Text Leveling System

A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin

RDQ:	743	Max Word/Sent	25	Total Words	852		Diff Words	353
Lex	690	Ave Word/.Sent	11	Hi Freq occurs	449	52.7%	Hi freq	104	29.5%
AR	3.2	Long Sentences	3.9	Low Freq occurs	88	10.3%	Low freq	69	19.5%

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston Massachusetts on January 17 1706. 
Massachusetts was one of the thirteen American colonies that belonged to England. There were seventeen Franklin children. Benjamin's father hoped that Benjamin the tenth and youngest son would grow up to be a minister. Benjamin always had lots of ideas. When he was still a young boy he invented swimming paddles that fit over his hands and helped him swim faster. Benjamin began school when he was eight years old. He had good handwriting and was an excellent reader but he did poorly in arithmetic. Benjamin's father did not have enough money to keep him in school. When Benjamin was ten he began to work in his father's soap-and-candle shop. Benjamin cut wicks poured hot wax into candle molds and did errands. He hated the smell of the wax and the boiling soap. He hated making candles. Benjamin wrote poetry. He loved books and reading. So when he was twelve his father put Benjamin to work in a print shop. The printer and owner of the shop was James Franklin Benjamin's older brother. James Franklin printed one of the first newspapers in America The New England Courant. Benjamin set type and ran the press. He also wrote clever articles for the newspaper. He signed them Mistress Silence Dogood so no one would know who wrote them. James was angry when he found out that his brother was Silence Dogood. He refused to print any more of the articles. When Benjamin was seventeen he left his brother's shop. He went to New York City and then to Philadelphia where he worked in a print shop. Soon after Benjamin arrived in Philadelphia he met Deborah Reed. They were married in 1730. Benjamin had three children William Francis and Sarah. In 1728 when Benjamin was twenty-two he set up his own print shop and published a newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette. Benjamin worked hard. He became the official printer in Pennsylvania. Later he became the official printer in New Jersey Delaware and Maryland too. Once a year beginning in 1732 Benjamin printer Poor Richard's Almanack. At the time it was the most popular almanack in America. It had information on the weather recipes and a calendar of important dates. It also had stories and wise sayings including "Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise" and "Haste makes waste." Benjamin Franklin had worked hard since he was a boy. By 1748 at the age of forty-two he was a rich man. He retired from the printing business. He spent his time in public service inventing and experimenting. Benjamin Franklin helped set up Philadelphia's first fire and police departments. He helped to start the first lending library and the first hospital in America. He was made postmaster of Philadelphia and later postmaster of all thirteen American colonies. Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin stove. It saved fuel and heated a room better than a fireplace. He invented bifocal glasses and a "long arm" to reach books on high shelves. He also invented the lightning rod that saved many homes from fires. Benjamin Franklin was very interested in electricity. In one dangerous experiment he flew a kite in a thunderstorm. When lightning struck the kite sparkes flew from a key attached to the string. Benjamin had proved that lightning is electricity. In 1765 Benjamin went to England. He spoke at the English House of Commons against the Stamp Act a tax which the American colonists felt was unfair. Franklin helped to convince the English to end the tax. Benjamin Franklin remained in England for ten year. He told the English king and his advisors to give people in the thirteen colonies more rights and freedom. But the king refused. Benjamin Franklin returned to the colonies in 1775 soon after the beginning of the American Revolution. He was at the Second Continental Congress and was chosen to help write the Declaration of Independence. In 1776 Benjamin Franklin traveled to France to ask the French people to help America in its fight for independence. They honored him as a great scientist. The French king Louis X V I agreed to send money and weapons to America. America won its independence and Benjamin Franklin helped write the peace treaty with England. Benjamin Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1785. He was an American hero. When his ship was about to dock cannons were fired in his honor. Bells were rung and a crowd waited to greet him. Two years later in 1787 a constitution was being written to govern the new United States. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was eighty-one years old. In his final years Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography. He also spoke out against slavery and worked to outlaw it. Benjamin Franklin died on April 17 1790 at the age of eighty-four. When Benjamin Franklin wrote his will he called himself "Benjamin Franklin printer." But people all over the world knew him as more that a printer. They knew him also as a writer scientist inventor and statesman. They knew him as Benjamin Franklin great American.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Vocabulary: Some difficult words

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Formal

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Character traits

Topic

People

Innovation

*History

Independence

Low Frequency Words

advisors	almanack	articles	autobiography	bifocal
calendar	colonies	colonists	commons	congress
constitution	constitutional	continental	convention	deborah
declaration	delaware	delegate	dogood	electricity
errands	excellent	freedom	fuel	gazette
handwriting	haste	healthy	honor	honored
independence	inventing	inventor	january	jersey
lending	maryland	massachusetts	mistress	official
peace	pennsylvania	philadelphia	philadelphia's	poetry
postmaster	proved	public	published	recipes
refused	retired	revolution	richard's	rung
sayings	scientist	service	shelves	slavery
sparkes	statesman	thunderstorm	treaty	wealthy
weapons	writer	youngest