Text Leveling System

Danny and the Dinosaur

RDQ:	204	Max Word/Sent	21	Total Words	841		Diff Words	280
Lex	460	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	564	67.1%	Hi freq	131	46.8%
AR	2.0	Long Sentences	0.7	Low Freq occurs	1	0.1%	Low freq	1	0.4%

One day Danny went 
to the museum.  
He wanted to see 
what was inside.  ]]
He saw Indians.  
He saw bears.  
He saw Eskimos.  ]]
He saw guns.  
He saw swords.  
And he saw... ]]
DINOSAURS!  ]]
Danny loved dinosaurs.  
He wished he had one.  ]]
"I'm sorry they are not 
real" said Danny.  
"It would be nice to 
play with a dinosaur."  ]]
"And I think it would be 
nice to play with you" 
said a voice.  
"Can you?" said Danny.  ]]
"Yes" said the dinosaur.  
"Oh good" said Danny.  
"What can we do?"  ]]
"I can take you 
for a ride" 
said the dinosaur.  
He put his head down 
so Danny could 
get on him.  ]]
"Let's go!" said Danny.  ]]
A policeman stared at them.  
He had never seen 
a dinosaur stop 
for a red light.  ]]
The dinosaur was so tall 
Danny had to hold up 
the ropes for him.  ]]
"Look out!" said Danny.  ]]
"Bow wow!" said a dog 
running after them.
"He thinks you are a car" 
said Danny.  "Go away dog.  
We are not a car."  ]]
"I can make a noise 
like a car" 
said the dinosaur.  
"Honk!  Honk!  Honk!"  ]]
"What big rocks" 
said the dinosaur.  
"They are not rocks" 
said Danny.  
"They are buildings."  ]]
"I love to climb" 
said the dinosaur.  
"Down boy!" said Danny.  ]]
The dinosaur had to be 
very careful not to knock 
over houses or stores with 
his long tail.  ]]
Some people were 
waiting for a bus.  
They rode on the 
dinosaur's tail instead.  ]]
"All who want to 
cross the street 
may walk on my back" 
said the dinosaur.  ]]
"It's very nice of you to 
help me with my bundles" 
said a lady.  ]]
Danny and the dinosaur 
went all over town and 
had lots of fun.  
"It's good to take an 
hour or two off after a 
hundred million years" 
said the dinosaur.  ]]
They even looked at 
the ball game.  
"Hit the ball" 
said Danny. 
"Hit a home run" 
said the dinosaur.  ]]
"I wish we had a boat" 
said Danny.  
"Who needs a boat?  
I can swim" 
said the dinosaur.  ]]
"Toot toot!" 
went the boats.  
"Toot toot!" went the Danny 
and the dinosaur. ]]
"Oh what lovely 
green grass!" said the 
dinosaur.  "I haven't 
eaten any of that for a 
very long time."  
"Wait" said Danny.  "See 
what it says."  ]]
They both had ice cream 
instead.  ]]
"Let's go to the zoo and see 
the animals" said Danny.  ]]
Everybody came running 
to see the dinosaur.  ]]
Nobody stayed to see 
the lions.  ]]
Nobody stayed to see 
the elephants.  ]]
Nobody stayed to see 
the monkeys.  ]]
And nobody stayed to 
see the seals 
giraffes or hippos 
either. ]]
 "Please go away so 
the animals will get 
looked at"
said the zoo man. ]]
"Let's find my friends" 
said Danny.  
"Very well" 
said the dinosaur.  ]]
"There they are" 
said Danny.  
"Why it's Danny riding on 
a dinosaur" said a child.  
"Maybe he'll give us a ride."  ]]
"May we have a ride?" 
asked the children.  
"I'd be delighted" 
said the dinosaur.  
"Hold on tight" 
said Danny.  ]]
Around and around the 
block ran the dinosaur 
faster and faster and faster.  ]]
"This is better than a 
merry-go-round" 
the children said.  ]]
The dinosaur was 
out of breath.  
"Teach him tricks" 
said the children.  ]]
Danny taught the dinosaur 
how to shake hands.  
"Can you roll over on 
your back?" 
asked the children.  ]]
"That's easy" 
said the dinosaur.  
"He's smart" said Danny 
patting the dinosaur.  ]]
"Let's play hide and seek" 
said the children.  
"How do you play it?" 
said the dinosaur.  
"We hide and you try to 
find us" said Danny.  ]]
The dinosaur covered 
his eyes.  ]]
All the children ran 
to hide.  ]]
The dinosaur 
looked and looked 
but he couldn't find the children.  
"I give up" he said.  ]]
Now it was the dinosaur's 
turn to hide.  
The children covered 
their eyes.  ]]
The dinosaur hid 
behind a house.  
The children found him.  ]]
He hid behind 
a sign.  
The children 
found him.  ]]
He hid behind a 
big gas tank.  
The children found him.  
They found him again 
and again and again.  ]]
"I guess there's no place 
for me to hide" 
cried the dinosaur.  
"Let's make believe we 
can't find him" 
Danny said.  ]]
"Where can he be?  Where 
oh where is that dinosaur?  
Where did he go?  W
e give up" 
said the children. ]]
"Here I am" 
said the dinosaur.  ]]
"The dinosaur wins"
said the children.  
"We couldn't find him.  
He fooled us."  ]]
"Hurrah for the dinosaur!" 
the children cried.  
"Hurray!  Hurray!"  ]]
It got late and the other 
children left.  
Danny and the dinosaur 
were alone.  
"Well goodbye Danny" 
said the dinosaur.  ]]
"Can't you come and stay 
with me?" said Danny.  
"We could have fun."  
"No" said the dinosaur.  "I've 
had a good time- the best I've 
had in a hundred million years.  
But now I must get back to 
the museum.  They need 
me there."  
"Oh" said Danny.  
"Well goodbye."  ]]
Danny watched until 
the long tail was out 
of sight.  ]]
Then he went home alone.  ]]
"Oh well" thought Danny 
"we don't have room for a pet 
that size anyway.  But we did 
have a wonderful day."]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Simple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Features

Simple Plot

Personification

Topic

Dinosaurs

*Animals

Friendship

Low Frequency Words

swords