Text Leveling System

Ellen Tebbits

RDQ:	1478	Max Word/Sent	43	Total Words	3801		Diff Words	883
Lex	820	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	2724	71.7%	Hi freq	380	43%
AR	4.3	Long Sentences	12.8	Low Freq occurs	178	4.7%	Low freq	134	15.2%

Ellen's
Secret
ELLEN TEBBITS was in a hurry. As she ran 
down Tillamook Street with her ballet slippers 
tucked under her arm she did not even stop to 
scuff through the autumn leaves on the sidewalk.
The reason Ellen was in a hurry was a secret she 
would never never tell.
Ellen was a thin little girl with dark hair and
brown eyes. She wore bands on her teeth and her 
hair was scraggly on the left side of her face 
because she spent so much time reading and twisting
a lock of hair around her finger as she read.
She had no brothers or sisters and since Nancy 
Jane had moved away from next door there was 
no one her own age living on Tillamook Street.]]
So she had no really best friend. She did not even 
have a dog or cat to play with because her mother 
said animals tracked in mud and left hair on the 
furniture.
Of course Ellen had lots of friends at school but 
that was not the same as having a best friend who]] 
lived in the same neighborhood and could come 
over to play after school and on Saturdays. Today 
however Ellen was almost glad she did not have
a best friend because best friends do not have 
secrets from one another. She was sure she would 
rather be lonely the rest of her life than share the 
secret of why she had to get to her dancing class 
before any of the other girls.
The Spofford School of the Dance was upstairs 
over the Payless Drugstore. When Ellen came to 
the entrance at the side of the building she paused 
to look anxiously up and down the street. Then 
relieved that she saw no one she knew she 
scampered up the long flight of steps as fast as she 
could run. There was not a minute to waste.
She pushed open the door and looked quickly 
around the big bare room. Maybe her plan was 
really going to work after all. She was the first 
pupil to arrive.
Ellen's teacher Valerie Todd Spofford was 
looking at some music with Mrs. Adams the 
accompanist at the piano in the corner of the room.]] 
She was really Mrs. John Spofford and had a son 
named Otis who was in Ellen's room at school. 
Because she taught dancing people did not call 
her Mrs. John Spofford. They called her by her 
full name Valerie Todd Spofford.
"Good afternoon Ellen" she said. "You're 
early."
"Good afternoon Mrs. Spofford" answered 
Ellen and hurried past the long mirrors that 
covered one wall.
When Ellen opened the dressing-room door 
she made a terrible discovery. Someone was in 
the dressing room ahead of her.
Austine Allen was sitting on a bench lacing her 
ballet slippers. Austine was a new girl both in 
the dancing class and in Ellen's room at school. 
Ellen knew she had just come from California 
because she mentioned it so often. She thought 
the new girl looked good-natured and untidy but 
she really had not paid much attention to her.
"Oh" said Ellen. "Hello. I didn't know anyone 
was here."]] 
"I guess I'm early" said Austine and then 
added "but so are you."
The girls looked at each other. Ellen noticed 
that Austine had already changed into the 
required costume of the Spofford School of the 
Dance This was a short full skirt of tulle gathered 
onto a sateen top that had straps over the shoulders. 
Austine looked chubby in her green costume.
Neither girl spoke. Oh why doesn't she leave 
thought Ellen desperately. Maybe if I wait long 
enough she'll go into the other room. Ellen 
removed her jacket as slowly as she could. No I
can't wait. The others will be here any minute
"This is a silly costume we have to wear" said 
Austine. "When I took ballet lessons in California 
we always wore shorts and T shirts."
"Well I think it's pretty" said Ellen as she took 
her pink costume from the rack along the wall. 
Why don't you go away she thought. She said 
"It's almost like real ballerinas wear. When I'm 
wearing it I pretend I'm a real dancer."
Austine stood up. "Not even real ballerinas]] 
practice in full skirts like these. They wear 
leotards. In California . .
"Well I think leotards are ugly" interrupted 
Ellen who was glad she knew that leotards were 
long tight-fitting garments. "They look just like 
long underwear and I wouldn't wear one for 
anything. I like our dresses better."
"I don't" said Austine flatly. "I don't even like 
dancing lessons. At least in California . .
"I don't care what anybody does in California" 
said Ellen crossly. "I'm tired of hearing you talk 
about California and so is everyone at school. So 
there! If you think California is so wonderful 
why don't you go back there?"
For a second Austine looked hurt. Ellen almost 
thought she was going to cry. Instead she made 
a face. "All right for you!" she said and flounced 
out of the dressing room leaving her clothes in 
an untidy heap on the bench.
Instantly Ellen was sorry. What a terrible thing 
to say to a new girl! What if she herself were a 
new girl and someone had said that to her? How]] 
would she have felt? She hadn't really meant to 
be rude but somehow it had slipped out. She was 
so anxious to have Austine leave that she had not 
thought about what she was saying.
