Text Leveling System

The Berenstain Bears and the School Scandal Sheet

RDQ:	983	Max Word/Sent	36	Total Words	2853		Diff Words	740
Lex	740	Ave Word/.Sent	9	Hi Freq occurs	1998	70%	Hi freq	318	43%
AR	3.6	Long Sentences	9.2	Low Freq occurs	156	5.5%	Low freq	91	12.3%

The New Cub Reporters
It was a bright fall day in Bear Country the
kind of day that's made for after school
sports and games. When the bell rang at the
end of the school day most of the cubs had
already made plans for the afternoon.
Brother Bear Cousin Fred and Barry
Bruin were ready for basketball on the
school playground. Queenie McBear Lizzy]]
Bruin and Sister Bear had a soccer game at 
Grizzly Park. Harry McGill and Too-Tall 
Grizzly could hardly wait to start their next 
chess match at the picnic table in Harry's 
backyard.
But none of the cubs was in too much of 
a hurry not to stop first at the big bulletin 
board in the school lobby. On it was posted 
news they had been waiting for all week.
Too-Tall pushed his way through the 
crowd of cubs that had gathered in front of 
the bulletin board. He ran his eyes over the 
lists posted there and turned to smile at 
Harry McGill. Harry was watching eagerly 
from his wheelchair at the edge of the 
crowd.
"Did we make it?" called Harry through 
the noise of chattering cubs.
"Of course we made it!" Too-Tall called 
back with a grin. "Who would have the]] 
nerve to keep the two best chess players in 
Bear Country School out of the Chess Club?"
A few feet away from Too-Tall Brother 
Bear was reading one of the lists. "Yes!" he 
cried. "Yes! Yes!" After yelling "Yes!" for the 
sixth time he made his way back through 
the crowd to a group of friends waiting by 
the front door.]] 
"We all made it!" he announced. "All six 
of us are in Journalism Club!"
"Yahoo!" shouted the cubs all together. 
There were high-fives all around.
Brother Queenie Cousin Fred Babs 
and Barry had been trying for years to get 
into Journalism Club. It met during the 
final school period every Friday. Each year 
they had listed their three club choices on]] 
cards and handed them in to their teachers. 
But none of them had gotten his or her first 
choice until now.
Ferdinand Factual better known to some 
as Nerdy Ferdy was especially lucky to have 
been chosen. That was because he didn't 
spend every year at Bear Country School. 
This year he was staying with his uncle 
Professor Actual Factual while his scientist 
parents went on a "dig" in Great Grizzly 
Valley.
There were all kinds of clubs to choose 
from at Bear Country School including 
Chess Club Computer Club Soccer Club 
Poetry Club Music Club and Carpentry 
Club just to name a few. But the six cubs 
on the list for Journalism Club all wanted to 
write and publish a newspaper. Journalism 
Club was the perfect club for them 
because its members wrote and published]] 
the weekly school newspaper The Bear 
Country School Gazette.
"I can hardly wait for our first meeting" 
said Brother. "I don't know about you guys 
but I want to cover sports. How about you 
Ferdy?"
Ferdy Factual was so smart and so show-
offy about it that Cousin Fred who was 
pretty smart himself said Ferdy gave nerds 
a bad name.
"I know so much about so many things" 
said Ferdy "that I thought I might serve as]] 
the paper's 'roving expert.' That way I could 
correct the errors the rest of you will surely 
make. How does that idea strike you?"
Ferdy got five thumbs down for his idea. 
"In that case I shall do science news" he
said. "Not the baby science taught here at 
Bear Country School but advanced science:
chaos theory modern particle theory-that 
sort of thing."
Barry and Queenie groaned.
"What about the rest of you?" asked 
Brother.
"Investigative reporting for me" said 
Cousin Fred. "You know the story behind 
the story."
"I'd like to handle the arts section" said  
Babs.
Barry wasn't sure what he wanted to do. 
"Maybe I could help you on sports" he told  
Brother.]] 
Queenie hadn't spoken. She wasn't 
exactly a troublemaker but she often 
seemed to be at the center of things when 
trouble happened.
"How about you Queenie?" asked Brother.
"I'm going to shake up the tired old 
Gazette" said Queenie. "I'm going to do a 
slam-bang no-holds-barred gossip column."]] 
Just then Sister Bear pushed her way 
through the crowd and came over to the group.
