Text Leveling System

In the Dinosaur's Paw

RDQ:	472	Max Word/Sent	17	Total Words	1731		Diff Words	493
Lex	630	Ave Word/.Sent	5	Hi Freq occurs	1119	64.6%	Hi freq	221	44.8%
AR	2.6	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	26	1.5%	Low freq	18	3.7%

Richard Best hid his green mittens under the bed. 
Baby Christmas mittens.
He'd never wear them. Especially not to school. 
Then he remembered. He needed a ruler today. 
He looked under the bed again. He threw everything 
out of the floor of his closet.
"Hurry up Richard" his sister Holly screamed 
from downstairs.
His mother poked her head into his room. "This 
room is the worst" she said. "I'm glad you're 
going back to school."
Richard pulled out his dresser drawer. "I have 
to have a ruler" he said.
"Why didn't you look for that on Saturday?" 
his mother asked. "Or the day after Christmas?"
"First day back is dinosaurs" Richard said. 
"Ms. Rooney says we can't do dinosaurs without 
a ruler."]] 
"Richard" Holly yelled again.
His mother looked under his bed. "No ruler" 
she said. "But I found your nice green mittens." 
She pulled them out. "Here."
"I think it's late" Richard said. He took the 
mittens. Then he tore down the stairs.
Holly was waiting at the door.
"You make me late" she said. "Every day."
"Go without me" Richard said. He went into 
the kitchen.
He grabbed his lunch bag.
He sniffed it a little. Tuna fish again.
Horrible.
He banged out the door in back of Holly. They 
started for the Polk Street School.
Some winter this was he thought. No snow.
Not one drop over the Christmas vacation.
If only it would snow.
If only he had a ruler.
"Hurry" Holly said. She started to walk faster.
Richard walked slower.
He hated to walk to school with Holly.]] 
As soon as they crossed Linden Avenue he 
stopped. He stood in front of the A&P store until 
Holly was gone.
There was a white mountain in the A&P store 
window.
It was made of toilet paper rolls.
Richard walked to the corner to wait for Emily. 
They were going to walk together every day now.
He didn't want people to see him standing in 
front of a toilet paper mountain.
He thought about school today. Maybe Ms. 
Rooney wouldn't let him do dinosaurs without a 
ruler.
He wondered how you did dinosaurs anyway. 
Ms. Rooney hadn't told them that yet. She'd 
just said "Don't forget to bring a ruler. After 
vacation we'll do dinosaurs."
"Hey Beast" a voice yelled.
It was Emily Arrow. She was walking with Jill 
Simon.
Emily held up a red and green purse. "This is 
one of my presents."]] 
"Want to trade lunches?" Richard asked. 
Emily raised her shoulders up in the air. "I 
have cheese. The orange shiny kind."
Richard made a face. "No thanks" he said. 
"I'm not trading" Jill said. "I have peanut 
butter."
They turned the corner. Richard looked at the 
house with the white fence. "I think that dog is 
outside."
Jill shivered.
The dog began to bark. They started to run.
They stopped at the corner. Richard tried to 
catch his breath. "Ruff-a-roo" he yelled back at 
the dog.
"Someday that dog might get out" Jill said. 
Emily laughed. "Don't worry. We're fast." 
"Do you have an extra ruler?" Richard asked. 
"I was just going to ask you that" Emily said. 
"Hey." Jill pointed to the other side of the street. 
Someone was hopping over a garbage can cover. 
"Look at that grasshopper" Emily said. 
Richard laughed.]] 
"What are you laughing at?" the boy yelled. 
It was Drake Evans.
"Isn't that the kid who was in your class?" 
Emily asked. "Before you were left back?"
Richard nodded a little. He didn't like to think 
about being left back.
"Ruff-a-roo" he yelled at Drake. 
Drake started across the street toward them. 
He had a mean look on his face. 
"Yikes" yelled Emily. "Let's go." 
They raced down the street toward school. 
Richard looked over his shoulder. 
Drake was running after them.
"I'm going to get you Richard" he yelled. 
They turned the last corner.
Up ahead was the Polk Street School. Ms. 
Rooney was standing in front.
"Whew" Emily said.
They slowed down. In back of them Drake 
slowed down too.
"Ruff-a-roo" Richard said.
"Hi Ms. Rooney" Emily said.]] 
"It's going to be a great day" said Ms. Rooney. 
"I hope you remembered your rulers."
"Did you have a nice vacation?" Richard asked 
Ms. Rooney.
"Super" she said.
They went into Room 113. Maybe his ruler was 
in his desk Richard thought.
While he was looking his friend Matthew Jackson 
slid into the seat in front of him.
Richard took a breath.
Matthew had the wet-the-bed smell.
"I have a new ruler" Matthew said. "It's for 
the dinosaurs."
Richard shoved his hand into his desk. There 
were piles of papers. He didn't feel a ruler.
He went into the coatroom. He dropped his 
mittens on the floor. He put his lunch on the shelf.
He wished it were Christmas again. 
He wished he had a ruler.]] 
Ms. Rooney was drawing on the blackboard.
Richard was starving.
Too bad his lunch was in the coatroom.
Ms. Rooney stood back. She looked at her 
drawing. "Not too good" she said.
She began to erase part of it.
Richard fished way back in his desk for 
something to eat. Maybe there was a piece of candy left 
over from before the winter vacation.
