Text Leveling System

Thinking Big

RDQ:	520	Max Word/Sent	20	Total Words	1018		Diff Words	381
Lex	640	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	650	63.9%	Hi freq	168	44.1%
AR	2.7	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	38	3.7%	Low freq	26	6.8%

"Ouch!" said Dot. "Stop pinching my antennae
you big meanies!"
Dot meant it too. Those ant boys had been
teasing her all days and she was sick of it.]]
Well she would show them. Someday she would 
have wings. Then the boys would be sorry. They would
wish they could fly too.]]
Dot chased the boys down one of the tunnels in
the anthill. They ran around a corner. Dot followed
but she couldn't find them.]]
Then she saw a glimmer of light coming through
a hole in the tunnel. The boys had dug all the way
through the ceiling to the outside.]]
Dot raced toward the hole. "You're gonna get
in big trouble!" she shouted after them. "You're
not allowed to make holes in the ceiling!"
Dot scrambled up through the hole and
popped outside.]]
The boys ran fast but Dot knew she had to catch
up to them. Struggling Dot stretched her wings.
Maybe they weren't grown in yet but she could at
least try using them.]]
She began flapping her wings as hard as she could.
Then she leaped into the air. She was flying!
Suddenly Dot hit the ground with a crash! Well
maybe she had just been jumping.]]
"Dot!" someone said sternly. It was her mother the
Queen. "What did I tell you about playing rough?"
"That I shouldn't do it until my wings grow in"
Dot mumbled.
"That's right" the Queen replied. "Just be patient.
It will happen any day now."]]
Just then Dot's big sister Atta came over. Atta was
in training to be queen and she was always bossing
Dot around. "Dot" said Atta "you should -"
"Excuse me" Dot interrupted. "You're not the
queen yet Atta."]]
Suddenly a big grain stalk fell down. It landed
right on Atta! All the other ants were worried.
Luckily Atta wasn't hurt.]]
"Sorry!" called Flik. He was wearing his new
grain-picking invention. "I'm so sorry Atta. I didn't
see you there."
"Flik please put down your sill invention and
just get to work" Atta said sternly.]]
Dot ran after Flik. "Hey wait up!" she cried.
"Oh. Hello Princess" Flik said. He was always
nice to Dot. He made her feel like a grown-up ant.
"I like your inventions" Dot told him.]]
She wanted to cheer up her friend. Dot knew Flik
worked hard trying to invent things to help the colony.
"Well you're the only one who does" Flik replied
smiling weakly. "I'm beginning to think nothing I 
do works."]]
"I know what you mean" said Dot. "I keep
trying to fly but it's not working either. My 
mother says it's because I'm too little."]]
"Being little's not such a bad thing" Flik told her.
Then he picked up a rock. "Here" he sad to Dot.
"Pretend this is a seed."]]
Dot looked at the rock. It wasn't a seed. It was a 
rock. Flik sure could be silly sometimes.
"Just pretend it's a seed" Flik urged. "Everything
that made that giant tree over there is already
contained inside this tiny little seed. All it needs is
some time and a little bit of sunshine and rain!"]]
Dot was confused. "This rock will be a tree?"
"No no" Flick said. "Remember we're only
pretending it's a seed. Then the seed will become
a tree. It's like you."
Dot giggled. She hoped she would never be a tree!]]
"What I'm trying to say is you just have to give
yourself some time to grow" Flik explained.
"You're still a seed."
"I get it!" declared Dot smiling.]]
Dot sure was glad Flik was around to help her
understand things. But a few months later Flik got
into trouble again. This time Atta told him to leave
the colony and never return.
Dot was sad. She would miss Flik a lot.]]
Shortly after Flik left the mean grasshoppers came
to the colony. Every season they made the ants pick
grain for them.]]
This time the grasshoppers were really angry
because the ants had not collected enough food.
Dot and the Blueberries were frightened. They ran
to hide in their clubhouse.]]
While she was hiding Dot overheard one of the
grasshoppers say that they were going to squish
the Queen!]]
"I've got to do something!" Dot cried. "I'll find
Flik! He'll help me!"
Before the other Blueberries could stop her Dot
dashed out of her hiding place and started running.]]
Immediately the grasshoppers spotted Dot and
started to chase her. She ran through the grass until
she came to a cliff. But when Dot tried to leap out 
of the way of the grasshoppers she fell right over
the edge.]]
Dot closed her eyes and began pumping her wings
as hard as she could. Suddenly she wasn't falling
anymore. When Dot opened her eyes she couldn't 
believe it! She was flying!]]
Dot flew and flew looking for Flik. She searched
through forests and along dried riverbeds. Finally
after a whole day of searching she spotted him.
"Flik! Stop!" she cried as she flew down to him.]]
"Dot!" Flik gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"You have to come back and help" Dot said. "I
heard the grasshoppers say that they were gonna
squish my mom!"]]
Flik bowed his head sadly. "I can't help" he said.
Dot couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Please
Flik!" she begged.
"I can't do anything right" sighed Flik. "I'd just
make things worse. After all my invention almost
squished Atta."]]
Dot remembered the story Flik had told her about
the little rock growing into the big tree. Flik had
used that story to cheer her up. Well if it had
worked for her then it should work for Flik too.]]
Dot found a rock and handed it to Flik. "Pretend
it's a seed okay?" she said.
Slowly a grin spread across Flik's face. Dot was
getting more grown-up every day.]]
Together the two ants headed back home.
When they got there Flik managed to outsmart the
grasshoppers and rescue the entire colony - including
the Queen. And it was all thanks to his little friend
Dot who dared to think big.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Some implications

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Topic

Size

Growth/Growing

Dance/Dancing

*Family & Friends

Low Frequency Words

antennae	atta	collected	colony	glimmer
gonna	immediately	interrupted	invention	inventions
luckily	meanies	outsmart	overheard	patient
riverbeds	rough	scrambled	season	shortly
squish	squished	stalk	sternly	urged
weakly