Text Leveling System

Some Days, Other Days

RDQ:	353	Max Word/Sent	26	Total Words	948		Diff Words	313
Lex	580	Ave Word/.Sent	9	Hi Freq occurs	659	69.5%	Hi freq	139	44.4%
AR	2.3	Long Sentences	3.1	Low Freq occurs	8	0.8%	Low freq	7	2.2%

"Good morning Jimmy Mom called.
"It's time to get up."]]
Jimmy sat up in bed. "I don't want to get up" he said
to himself. "I don't know what kind of day it's going to 
be." It might be a good morning but it might not be."]]
Some days they had waffles for breakfast. Waffles
covered with strawberries. And there were enough
strawberries so that he had berries in every bite. With
some left over.
Other days they had cereal. And sometimes they were
out of Jimmy's cereal and nobody had remembered to
get more. So Jimmy had to eat his dad's cereal and it was
plain and soggy and blah.]]
Some days his baby brother Sam laughed when Jimmy 
came into the kitchen. And he reached out his arms for a
hug. And he smacked his lips and said "Yum" while he
ate his cereal.
Other days Sam wouldn't hug anybody. He cried and
fussed and banged the tray of his high chair with his
spoon. He dropped cereal on the floor and Jimmy
stepped in it.]]
Some days when Jimmy's bus came his friend Mark had
saved him a seat. The sat right behind the driver and
watched the cars go past. And they talked about horses
and trucks.
Other days the bus was full and Jimmy had to sit by a
big kid. And the big kid never gave him enough room. So
Jimmy ended up hanging off the edge of the seat. And the
big kid didn't talk to him at all.]]
Some days when he got to school all the kids wanted
him to play with them. "Over here Jimmy." "Play with
us." "Be on our team." "We saved you a swing."
Other days the teams had already been chosen and the
swings were all taken. And there weren't any extra balls.
So he just had to stand around and wait for school to 
start.]]
Some days when he painted a picture of his house it
looked just like his out. And he put a smiling sun in the
sky and drew his whole family out on the lawn. And
everybody said "That's a great picture."
Other days the house looked as if it were falling down.
And people thought it was an upside down ice-cream
cone. And the red paint ran down his brush and onto his
hand and then he scratched his nose and got red paint all
over his face.]]
Some days at recess he got to check out a basketball.
And he and Mark ran out to the courts. And on Jimmy's 
first shot the ball went right into the basket. And other
kids said "Way to go."
Other days there were no balls left. He had to join 
somebody else's game. And he had to wait a long time for
a shot. And when it was his turn he missed the basket by
three feet and the ball came back down and hit him on 
the head. And everybody laughed.]]
Some days at lunch there was good food in the
cafeteria; macaroni and cheese a fruit salad and an
oatmeal cookie. And all his friends sat at his table. And 
some of them didn't like oatmeal cookies and gave theirs 
to Jimmy.
Other days there was meatloaf with dark brown gravy.
And no place for Jimmy to sit except with the little kids.
Or the big kids. And the woman on duty told him to 
hurry up and sit down.]]
Some days after school there was a baseball game in his
street. And he got to play. And when he came up to bat
he didn't strike out. He hit a high one over the pitcher's 
head.
Other days there was no ball game. Or there were just
big kids playing. And they would only let him be an out-
fielder so all he did was chase balls. And they wouldn't
give him a turn at bat.]]
Some days Mom and Dad fixed dinner while Jimmy set
the table. After they finished eating they sat back in their
chairs and talked about what they had done that day. And
Sam smiled and laughed.
Other days Mom was late and Dad cooked dinner. And
he forgot and cooked the peas until they were too soft.
And Sam cried and fussed and dumped his peas on the
floor and Jimmy stepped in them. And nobody talked
after dinner.]]
Some days after Sam was in bed Dad or Mom would
read Jimmy a story. Sometimes they would both sit with
him. And all three of them would take turns reading.
Other days everybody was busy after dinner. And Sam
would stand up in his bed and yell for a drink of water
every five minutes. And them when Mom and Dad said
"No more water " Sam would cry and cry. And if Jimmy
wanted a story he had to read one by himself.]]
So Jimmy just sat there in bed. He thought he
would stay there all day.
Mom rushed in. "What's the matter Jimmy?" she asked.
"I don't know what kind of day it's going to be" Jimmy
said. "So I think I'll just stay in bed."
"It might be a very good one" Mom said. "And you
wouldn't want to miss a minute of it."
"But it might be a horrible one" Jimmy said.]]
"Well" Mom said "We'd better make it a good one.
Let's start with a big hug. That way the day can't be all
bad." She gave Jimmy a hug and lifted him out of bed.
Jimmy kept his arms around her. "What are we having
for breakfast?" he asked.
"Waffles" Mom said. "With strawberries."]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Some implications

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Character traits

Clear cause/effect

Topic

Feelings/Emotions

Cause/Effect

Differences

*Family & Friends

*Feelings, Behaviors

Low Frequency Words

cafeteria	fielder	macaroni	meatloaf	oatmeal
pitcher's	smacked