Text Leveling System

The Berenstain Bears and the Red-Handed Thief

RDQ:	486	Max Word/Sent	27	Total Words	779		Diff Words	293
Lex	630	Ave Word/.Sent	5	Hi Freq occurs	407	52.2%	Hi freq	106	36.2%
AR	2.7	Long Sentences	0.7	Low Freq occurs	58	7.4%	Low freq	28	9.6%

The New Teacher

Rumors were as much a part of Bear Country 
School as walls and windows bells and 
buzzers homework and report cards. There 
were rumors about Too-Tall maybe getting 
suspended for his latest prank. There were 
rumors about a longer school day. There 
were rumors about almost anything. The 
latest rumor was about a new teacher 
coming to the school.
"What's the new teacher's name?" 
Brother Bear called to Cousin Freddy. They 
were playing catch after school on the 
school's baseball field. Brother crouched]] 
at home plate. His catcher's mitt was ready.
Freddy wound up for the next pitch.
WHACK. Freddy's fastball landed in
Brother's mitt.
"Don't know" said Freddy.
"Strike one" said Brother. He threw the 
ball back to Freddy and signaled for a 
curveball. "Well is the new teacher a grade 
teacher or some kind of special teacher?" 
he asked.
SMACK. Freddy's curveball zipped 
across home plate into Brother's mitt. 
"Don't know" called Freddy.
"Strike two" said Brother. He signaled 
for a slider. "Well is it a man or a woman?" 
he asked.
"Don't know." POP.
"Strike three!" cried Brother. "You're out 
Freddy."
"What do you mean I'm out?" yelled]] 
Freddy. "The batter's out!"
"No you're out" said Brother. He tossed 
the ball back. "I asked you three easy 
questions about the new teacher and you missed 
every one. Three strikes and you're out. 
What's with you Freddy? You usually know 
everything that's going on in school."
 Freddy shrugged.
Just then Sister Bear came running 
toward the baseball diamond. She stopped 
beside Brother at home plate and waved to 
Freddy to come over. She seemed very 
excited. " Hey guys" she said. "I've got all 
the info on the new teacher!"]] 
"Name?" asked Brother.
"Mr. Dweebish" said Sister.
"Grade or special?" asked Freddy.
"Special."
"Subject?" asked Brother.
"Social studies" answered Sister. 
"Ugh!" Freddy groaned. "Another social 
studies teacher! They're all the same."
"Yeah all boring" said Brother. 
"Not Mr. Dweebish" said Sister. 
"Another rumor" said Brother. "I can feel 
myself falling asleep in class already."
"No rumor!" said Sister. "This is straight 
from Teacher Jane. And she should know. 
Mr. Dweebish is from Bear Country 
University and he's here to teach a special 
class. It's an experiment for just one hour a 
day in just one of the classes. If it works 
Mr. Dweebish will teach one hour a day in 
all the classes next year."]] 
"And what's the name of this special 
class?" asked Freddy.
Sister thought for a moment. "Uh.. .something 
about democracy" she said. "It's 
called... Formations of Democracy. I think."
"Formations?" said Freddy. He made a 
face. "Sounds more like fighter planes."
"Or football" said Brother.
"Or stalactites and stalagmites" said 
Freddy.]] 
"Okay okay" said Sister. "So it's not 
'formations.' But it sounds like 'formations.'"
"Creations?" said Freddy. "Constellations? 
Vibrations?"
"Vibrations of Democracy?" groaned 
Brother. "Gimme a break!"
"It's like building houses" said Sister. She 
was thinking very hard.
"Foundations?" asked Brother.
"That's it!" cried Sister. "Foundations of 
Democracy!"
"Sounds boring to me" said Brother. 
"And which is the lucky class that gets an 
hour a day with this Dweebish?"
Sister grinned. "Guess."
"Oh no" moaned Brother.
"Yep" said Sister. "Teacher Bob's class! 
Congratulations."
"Thanks" said Brother. "And congratulations 
to you Sis for getting to miss it."]] 
"Oh but I think it will be interesting" 
said Sister. "And I won't miss it either."
"What do you mean?" said Freddy. 
"You're not in our class. You're in Teacher 
Jane's class."
"And that's exactly why Teacher Jane was 
just telling me all about Mr. Dweebish" 
said Sister. "She chose me and Lizzy Bruin 
as honors social studies students. For one 
hour each day we get to move up to your 
class for Formations of Democracy."
"Foundations" said Brother.
"Whatever" said Sister. "Gimme the ball 
Freddy. I want to throw a couple."]] 
"Say 'please'" said Freddy.
"Please" said Sister.
"Say 'pretty please'" said Freddy.
"Pretty please."
"Say 'pretty please with sugar on top."
"Pretty please with a baseball bat on top 
of your head" said Sister.
"Okay okay" said Freddy. He handed 
Sister the ball. "Don't get upset."
Sister hurried out to the pitcher's mound 
while Brother handed Freddy his catcher's 
mitt. "You catch her" Brother said. "My]] 
hand's tired." Brother knew something 
Freddy didn't know. Maybe Sister was two 
years younger and a girl. But she had one of 
the hardest fastballs at Bear Country 
School. "Better signal for a curveball" 
Brother told Freddy.
Freddy looked up. "Why?"
"Trust me" said Brother.
Freddy shrugged and put down two 
fingers for a curveball. Sister read the sign and 
wound up. The pitch came at Freddy like a 
rocket. It slammed into his mitt. CRACK!]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Inferences: Some implications

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Chapters

Features

Simple Plot

Topic

Teacher/Teaching

Stealing

Bullies

Crime

Detectives

*Citizenship & Laws

*Schools & Education

School

Low Frequency Words

buzzers	catcher's	congratulations	constellations	crouched
curveball	democracy	diamond	dweebish	formations
gimme	hand's	honors	info	mound
pitcher's	rumor	rumors	shrugged	signaled
slider	social	stalactites	stalagmites	studies
suspended	vibrations	younger