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LEVELED BOOK • L

Written by Gabriel le Fimbres

Diabetes and MeA Reading A–Z Level L Leveled Book

Word Count: 536 Diabetes and Me

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Diabetes and MeLevel L Leveled Book© Learning A–ZWritten by Gabrielle Fimbres

All rights reserved.

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Written by Gabrielle Fimbres

CorrelationLEVEL L

K1820

Fountas & PinnellReading Recovery

DRA

Photo Credits:Front cover, title page (top right, bottom left, bottom right), pages 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 , 12, 13, 14, 15: Craig Frederick/© Learning A–Z; back cover, title page (top left), page 3: courtesy of Kim and Mia Lonsway; page 9: Sarah Cebulski/ © Learning A–Z

Front cover: Mia sits with her dog Pinto.

Back cover: Mia likes to go horseback riding.

Diabetes and Me

3 4

Nine-year-old Mia is one of almost three million children and adults in the United States who have type 1 diabetes. This disease causes the body to stop making insulin. Insulin allows our bodies’ cells to take in glucose, or sugar, from food. Our bodies’ cells need glucose for energy. Without insulin, the cells do not take in the glucose we need to work or play.

Doctors don’t know exactly what causes type 1 diabetes or how to cure it. With the right treatment, people with type 1 diabetes can live normal, healthy lives.

Mia traveled to Washington, D.C., to help raise money to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. She also helped to organize a fund-raising walk at her school.

Mia plays catch with her dog Max.

Do You Know?According to experts, each year in the United States,

more than fifteen thousand children and fifteen thousand adults learn that they have type 1 diabetes. That’s about eighty people each day.

Diabetes and Me • Level L

5 6

Almost 26 million people in the United States have diabetes. Most of them, about 23 million, have type 2 diabetes—a disease in which the body still makes insulin but can’t use it very well. The rest, about 3 million people, have type 1 diabetes.

Reading A–Z: How did you find out you have type 1 diabetes?

Mia: When I was four-and-a-half, I had to get up at night to go to the bathroom a lot. I went to the doctor, and they checked my blood sugar. It was really high. We had to go to the hospital, and I got scared. The day I got out of the hospital, I was feeling better.

Mia’s blood sugar test kit contains the meter, extra test strips, batteries, and a calibration device so her blood sugar tests are right.

To live healthy lives, people like Mia take special care of themselves. They watch what they eat and get lots of exercise. They also test their blood sugar levels many times each day.

People with Type 1 Diabetes

Total People with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes by the Numbers

95% type 2

5% type 1

85% Adults

15% Children

(ages 0 to 18)

Source: www.cdc.g

ov

Source: www.jdrf.

org

Diabetes and Me • Level L

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I prick my finger about twelve times a day to test my blood with a blood glucose meter. It doesn’t hurt. If my blood sugar is high, the pump puts insulin into my bloodstream. If my blood sugar is low, I have a snack or some juice.

Mia tests her blood sugar level to make sure she doesn’t have too much sugar in her blood.

Reading A–Z: What kind of medicine do you take to stay healthy?

Mia: I take insulin. I wear an insulin pump near my waist. The pump makes taking the medicine easier.

Insulin pumps are battery-operated devices that inject insulin into the body at a specific rate to control diabetes.

Do You Know?Most people who take insulin use a needle to put the

medicine under the skin. Insulin pumps can deliver insulin more accurately than shots. They release small amounts of insulin all day long. They can even give bigger doses at mealtimes, if necessary.

Diabetes and Me • Level L

9 10

Reading A–Z: Are there foods you cannot eat?

Mia: I can eat anything I want. My mom just has to know about it, and I have to get the right amount of insulin.

Mia eats snacks that have lots of protein because they have fewer carbohydrates than candy bars.

I count the carbohydrates in my food and put the number into my pump. That helps the pump know how much insulin to give me.

Mia adds up the number of carbohydrates in all her food so she can put the right number into her pump.

Diabetes and Me • Level L

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I also wear a bracelet that tells people that I have type 1 diabetes. If I was walking home and my blood sugar was too low, I could pass out. The bracelet has my mom’s phone number on it.

Mia’s bracelet has her name and her mom’s phone number as well as her doctor’s name and phone number.

Reading A–Z: What other things do you do to stay healthy?

Mia: I ride my bike with my brother, Alex, and my friends. I like to roller-skate and swim and do archery. I get my arms exercising by climbing a tree.

Mia and her brother, Alex, like to ride their bikes for fun and exercise.

Diabetes and Me • Level L

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Reading A–Z: What is the hardest thing about having diabetes?

Mia: My dad switches out the place where my pump is connected to my skin every three days. He has to move the needle.

Mia shows Gabrielle from Learning A–Z how her insulin pump is attached.

Reading A–Z: How does having type 1 diabetes make you different from other kids?

Mia: I have to go to the school nurse every few hours to have my blood sugar checked.

Mia’s first aid kit includes fruit juice, snacks, insulin, needles, and a glucose emergency kit.

Diabetes and Me • Level L

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Glossary

blood sugar the amount of sugar (n.) in one’s blood (p. 5)

carbohydrates food substances, such (n.) as sugars and starches, which provide an organism with energy (p. 9)

contagious able to spread through (adj.) contact with people or other living things (p. 15)

diabetes (n.) a disease in which the body cannot properly control the amount of sugar in the blood (p. 3)

glucose (n.) a simple sugar made by plants during photosynthesis that is an important source of energy for all living things (p. 3)

insulin (n.) a hormone that allows the body to turn glucose into energy (p. 3)

Reading A–Z: What would you like other kids to know about having type 1 diabetes?

Mia: Diabetes is not contagious. You can play sports and do anything you want. Having type 1 diabetes can be kind of a bummer, but I’m used to it. I’m not much different from any other kid.

Mia likes to play the guitar in her free time.

Diabetes and Me • Level L

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Name

© Learning A–Z All rights reserved.

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Instructions: In the first box, write what you already know about the topic. In the second box, write what you would like to learn. After you finish reading, fill in the third box with information you learned from reading the book and fill the fourth box with what you still want to know.

Skill

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What I know

What I want to know

What I learned

What I still want to know

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Instructions: Write cause-and-effect relationships in the correct boxes below.

Skill

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Cause

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Name

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Images: Craig Frederick/© Learning A-Z

Skill

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Instructions: Read each pair of sentences. Then, draw a line under the pronoun in the second sentence and circle the noun in the first sentence that it replaces or represents.

1 Insulin pumps are more accurate than shots. They release small amounts of insulin all day long.

2 People like Mia take special care of themselves. They watch what they eat and get lots of exercise.

3 Mia tests her blood sugar. She makes sure her blood sugar is not too high.

4 I wear a special bracelet. It tells people that I have type 1 diabetes.

5 I go to the school nurse every few hours. She checks my blood sugar.

6 Mia counts her carbohydrates. She puts the number into her insulin pump.

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Name

© Learning A–Z All rights reserved.

Dia

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Skill

: Syn

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Instructions: Use a thesaurus to identify a synonym for each word. Then use the synonym in a sentence. Write the sentence on the line provided.

1 healthy

(synonym)

2 scared

(synonym)

3 special

(synonym)

4 deliver

(synonym)

5 different

(synonym)

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Quick CheckLEVEL

Instructions: Read each question carefully and choose the best answer.

Name Date

Quick Check continued on following page

LL

1. What is the most likely reason the author wrote Diabetes and Me?

A to inform the reader about the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes

B to convince the reader to help raise money to find a cure for type 1 diabetes

C to entertain the reader with stories about Mia and her dog Max

D to inform the reader about what it is like to live with type 1 diabetes

2. The author of this book believes that .

A people with type 1 diabetes can live a healthy and happy lives

B it is more important to learn about type 1 diabetes than type 2 diabetes.

C it is not important to learn about type 1 diabetes.

D people with diabetes should not live active and healthy lives

3. Diabetes causes the body to .

A not make enough insulin

B feel tired all the time

C make too much insulin

D be sick all the time

4. Which detail supports the idea that Mia is not much different from any other kid?

A Mia has an insulin pump.

B Mia wears a special medical bracelet.

C Mia enjoys riding her bike with her brother and her friends.

D Mia goes to the nurse at school several times a day.

5. What happens when Mia’s blood sugar is low?

A Her pump puts insulin into her bloodstream.

B She drinks juice or eats a snack.

C She does not need to do anything.

D She goes outside to play.

Diabetes and Me

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Quick Check (continued)

LEVEL

Name Date

LL

Diabetes and Me

6. When something is contagious, it can .

A not be cured

B be treated with an insulin pump

C be spread from one living thing to another

D be treated by eating a snack or drinking juice

7. What conclusion can you draw from the graph on page 5?

A Type 1 diabetes is less common than type 2 diabetes in the United States.

B Most people in the United States have type 1 diabetes.

C More children than adults have type 1 diabetes.

D There is a cure for type 2 diabetes but not for type 1 diabetes.

8. How does Mia feel about having type 1 diabetes?

A She is angry.

B She is sad.

C She is used to it.

D She is scared.

9. A hormone that allows the body to turn glucose into energy is called .

A cells

B blood sugar

C diabetes

D insulin

10. This book is mostly about .

A how to cure type 1 diabetes

B how one girl lives a healthy life with type 1 diabetes

C how to help people with type 1 diabetes

D how children with type 1 diabetes are different from other children

11. Extended Response: What can you tell about the kind of person Mia is on the basis of how she takes care of her health and lives a healthy life? Use details from the text to support your answer.