleepover	slipups	social	specific	spilling
spotlight	studied	studies	sunscreen	sweating
teammate	trickery	tying	understanding	wadded
whoops