His hand closed on something. A ruler. 
He couldn't believe it.
It looked a little like his old ruler. 
But not exactly.
"Guess what this is" Ms. Rooney said. 
"It looks like a giraffe" Richard said. "But I
think it's a dinosaur."
"Right" said Ms. Rooney. "But it's not ]]
supposed to look like a giraffe." She erased the 
dinosaur's neck.
Richard turned the ruler over. On the back there 
were big red crayon initials. D . T.
He looked around. There was no D. T. in the 
room.
They had a Dawn Bosco and a Derrick Grace. 
"Yes" said Ms. Rooney. "This is a picture of 
the fiercest dinosaur. His name was Tyrannosaurus 
rex."
Crazy name Richard thought. He began to rub 
the red D.T. off his new ruler.
"We're going to pretend" said Ms. Rooney. 
"We'll make believe that Tyrannosaurus lives in 
the hall."
Richard closed his eyes. He could see the big 
dinosaur.
He was green. He had black spots.
He had a long purple stripe on his tail.
Matthew turned around. He pulled his lips 
back.
All his teeth showed.]]
"Grr," he said to Richard. "I'm one of those Ty-Tyranno-what-you-call-its. "
"Ruff-a-roo," Richard said.
"All right, class," said Ms. Rooney. "Pick up your rulers and line up."
Emily waved her hand around in the air. So did Jill Simon.
Ms. Rooney sighed. "Don't tell me," she said.
"I forgot-" Emily began.
"Your ruler," said Ms. Rooney. "You too, Jill?"
Jill looked down at her desk. "Yes."
Ms. Rooney reached into her desk. She pulled out two rulers. "Anybody else?"
Dawn Bosco raised her hand.
"Some people are going to be in trouble," Ms. Rooney said, "if they don't start to remember." Ms. Rooney fished in her desk again. She gave Dawn another ruler. "Let's go," she said. Outside in the hall Richard waved his ruler around. He banged it against Matthew's.
Matthew banged back.
Richard tapped the ruler on Matthew's head. "Got you," he whispered.
"Argg," Matthew said. "I'm dead."
"What's going on at the end of the line?" Ms. Rooney asked.
Everyone was quiet.
"Now," said Ms. Rooney. "Just close your eyes. Make believe it's hot. Steamy. You're in a swamp."
"What's a-" Jill Simon began.
"A swamp," Ms. Rooney said. "That's a wet, marshy place. A place with snakes and crocodiles. "
Richard closed his eyes.
"There are dinosaur birds flying overhead," said Ms. Rooney.
Richard could almost hear their leathery wings. "Par, par, par," Matthew whispered. "They're flying straight toward-"
"On the ground," said Ms. Rooney, "many dinosaurs are eating huge plants."
"Crunch, crunch," said Matthew.
Ms. Rooney stared at Richard and Matthew. Richard took a step away from Matthew. "And then there was Tyrannosaurus," said Ms. Rooney. "He was the king. A terrible king." Richard shivered a little.
"He had teeth like knives," said Ms. Rooney. "Are you sure there are none left?" Jill asked. "They died millions of years ago," Ms. Rooney said.
"Whew," said Emily Arrow. "I was getting worried. "
Ms. Rooney pointed to the ceiling. "Tyrannosaurus would take up two floors of our school." Richard could see the dinosaur's head.
It was poking up into the sixth-grade classroom. Mrs. Kettle was screaming. Mean Mrs. Kettle. It served her right.
Tyrannosaurus opened his mouth. Next to Richard, Matthew giggled.
"Too bad there isn't one of those things left," he whispered. "He could grab Mrs. Kettle."
Richard smiled. "Just what I was thinking." Ms. Rooney frowned. "Is someone talking?" Richard took another step away from Matthew. "Ty was about forty-five feet long," said Ms. Rooney. "That's from his head to the tip of his tail." She looked around. "How can we find out how much space he'd use?"
Noah Green raised his hand. So did Dawn Bosco.
Richard ducked down. He hoped Ms. Rooney wouldn't call on him.
"Noah," said Ms. Rooney.
Noah put his ruler up in the air. "My ruler is one foot long."
"You're on the right track," said Ms. Rooney. Matthew leaned over. "Noah's always on the right track. "
"Vroom, vroom, " said Richard.
"If you put your ruler on the floor," said Noah, and move it forty-five times . . . "
"I was going to say that too," said Emily. "That's how long he'd be," said Noah.
"Good thinking," said Ms. Rooney.
Richard looked down at the floor. He didn't know what they were talking about.
"Start at the end of the hall," Ms. Rooney said. "Move your ruler forty-five times. That's how long Ty is."
"Simple," said Matthew.
"Simple," Richard said. He waited to see what everyone was going to do.
Emily knelt on the floor. She put her ruler down.
Then she put her finger at the end of the ruler. She moved the ruler.
"Oh," said Richard. He began to move his ruler along too. "One," he whispered to himself. "Two. Three."
After a while he forgot what number he was up
to.
He made believe he was counting. "Twenty one. "
He looked out the hall window. It was snowing. In front of him Noah yelled, "Forty-five."

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Simple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Character traits

Topic

Magic

Field Trips

Dinosaurs

*Schools & Education

School

Low Frequency Words

argg	coatroom	drawer	fiercest	initials
knelt	knives	leathery	lunches	marshy
polk	purse	shoved	swamp	tuna
tyranno	tyrannosaurus	vroom