Text Leveling System

A Crown for Atta

RDQ:	433	Max Word/Sent	21	Total Words	1131		Diff Words	374
Lex	620	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	723	63.9%	Hi freq	175	46.8%
AR	2.5	Long Sentences	0.6	Low Freq occurs	39	3.4%	Low freq	21	5.6%

Atta held onto her crown as she ran toward the 
anthill. She had so much to do now that she was a
queen! She had just met with Cornelius about the
harvest. Now she had to meet with her mother and
the others about the harvest festival.]]
"Atta! Hey Atta! Over here!" Flik called to her as
she rushed by.
Not wanting to hurt Flik's feelings Atta stopped
and waited.]]
"Look What I made for the harvest festival" Flik
said. He stood next to a strange looking device.
"Wait till you see this work!"
Atta smiled. Flik was always building new things.
"What is it?" she asked.]]
"Just stand right there!" Flik replied. "Wow!
You're really going to like this! See there's this air
pump over here. And it sends air in through this
tube. And then -"
"Er Flik I'm in a little bit of a hurry" Atta said.]]
"Oh. Right. I'll just show you what it does."
Flik put his food down on the air tube. Poof! Flower 
petals flew into the air. "I call it the Petal Poofer" he said
proudly. "It will be our entertainment for the harvest
festival."
"That's great Flik!" Atta said as she set off toward
the anthill.]]
"Wait!" said Flik. "If you look inside ..."
Atta turned and stepped closer. Her food came
down on the air tube. Poof! Flick flew into the air.
So did Atta's crown!]]
"Flik are you all right?" Atta cried.
Flik looked more happy than hurt. "Hey! That'll
make a great ride for the Blueberries!" he said.]]
Relieved Atta reached up to straighten her crown.
That's when she noticed it wasn't there!
"I'll help you find it!" Flik offered. "I'm sure it's 
close by. None of the petals ever poofs very far."
"It's not a petal Flik. It's a crown!" exclaimed Atta
as she searched the ground.]]
"What is everyone going to think about a new queen
who can't even hold onto her crown?" Atta cried.
"Not to worry I'll find it" declared Flik. "I'll just 
build a crown detector and -"]]
"Flik the crown got lost because of your Petal
Poofer" explained Atta. "Don't build something new
to make it worse!" She sighed. "I'm late for my
meeting! I have to go. I don't know what I'm going 
to tell them about the crown."]]
Flik ran ahead of Atta. Picking up strips of grass 
he quickly wove them into a crown.
"Here atta" said Flik "wear this instead."]]
Atta jammed the crown on her head. "It's not the
same Flik" she said angrily. "Please just find the
real crown."]]
The meeting had already started by the time Atta
arrived. Everyone looked up as she entered.
"What's that you're wearing?" asked her mother. 
"Um my everyday crown" said Atta. "I'm wearing
it so nothing will happen to the real one"
she explained thinking quickly.
Her mother beamed. "What a good idea!"
The others murmured their agreement.]]
"Now then" said Thorny "When should we have
the harvest party?"
Atta was too worried about her crown to decide.
"Let's talk about that later" she said.]]
"Should my students make invitations?" asked
Mr. Soil.
"Let's decide that later too" replied Atta.
Atta's mother looked over at her daughter. She
could see that Atta was worried about something.]]
"Why don't we just have this meeting some other
time?" Atta's mother suggested.
"I think that's a good idea" said Atta.
As the others left Atta's mother turned to her.
"Is something wrong dear?"
"I'm just no good at being a queen" Atta said.]]
"Well you just started dear. It's a bit soon to
decide that" her mother told her.
"But look what I've done already" said Atta.
"I've yelled at Flik. I can't decide anything about
this harvest party. And I've...I've lost my crown."]]
"You lost your crown?" her mother repeated. "I
thought you said -"
"I didn't want the others to know" Atta said taking
off the grass crown. "They wouldn't listen to me if they
thought I couldn't even take care of my own crown."]]
"Atta" her mother said "your crown is not as 
important as how you treat the other ants."
"I'd feel better if I told Flik I was sorry" said Atta.
"Well Atta" said her mother "you're a better queen
than you think. Because now you know that the ants in
this colony are more important than any crown."]]
Atta hurried out and found Flik's Petal Poofer
right where he had left it. But the air pump and
part of the tube were gone.
Atta figured Flik must be out searching for her
crown. She knew she would need help finding him.]]
Atta ran to get some of the Blueberries. She took 
a deep breath and said "Flik is gone and so is my
crown. We need to find Flik first."
The ants split into two groups and began 
their search.]]
Dot let her group over to the wheat field. Flik was not
there. Then they looked over leaves and under tree roots
nearby. Dot even climbed to the top of a dandelion. But
there was no sign of Flik.]]
"All right Blueberries" said Dot "let's check
the swamp." 
The Blueberries shivered with fear but they had
to find Flik.]]
Atta and another Blueberry started their search at
the Petal Poofer. They followed a trail of flower 
petals until it ended among some grass stalks. When 
Atta got closer she saw a strange device in the grass.]]
"The crown detector!" cried Atta. So Flik had built
it anyway! Atta had to smile.
"Flik!" she called out hoping he might be nearby.]]
Atta heard someone calling her but it was
not Flik. 
"Atta!" Dot cried. She came charging over.
"Follow us! We found something!"]]
At the edge of the swamp Dot pointed to the
air pump and the tube from Flik's Petal Poofer.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Atta. "Flik must have fallen 
into the swamp!"]]
Atta was just about to send the Blueberries for help when
the swamp water began to ripple. The end of the tube
poked above the water. Then Flik's head popped up too!
"How do you like my underwater search suit?"
Flik asked. 
Atta was so happy to see him that she gave him a hug.]]
"Atta I'm sorry about your crown" said Flik.
Atta shook her head. "No I'm sorry Flik. I'm 
sorry I yelled at you. Besides I can always wear the 
grass one."]]
"But you don't have to" Flik said. "I found the
real crown!" He bowed and held it out to Atta.
Atta gratefully took the crown. "Come on
everybody" she said. "We've got a party to plan!"]]
The next day at the harvest party Atta was
surrounded by her family and friends. She felt
lucky indeed. In fact she felt just like a queen!]]

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

Inferences: Some implications

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Simple Plot

Topic

Appearances

*Animals

Inventions/Inventors

Insects

Low Frequency Words

angrily	atta	atta's	charging	colony
dandelion	gratefully	harvest	hoping	invitations
murmured	poofer	poofs	relieved	stalks
straighten	surrounded	swamp	that'll	thorny
underwater