Text Leveling System

Show Time at the Polk Street School

RDQ:	559	Max Word/Sent	38	Total Words	1302		Diff Words	457
Lex	650	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	758	58.2%	Hi freq	183	40%
AR	2.8	Long Sentences	0.9	Low Freq occurs	34	2.6%	Low freq	23	5%

Talking about...Plays
"It's play time" says Ms. Rooney.
Beast sits up straight. "Great!" he says. "I love to play."
"Not that kind of play" says Dawn Bosco. "It's the stage kind with parts and props and an audience."
"Right" says Ms. Rooney. "Let's talk about it."
Emily Arrow waves her hand in the air. "I know something. When you get your part try to be just like the person you're playing. Close your eyes for a minute.]]
Make believe you're right inside that person's skin."
"I hope I don't get the part of a skunk" says Matthew.
"Or a snake" