"Eleven"

Sandra Cisneros's short story "Eleven" from the collection "Woman Hollering Creek: And Other Stories" describes how a sweater can ruin a young girl's day.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 6 Unit 1's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: Imperfect Me, My Superpowers, Flipped, The Jacket, Kira-Kira, Thank You, M'am, Pandora and the Whispering Box, Eleven, The Treasure of Lemon Brown, The Fun They Had
15 words 7363 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. expect
    look forward to the probable occurrence of
    And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don't.
  2. underneath
    on the lower or downward side; on the underside of
    You feel like you're still ten. And you are--underneath the year that makes you eleven.
  3. rattle
    shake and cause to make a noise
    Only today I wish I didn't have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box.
  4. plastic
    synthetic material that can be molded into objects
    It's an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.
  5. ragged
    being or dressed in clothes that are worn or torn
    An ugly sweater like that, all raggedy and old
  6. problem
    a question raised for consideration or solution
    Not mine, not mine, not mine, but Mrs. Price is already turning to page thirty-two, and math problem number four.
  7. squeeze
    press firmly
    I don't know why but all of a sudden I'm feeling sick inside, like the part of me that's three wants to come out of my eyes, only I squeeze them shut tight and bite down on my teeth real hard and try to remember today I am eleven, eleven.
  8. corner
    a place off to the side of an area
    I move the red sweater to the corner of my desk with my ruler.
  9. meter
    an instrument for measuring a quantity
    In my head I'm thinking how long till lunchtime, how long till I can take the red sweater and throw it over the schoolyard fence, or leave it hanging on a parking meter, or bunch it up into a little ball and toss it in the alley.
  10. period
    an amount of time
    Except when math period ends, Mrs. Price says loud and in front of everybody, "Now, Rachel, that's enough"
  11. edge
    the outside limit of an object or area or surface
    because she sees I've shoved the red sweater to the tippy-tip corner of my desk and it's hanging all over the edge like a waterfall, but I don't care.
  12. cottage cheese
    mild white cheese made from curds of soured skim milk
    This is when I wish I wasn't eleven, because all the years inside of me--ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one--are pushing at the back of my eyes when I put one arm through one sleeve of the sweater that smells like cottage cheese
  13. germ
    a minute life form ; the term is not in technical use
    all itchy and full of germs that aren't even mine
  14. bury
    cover from sight
    I put my head down on the desk and bury my face in my stupid clown-sweater arms.
  15. pretend
    behave unnaturally or affectedly
    I take it off right away and give it to her, only Mrs. Price pretends like everything's okay.
Created on Tue Aug 12 21:34:37 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Aug 13 09:40:25 EDT 2014)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.