But now that Austine was gone and Ellen was 
alone there was not a moment to waste not even 
in feeling sorry for what she had done. Feverishly 
she unbuttoned her sweater. She was starting to 
unfasten her dress when she heard some of the 
girls coming through the classroom.
Frantically Ellen looked around the dressing 
room for a place to hide. She darted behind the 
costume rack. No that wouldn't do. The girls 
might see her when they took down their costumes.
Snatching her pink dancing dress from the 
bench Ellen dashed across the room and into the 
janitor's broom closet just as the girls came into 
the room.
If only there were some way of locking the 
closet door from the inside! Ellen stood silent and 
rigid. When no one came near the door she 
relaxed enough to look around by the light of the]]
window high in the closet She could see brooms 
a mop and buckets and a gunny sack full of 
sweeping compound.
Careful not to knock over the brooms and 
buckets she leaned against the door to listen. She
could hear Linda and Janet and Barbara. Then 
she heard Betsy come in and after a few minutes 
Amelia and Joanne. Ellen counted them off on 
her fingers. Yes they were all there.
Trying to move carefully so she wouldn't bump 
into anything she took off first her starched plaid 
dress and then her slip. But she was so nervous 
that she knocked over a broom. She stood terrified 
and motionless until she realized that the girls 
were chattering so noisily they did not hear the 
thud. If one of the girls had opened the door at 
that moment they all would have learned her 
terrible secret.
Ellen was wearing woolen underwear.
She was wearing a high-necked union suit that 
buttoned down the front and across the back. It 
did have short sleeves and short legs so it could]] 
have been worse. Ellen didn't know what she 
would have done if her mother bad made her wear
long underwear.
With trembling fingers she slipped her arms 
out of the despised garment rolled it as flat as 
she could down to her waist and pulled the elastic
of her panties over the bulge. Quickly she slipped
into her costume.
"I wonder where Ellen is" she heard someone 
ask.
"I don't know" someone answered. "Maybe she 
isn't coming today."
Ellen was limp with relief. She was safely in her 
costume. No one had seen her in her underwear. 
Nobody could tease her and tell her she was old-.
fashioned because besides being the only girl in 
the third grade who had to wear winter underwear 
she was the only girl in the whole school who did.
She took off her shoes and socks laced her slippers 
and waited shivering until all the girls left 
the dressing room. Then she slipped out of the]] 
closet and after piling her clothes neatly on a 
bench joined the others in the classroom.
A couple of girls were running and sliding the 
length of the room and others were practicing at 
the exercise bar that was built along the mirror-
covered wall. All the girls stopped when Ellen 
appeared.
"Well where did you come from?" asked Linda 
Mulford.
"The dressing room" answered Ellen briefly 
as she took hold of the bar and began to practice 
a circular movement of one leg that Mrs. Spofford 
called a rond de jambe. She felt uncomfortable 
because all the girls were looking at her. She 
hoped the bulge around her middle did not show.
"I didn't see you" said Amelia.
Ellen pretended to be so interested in rotating 
her leg that she didn't hear. If she kept moving 
maybe no one would notice the goose flesh on her 
bare shoulders.
"I didn't see you either" said Joanne. "Where 
were you?"]]
"Oh, I was there," said Ellen vaguely. "You just didn't see me."
She twirled her leg faster. Then she looked in the mirror and saw Austine watching her. Ellen felt sorrier than ever for what she had said, because Austine looked so unhappy. She was practicing alone at the end of the bar and none of the other girls were talking to her.
Valerie Todd Spofford walked to the center of the room. "All right, girls," she said. "Let's get in line in front of the mirror."
The girls stood several feet apart, in a row. Ellen was careful not to stand. near Austine, who, she could tell by looking in the mirror, remained at the end of the line.
Valerie Todd Spofford stood in front of the girls with her back to the mirror. "Now, girls, we will go through the five positions of the ballet. Remember, ballet dancing is based on these positions. To be good dancers we must learn them perfectly. First position." She stood with her heels together and her toes turned out, and held her arms slightly
out from her sides. The girls imitated her as she looked critically up and down the line.
"Knees together, Joanne," she corrected. "Turn your toes farther out, Amelia. That's right, Linda. Splendid!"
Ellen was careful to do everything exactly right, because she did not want Mrs. Spofford to call attention to her. The five positions of the ballet were easy for her, because she practiced them every night before she went to bed. Now, as she pointed her toes and held out her arms, she thought more and more about what she had said to Austine. What a terrible person she was to make a new girl unhappy! Again she looked in the mirror at Austine and thought how lonely she looked, standing at the end of the line a little apart from the other girls.
