Name:
PUBERTY Puberty begins for a gill when one of her ovaries first releases an egg cell. She now experiences her first
menstrual period; and is sexually mature. This usually happens between eleven and fourteen years of age.
A QQy enters pubertv when the teStes produces sperm, usually some time between the ages of thirteen to
sixteen A boy is sexually mature when semen is first ejaculated. Semen is a whitish, viscid fluid that
contains millions of sperm cells. It leaves the penis when the organ becomes hard and erect.
The body's year or two of preparation before puberty is called pubescence. The pituitarv gland in the brain
signals hormone production in the sex glands. Sex glands are also called gonads. The ovaries offema!es
produce the hormones estroe:en and progesterone. The testicles of males produce the hormones
testosterone and androsterone.
During the time of pubescence many changes occur. Girls' voices become more modulated, breast
development ~ccurs, the female body becomes more rounded, menstruation begins, and W1derarm and
.- pubic hair grow. Boys'voices become lower pitched, shoulder~'broaden, nocturnal emissions (wet dreams)
occur, and underarrn, pubic and facial hair grows. The sex organs of the 'male, the testicles and penis,
become larger. Tne skin of both boys and girls is coarser now and has more oil.
No two individuals grow or develop at exactLy the same time. Much depends on heredity.
As you learn about the changes in your own body it will help you to feel more comfortable about growing
up.
List the changes that occur at pubertv on the lines below:
Male:
!o
Female:
1.
1.
2.
2.
.,
3.
.).
4.
4.
5.
5.
6.
6.
Rearrange letters of a scrambled word in the
sentenc~
below:
I.
Another name for the sex glands is sdanog. 2,
Ovaries and testicles produce ornehoms, 3,
The tvamutii gland is located in the brain.
4.
At puberty a boy or girl is said to be sexually ruetma . .
5.E'Iery boy and girl eypoelds at his or her own rate.