Text Leveling System

Fox's Dream

RDQ:	268	Max Word/Sent	28	Total Words	314		Diff Words	136
Lex	520	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	157	50%	Hi freq	37	27.2%
AR	2.1	Long Sentences	6.9	Low Freq occurs	16	5.1%	Low freq	11	8.1%

In a faraway forest near a faraway mountain 
it is a cold silent night. The bears and the chipmunks are asleep for the winter. Snow covered trees glisten in the moonlight. Their shadows stretch across the frozen snow. It is still...Except for the faint sound of an animal's footsteps. A fox walks alone in the moonlight. He is cold and hungry and as he wanders he searches among the trees. Suddenly he finds a trail of footprints in the snow. And in the distance he sees a flash of white. Silent as his shadow the fox races through the night. A snow hare soars across the frosty hill and disappears. Once again the fox is alone but he is in a place he has never seen before. All around him is a forest of ice. The frozen trees glitter in the moonlight. Animals of ice nestle in their branches. And in a tree near the very end of the forest the fox sees a family of ice foxes. He closes his eyes and remembers a spring when the wind was warm and the earth smelled of new grass and wildflowers. He remembers his family and the nearness of his mother. He remembers leaping with his brother and sister in the warmth of a gentle sun. But when the fox opens his eyes the forest is still covered with snow the fox family is still made of ice and the fox is still alone. With one last look at the trees the fox walks on. Little by little the winter sky grows brighter. The fox sees something standing in a snowy field. It's a fox. A vixen. Her fur shines in the morning light. In a faraway forest near a faraway mountain it is a cold silent morning. The forest except for two foxes who nuzzle in the sunshine.  Soon it will be spring.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Features

Present Tense

Topic

*Weather

Winter

Cold

Searching/Hunting

Foxes

Habitat

Low Frequency Words

faraway	glisten	moonlight	nearness	nestle
nuzzle	soars	vixen	wanders	warmth
wildflowers