Ellen knew what it felt like to be lonely, because she had been lonely herself since Nancy Jane had moved away. Maybe Austine sat on her front steps and wished she had someone to play with. Maybe she hoped someone in the dancing
class would ask her to come over after school. The very least Ellen could do was to be friendly. She made up her mind to tell Austine she was sorry the first chance she had.
"Fourth position," said Mrs. Spofford. "No, Janet. We do not raise both arms over our head in the fourth position." She walked over to Janet and arranged her arms so that one was circled over her head and the other was held out from her side.
Here was Ellen's chance! When she saw that Valerie Todd Spofford was not watching the whole class, she slipped out of her place in line, darted behind several of the girls, and stepped into line beside Austine, where she quickly assumed a perfect fourth position.
"Austine," she whispered, "I'm sorry I said what I did. I really didn't mean it. Honestly, I didn't." "Ellen," said Mrs. Spofford sharply, "have you forgotten that we do not whisper during our dancing lesson?"
"No, Mrs. Spofford," said Ellen.
"All right, girls. Fourth position again!"
Ellen arranged her arms and legs in the correct position once more. Mrs. Spofford was watching, so Ellen could not catch Austine's eye in the mirror. Had Austine forgiven her? She couldn't tell, but she hoped so. The more she thought about the lonely new girl, the more she wanted her for a friend.
It was not until Valerie Todd Spofford asked the girls to assume the fifth position that Ellen felt her underwear slip. Oh my, she thought, what am I going to do now? How can I hold it up when I have to raise my hands over my head? Carefully she arranged her feet and lifted her arms to form a circle. The underwear slid alarmingly.
As she stood in the fifth position, Ellen heard someone running up the long flight of stairs. When the footsteps neared the classroom, she heard a jingling sound. Oh dear, thought Ellen. That sound could mean only one person-Otis Spofford.
Most of the boys and many of the girls at school owned a cowboy hat or neckerchief. Several even had boots, but Otis was the only one who owned a
pair of real spurs that jingled when he walked. Now he burst into the room, the spurs on his tennis shoes clinking against the hardwood floor. "Hey, Mom," he demanded, "can I have a dime?" "Otis dear, you are interrupting the lesson," answered his mother, as the girls lowered their arms and turned to look at him. "All right, girls, let us do the fifth position again."
Ellen carefully arranged her feet so that the' heel of one foot touched the toe of the other foot. Then, just before she raised her arms to form a, circle over her head, she gave her underwear a quick hitch.
Looking into the mirror to see if the bulge showed, she saw that Otis was standing directly behind her. He too arranged his feet, made a hitching motion, and raised his arms. At the same tim he blew a huge bubble with his gum.
Ellen was horrified. What if Otis guessed he troublel She was even more horrified when sh felt her underwear slipping again. Quickly sh put her hand on her hip.
Otis put his hand on his hip.
Ellen raised her arm again. The underwear slid still more.
Otis raised his arm again and blew another bubble.
"Now, girls, we will go through the positions once more. First position," said Mrs. Spofford. Ellen set her heels together and turned her toes out. She gave her sliding underwear a discreet tug before she held her arms out from her sides.
Otis turned his toes out, tugged, and held his arms out from his sides.
Ellen turned and whispered fiercely, "Otis Spofford! You go away!"
Otis looked cross-eyed at Ellen and blew another bubble with his gum.
"Ellen Tebbits," said Mrs. Spofford, "I have already spoken to you about whispering in class." "I'm sorry, Mrs. Spofford," replied Ellen. "Second position," said Mrs. Spofford.
Ellen had been pressing her knees tightly together to keep her underwear from slipping. Now
she grasped it again, at the same time trying to feel through her costume for the elastic of her panties, and yanked it into place. She could tell that her underwear had come unrolled. Then she held her arms out from her sides.
Miserable because she could do nothing to stop Otis, Ellen watched him in the mirror. He copied her movements exactly.
By this time all the girls were watching Ellen and Otis in the mirror. Ellen knew they could not help seeing how thick she was around the middle. "Third position," said Mrs. Spofford.
Ellen was determined not to tug at her underwear again. Surely it could not fall any farther. She moved as carefully as she could, but once more the underwear slid. Ellen had to grab it and pull it into place.
This time the girls giggled when Otis imitated her. Ellen swallowed and blinked her eyes to keep from crying. Why did Otis have to pick on her? Why couldn't he tease someone else?
Then, to her amazement, Austine spoke out
loud. "Otis Spofford! You stop bothering us," she said loudly.