"Hey Sis!" said Brother. "There were 
only six slots open in Journalism Club and 
all six of us got in! You're looking at this 
year's cub reporters! Isn't that great?"
Sister just shrugged. The expression on 
her face was not a happy one.
"What's the matter?" asked Brother. 
"I didn't get my first choice" grumbled 
Sister.
"Cheer up Sister" said Cousin Freddy. 
"You're two grades below the rest of us. 
Only the older cubs get their first choices."
"I didn't get my second choice either" 
said Sister.
"What did you get?" asked Queenie. 
Sister wrinkled her nose as if she smelled 
something bad. "Poetry Club" she said.]]
"What are you griping about?" Babs scolded. "Poetry is great stuff. I'm planning to edit the arts page of The Bear Country School Gazette, and I plan to have a poem, in every issue."
"You don't understand," said Sister. "I like' poems. But in Poetry Club we'll have to, write them. And I've never written a poem in my whole life!"
"There's always a first time," said Barry. "That's right," said Babs. "And if you write a good enough poem, I just might print it in The Gazette."
"Really?" said Sister. Her eyes lit up.
"Maybe Poetry Club won't be so bad after all. At least I won't have to deal with that Miss Glitch again."
The other cubs looked at each other. Miss Glitch was the school's English teacher. She also happened to be in charge of The Bear Country School Gazette.
"Again?" said Cousin Fred. "When did you ever have to deal with Miss Glitch?" "She filled in for Teacher Jane a couple of times," said Sister. "And she is tough. She's all sweetness and smiles, but if you don't do things exactly the way she says; she comes down hard on you. There are only two ways with Miss Glitch: her way, or the highway."
The cub reporters began to look worried. Maybe Journalism Club wasn't such a good idea after all. One of the reasons they had joined was to improve The Gazette. It certainly needed improvement. Everyone complained about it. It was boring. It was wimpy. And it had no real news.
"Well, I gotta go," said Sister. "Good luck with Miss Glitch. You're sure gonna need it! Remember what I said: her way, or the highway." Sister headed for the door.
Now the cub reporters looked really" worried.
"If what Sister said is true, we could be in big trouble," said Cousin Fred.
"If Miss Glitch is the reason The Gazette is so boring," said Babs, "then we're not  going to be able to do much about it."
"Maybe Journalism Club was a big mistake," said Barry.
"We could go to the office and say we've' changed our minds," said Queenie. "Maybe they'll give us our second choices."
"Hey, cool it, guys!" said Brother. "We
haven't even had our first Gazette meeting yet and you're all panicking. Frankly, I don't think Miss Glitch is going to be a problem."
"What makes you say that?" asked Babs. "Because I just happen to know what Sister's first choice for a club was," said Brother.
"What was it?" asked Barry. "Journalism Club."
"Aha!" cried Queenie. "So she's just jealous!"
"Ah, yes," said Ferdy Factual. "That tainted fruit known as `sour grapes."'
The cub reporters all breathed great sighs of relief and went off to join their afternoon games and activities.
The Glitchville Gazette Unfortunately for the cub reporters, what Sister had said about Miss Glitch turned out
to be as true as could be.
As they came out of their first Gazette meeting that Friday afternoon, the cubs'
faces were all kinds of unhappy. Brother and Queenie looked angry. Cousin Freddy looked sick. Babs and Barry looked stunned. Ferdy was trying to look bored but wasn't quite succeeding.
Behind them, Miss Glitch waved and called, "Good-bye, cubs. Have a good weekend. And don't forget our special after school meeting on Monday. I want to see how you're coming along on your first stories!"
The moment the door to Miss Glitch's classroom was closed, Babs let out a groan. "I can't believe it," she said. "Miss Glitch made all the decisions about my arts page!" She looked down at the notes she had taken. "I'm supposed to do book reports on Dick and Jane's New Puppy and The Bruin Twins at the Seashore. Those are first-grade books! And she wants a picture of flowers,
and a poem ... ugh ... about the joy of poetry. She even gave me the first line:
"'Oh, the joy of words poetic.'
"She's got to be kidding! How am I going to find a rhyme for poetic?"

"`Emetic' rhymes," said Ferdy.
"Yes, but what does it mean?" said Babs. "'Emetic,"' said Cousin Fred, who read the dictionary for fun. "That which causes or stimulates vomiting."
"I like it," said Babs.
"Speaking of throwing up," said Ferdy, "I have been instructed to write a science story called `Our Friend, the Water Molecule.' Yugh!"
The cubs left school and walked down the street toward home. Though it was another bright fall day, there seemed to be a dark cloud hanging over them.
"You think you've got trouble!" said
Brother Bear to Ferdy. "I'm the one who gets to cover sports the very same year Miss Glitch decides to cut sports down from a full page to a half page. Just so she can start a new section called `Bear Country Weekly Wisdom! What was that wonderful example
of `weekly wisdom she gave you, Barry?" Barry read from his notebook. "'A penny saved is a penny earned."'
Brother rolled his eyes. "For that she cuts sports in half?!"
"Don't complain," said Barry. "I'm the one who has to dig up enough `weekly wisdom to fill half a page."
Brother was certainly angry.	But  his anger was nothing compared to Queenie's. "You think that's bad!" she cried. "What about my gossip page? Miss Glitch turned it down cold! You heard her: `Not a page, not a column, not a word of gossip will appear in The Bear Country School Gazette."' Queenie was really upset. "What about freedom of the press? What about cubs' rights?"
"She did give you and Cousin Fred front page news," said Ferdy.
"Front-page pap, you mean!" said Queenie. "As much as I hate to side with the enemy," said Ferdy, "I must say I think Miss Glitch has a point. After all, gossip is, at best, a rather. .. trivial pursuit, shall we say?"
"Trivial pursuit? Why, you little four-eyed creep!" screamed Queenie. "How would you like me to make you eat that silly little hat of yours? And if you don't think I can do it..."
"Hold on, guys," said Brother. "Let's not get all mad at each other because we're mad at Miss Glitch. What we need to do is
think of some way to improve things at The Gazette."
The others nodded. The cubs walked along in silence for a while.
"It's hopeless," said Babs finally. "Miss Glitch will never let us make any changes." "Yeah," said Cousin Fred. "Miss Glitch rules The Bear Country School Gazette with an iron hand, and that's that."
"They ought to call it the Glitchville Gazette," sneered Ferdy. Suddenly he stopped and looked from side to side. "Hey, what happened to Queenie?"
The cubs turned to look behind them and saw Queenie halfway down the block. She was just standing there. When the cubs reached her, they saw that her eyes were wide open. She was staring off into space, lost in thought.
"What is it, Queenie?" asked Brother.
"Did you think of a way to improve The Gazette?"
Queenie looked at Brother and smiled. There was a strange twinkle in her eye. "Not exactly," she said. "I've got a better idea."
"What is it?" asked Cousin Fred.
"Meet me at the Burger Bear for. shakes after dinner," said Queenie. "I'll tell you then. I've got to go work out the details."
Queenie turned and ran off down a side street toward her house. As the rest of the cubs headed home, they wondered what Queenie was up to.
Birth of a Newspaper
That night the cubs were having milk shakes in their favorite booth at the Burger Bear.
"Well, Queenie," said Brother Bear. "What's your idea for The Bear Country  School Gazette?"
"My idea for The Gazette," said Queenie, "is that it should have a front page full of
boring news about parent-teacher meetings, new school employees, and upcoming quilting bees. There should be a half page of sports and a half page of dopey wise sayings. And the arts page should have a bunch of dull book reports and icky poems."
"Hunh?" said Cousin Fred. "That's exactly the way Miss Glitch wants it!"
"If that's your idea of a good idea," said Ferdy Factual, "then I suggest you pay for all our milk shakes while we go home."
"Now, listen up," said Queenie. "We're going to write The Gazette exactly the way Miss Glitch wants it. But for a good reason.
"Okay," said Babs, "I'll bite. What's the good reason?"
"Because we're also going to write and publish a second newspaper," said Queenie. "And we'll do it exactly the way we want to.
"You mean an underground newspaper?" asked Babs.
"Underground?" said Barry, scratching his head.
"Go ahead, Fred," said Queenie. "Do your thing."
"Glad to," said Cousin Fred. "'Underground newspaper': a newspaper written and published outside the control of the established press."
"Exactly!" said Queenie. "It'll have hardhitting news stories on the front page and a full page of sports. Babs can write anything she wants for the arts page, and Ferdy can do the same for the science page. In addition to covering sports, Brother Bear can be editor-in-chief and write editorials. And of course, I'll take care of the gossip page!"
The cubs looked at one another. It was certainly a fresh idea. And an exciting one! Babs thought of the wonderful poems
and stories she would publish on the arts page. Cousin Fred thought of the fastbreaking news stories that he would put on the front page. Ferdy thought of writing the science page exactly the way he wanted to. Barry wasn't sure what he would write about, but he was glad it wouldn't be a bunch of boring old sayings.
The only cub who wasn't so sure about Queenie's idea was Brother Bear. He thought for a while and finally shook his head. "I think we could get into a lot of trouble with this underground newspaper," he said.
"But we won't," said Queenie. "No one will know who is publishing the newspaper, because we won't use our real names. We'll use pen names.
"Cool," said Barry. "I'll be `Ballpoint.' Or maybe fountain.

