Text Leveling System

Arthur's Thanksgiving

RDQ:	486	Max Word/Sent	22	Total Words	977		Diff Words	380
Lex	630	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	573	58.6%	Hi freq	150	39.5%
AR	2.7	Long Sentences	1.4	Low Freq occurs	43	4.4%	Low freq	31	8.2%

Arthur's class was so quiet you could hear 
a pin drop. 
Mr. Ratburn was about to announce the director for 
the Thanksgiving play The Big Turkey Hunt. 
Arthur chewed his pencil. 
"I hope he picks me" whispered Francine. 
They all held their breath. ]]
"I've chosen Arthur to direct the play" 
said Mr. Ratburn. 
He handed Arthur the script. ]]
"Me? The director?" said Arthur. 
"Oh no" grumbled Francine. 
"This is going to be a disaster." ]]
Arthur's first job as director was to assign parts. 
The narrator would have the most to say 
but the turkey the symbol of Thanksgiving 
had the most important role of all. 
Secretly Arthur was glad he wouldn't 
have to be the turkey. 
But who would play the part? ]]
At lunch Francine gave Arthur two chocolate 
cupcakes. She wanted to be the narrator. 
Buster even let Arthur borrow his 
Captain Zoom spaceman. He wanted to be 
Governor William Bradford. 
Being the director seemed like fun. ]]
Arthur thought Francine 
would make a good turkey. 
"Never! said Francine. 
"I want to be the narrator. 
Besides I have the 
loudest voice."
No doubt about that. 
Francine would be the narrator. 
Arthur showed Muffy a drawing 
of the turkey costume. 
"Lots of feathers" said Arthur. 
"It's a very glamorous role." 
"Yuk! Vomitrocious!" 
squeaked Muffy. 
"I should be the Indian princess. 
I have real braids."
 "Brain I've saved the most 
intelligent part for you" 
explained Arthur. 
"No way will I be the 
turkey" answered the Brain. 
"I'll be the Indian chief." ]]
"Buster you're my 
best friend began Arthur. 
"The part is real easy. 
On one line and it's the 
best in the play." 
"I want to be Governor Bradford" 
said Buster. 
Arthur was so desperate that 
he asked Binky Barnes. 
"The turkey is a strong and 
powerful animal" argued Arthur. 
"Yeah without saying a word 
it can make you look like a fool 
in front of the entire school" 
said Binky. 
The play was only six days away. 
Where would Arthur 
find a turkey? ]]
Arthur knew he could count on his family. 
"I'd love to be the turkey" said his father. 
"But I have a dentist appointment that 
I don't want to miss." 
"The world is full of turkeys" joked his mother. 
"You should be able to find one." ]]
"I wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit!" 
said his sister D.W.]]
"Lets talk turkey" said Arthur over the 
PA system at school. "The best part in the 
Thanksgiving play is still open. If you're 
interested please come to the office at once." 
No one came to the office. 
In fact the principal 
left the office laughing. 
Arthur put posters 
in the cafeteria. 
He placed ads 
in the school paper. 
Nothing worked.]]
 Arthur had other problems too. 
Muffy complained about everything. 
"I should be narrator; my parents are 
paying for the cast party!" she whined. 
Francine would not take off her movie-star glasses. ]]
"They're good luck" she explained but she 
was having a hard time seeing what she was doing. 
Buster couldn't remember his lines. 
"In 1620" he recited "we sailed 
to America on the cauliflower." ]]
The rehearsals went from bad to worse. 
"When the Pilgrims and Indians decided 
to celebrate their friendship." said Francine 
"they began to hunt for a turkey." 
"We cooked beans and pumpkin pies" 
whispered Sue Ellen. 
"And the Pilgrim men went off to hunt for a turkey." 
"We made corn bread and picked cranberries" 
said Muffy. "Oops! And the Indian braves went 
on their own turkey hunt." ]]
Then it was time for Francine to present the turkey. 
"When the Indians and Pilgrims finally found 
a turkey" she began "there was great rejoicing. 
Today when we think of Thanksgiving 
we think of turkey."
She glared at Arthur. 
"Don't worry" Arthur promised. 
"I told you I'd find a turkey in time." ]]
At last resort Arthur decided to rent a turkey. 
But that wasn't such a good idea. ]]
"If you don't get a turkey by tomorrow's 
performance" said Francine "I quit." 
Everyone agreed. 
No turkey - no play. ]]
Arthur went home to think. 
He thought about turkeys while 
he did arithmetic. 
He thought about turkeys while he played the piano. ]]
And he thought about turkeys while 
he and D.W. did the dishes. 
"Boy" said D.W. "If you want something 
done right you have to do it yourself." ]]
The next morning Francine Muffy and Buster stood 
before Arthur. They weren't taking any chances. 
"Do we have a turkey?" they asked. 
Arthur just smiled. ]]
The whole school filed into the auditorium. 
"OOOoo!" said the kids when the lights went out. 
"Shhhh!" said the teachers as the curtain went up.]]
 "In 1620 we sailed to America on the Mayflower" 
recited Buster proudly. "Phew!" said Arthur. 
The play continued smoothly. 
Muffy didn't drop the cranberries. ]]
The Brain had his costume on correctly. 
Sue Ellen said her lines in a loud clear voice. 
And Francine had even taken off 
her movie-star glasses. 
Then it came time for Francine's big speech. ]]
She crossed her fingers and began. 
"When the Indians and Pilgrims finally found 
a turkey there was great rejoicing. 
Today when we think of Thanksgiving 
we think of turkey. ]]
There was a lot of fumbling behind the curtain. 
Arthur took a deep breath. ]]
He walked onstage.
As soon as he did the audience began to laugh. 
Arthur turned bright red.
This was going to be even worse 
than he had thought it would be. 
"The turkey" Arthur began "is a symbol of... of..." " 
Of togetherness and Thanksgiving!" 
said a chorus of voices behind him. ]]
Arthur turned around a smiled. ]]
"I guess Mom was right. The world is 
full of turkeys! Okay turkeys all together now. 
Let's hear that last line loud and clear." ]]
"Happy Thanksgiving!"]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Character traits

Topic

Thanksgiving

Holidays

Plays

*Schools & Education

Performing

Responsibility

School

Low Frequency Words

announce	appointment	assign	audience	auditorium
borrow	cafeteria	chorus	cranberries	curtain
doubt	glamorous	glared	governor	intelligent
mayflower	onstage	performance	pilgrim	pilgrims
recited	rehearsals	rejoicing	resort	smoothly
speech	symbol	togetherness	turkeys	vomitrocious
whined