Everyone was startled, because no one ever talked out loud during a ballet lesson. The girls  stopped looking at Ellen and stared at Austine. Ellen gave her underwear a good hard tug while no one was watching. Was Austine really trying to keep Otis from teasing her? If only Ellen knew for sure.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Spofford," said Austine. "Otis is bothering me so I can't do the steps right." "Otis dear," said Mrs. Spofford, "you know Mother doesn't like her boy to come into the studio while she is giving a lesson. "
"Can I have a dime?" asked Otis.
"Mother is busy now, Otis," said Valerie Todd Spofford. "All right, girls. Let's do our exercises at the bar."
Otis clinked across the floor to the piano, where he leaned over the keyboard and amused himself  by blowing bigger and bigger bubbles with his 
After the exercises at the bar, Mrs. Spofford had the girls practice the Dance of the Falling Leaves while Mrs. Adams played Rhapsody o f Autumn on the piano and glared at Otis.
Every time Ellen leaped, her underwear slipped. After each leap she had to clutch it and pull it into place. In the mirror she could see that she looked more and more bulgy. Leap and clutch, leap and clutch. Ellen thought they would never finish being falling leaves.
When Mrs. Adams came to the end of Rhapsody o f Autumn, Otis added to the tune by picking out "Shave and a haircut-six bits" on the bass keys of the piano. Mrs. Adams was annoyed, but Otis looked pleased when the girls giggled. Ellen was glad he had found someone else to tease.
Mrs. Spofford did not pay any attention to Otis. "Once more, girls," she .said.
Then it was leap and clutch, leap and clutch again. Ellen stayed as far away from Otis as she could and hoped he would continue to bother Mrs. Adams.
Finally Valerie Todd Spofford clapped her hands for attention. "Ellen Tebbits," she said. "I think you have forgotten. Falling leaves do not put their hands on their hips. They flutter their arms slowly and gracefully." She fluttered her arms slowly and gracefully.
"Yes, Mrs. Spofford," said Ellen miserably. Usually her dancing was praised.
"Try to watch the way Linda dances and think of falling leaves. Think what falling leaves feel like."
"Yes, Mrs. Spofford," answered Ellen, telling herself glumly that she was too busy thinking about falling underwear to think about falling leaves. She noticed Barbara glance at her waistline and whisper something to Amelia.
"All right, Mrs. Adams. We will take it from tum tum to tum." Mrs. Spofford hummed a few bars of Rhapsody of Autumn.
The girls leaped and fluttered their arms. By making short awkward leaps, Ellen managed not to clutch her underwear. Then to Ellen's horror,
Otis suddenly bounded onto the floor with a loud jangle of spurs. Leaping and clutching, he began to dance beside Ellen. But Otis did not come down lightly on his toes like a falling leaf. He landed with a flat-footed thud. His spurs made more noise that way.
The girls began to snicker. Ellen stopped dancing, but Otis went on leaping and clutching. She could see that he knew the Dance of the Falling Leaves as well as she did. I wish he would trip on his spurs, she thought crossly.
Then Ellen noticed Austine lengthen her leaps. She could not help thinking that Austine did not look a bit like a falling leaf. She was out of breath and she did not flutter gracefully. She flapped.
When Austine caught up with Otis, who was making an extra-long leap, she suddenly sprang sideways. They collided in mid-air and both sat down hard on the slippery floor.
"Ouch," said Austine loudly, as everyone stopped dancing. "Mrs. Spofford, Otis bumped into me."
"I did not," said Otis. "You jumped in front of me."
"Well, you weren't supposed to be there," said Austine, as she stood up and rubbed herself. "Was he, Mrs. Spofford?"
"Otis, run along and play like a good boy," said Valerie Todd Spofford.
"Can I have a dime if I go?" asked Otis, untangling his spurs and standing up.
"All right, just this once." Mrs. Spofford took a dime from her purse on the piano and handed it to her son. Otis made a face at the girls and ran out of the room, the jingle of his spurs growing fainter as he ran down the steps. Ellen sighed with relief.
"Once more, girls," said Valerie Todd Spofford. Austine smiled triumphantly at Ellen, who gratefully returned her smile. Austine had bumped into Otis on purpose! Ellen knew now for sure that Austine had forgiven her and wanted to be friends. She was very glad, but she began to worry about getting into the broom closet without being seen by the other girls. And what about Austine? Now that they were friendly, she would expect Ellen to talk to her in the dressing room. The lesson certainly could not last much longer, so Ellen danced her way nearer the dressing-room door.
Finally Mrs. Spofford clapped her hands. "Girls, before I dismiss the class I have a little announcement to make," she said. "Next week members of all my classes are going to give a program for the soldiers and sailors in the Veterans Hospital. I should like to have some of you girls put on your little Dance of the Falling Leaves. It is such a sweet dance and it is so appropriate for this time of year, I am sure the men will enjoy it. Those of you who think your mothers will let you go, please give me your names before you leave."
Ellen thought it would be wonderful to dance on a real stage with a real live audience just like a grown-up ballerina. She knew she would dance so beautifully that she would be called back for