"Not that kind of pen name!" groaned Queenie. "Fred?"
"'Pen name,"' said Cousin Fred. "A made-up name that a writer uses instead of his or her real name."
"But we can't keep our names secret forever," said Brother.
"Don't worry," said Queenie. "By the time the school finds out who we are, we'll be heroes to all the cubs at Bear Country School. The school won't dare punish us."
That sounded pretty iffy to Brother. But he just nodded. Queenie seemed to have an
answer for everything. And the rest of the '' cubs all seemed to be on her side.
"But how will we print it?" Brother asked Queenie.
"I've already thought about that," she said. "Harry McGill can print it on his computer."
"What if he says no?" Brother asked.
"I'll convince him," said Queenie with a sly smile.
Brother still felt pretty nervous about the whole thing. He wondered if Queenie had come up with the idea just so she could write a gossip page. Or maybe just so she
could get back at Miss Glitch for coming down so hard on her.
And there was another thing that bothered Brother. Even though the underground paper was Queenie's idea and she seemed to have it all planned out already, she wanted him, Brother Bear, to be editor in-chief! That was just like Queenie. She would come up with some new idea to change things. Then she would want someone else to take the blame for it if it flopped. Of course, if it succeeded, she would take the credit.
But as Queenie told the cubs about her ideas for the first issue of the underground newspaper, even Brother started to get excited about it.
"And I've got a terrific idea for the front page," said Queenie. "It will have the results of a survey of cubs about Bear

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker

Vocabulary: Some difficult words

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Some implications

Complexity: Several ideas - closely related

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Chapters

Features

Simple Plot

Topic

Teacher/Teaching

Writing

Freedom

*Careers

Journalism

*Language Arts

*Schools & Education

School

Low Frequency Words

activities	actual	addition	announced	breathed
carpentry	chaos	column	decisions	editor
editorials	emetic	employees	eyed	factual
fastbreaking	ferdy	freedom	gazette	glitch
glitch's	glitchville	gonna	gossip	gotta
griping	grizzly	hardhitting	heroes	hunh
icky	iffy	improve	improvement	instructed
investigative	issue	jealous	journalism	lobby
mcbear	mcgill	molecule	nerds	nerdy
offy	ought	panicking	paper's	particle
poem	poems	poetic	poetry	publish
published	publishing	pursuit	queenie	queenie's
reasons	results	rhyme	rhymes	roving
sayings	science	scientist	section	shrugged
sneered	stimulates	stunned	succeeding	suggest
surely	survey	sweetness	tainted	terrific
theory	trivial	troublemaker	unfortunately	upcoming
wimpy	wisdom	wrinkled	writer	yahoo
yugh