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Some difficult words

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Some implications

Complexity: Several ideas - closely related

Concepts: Abstract/Complex Social

Features

Simple Plot

Topic

Dance/Dancing

Secrets

*Family & Friends

*Feelings, Behaviors

School

Low Frequency Words

accompanist	alarmingly	amazement	amused	announcement
annoyed	anxious	anxiously	appropriate	assume
assumed	audience	ballet	bass	bulge
bulgy	circular	clinking	critically	desperately
despised	determined	discreet	dismiss	eyed
fashioned	feverishly	fiercely	fitting	flatly
flounced	footed	forgiven	frantically	garment
garments	glance	glared	glumly	gracefully
grasped	gratefully	gunny	hardwood	honestly
horrified	horror	imitated	instantly	interrupted
interrupting	jambe	jangle	janitor's	jingling
keyboard	laced	lacing	lengthen	leotards
lightly	lowered	mentioned	mirrors	miserable
miserably	motion	motionless	movement	movements
mulford	natured	neared	necked	neckerchief
neighborhood	noisily	otis	panties	paused
payless	piling	plaid	positions	practiced
practicing	praised	pupil	purpose	purse
relieved	required	rhapsody	rigid	rond
rotating	rude	sailors	sateen	scampered
scraggly	scuff	sideways	sliding	snatching
sorrier	splendid	spofford	sprang	spurs
starched	startled	studio	surely	swallowed
sweater	tebbits	terrified	tillamook	triumphantly
tulle	unbuttoned	uncomfortable	underwear	unfasten
union	unrolled	untangling	untidy	vaguely
veterans	waistline	whisper	yanked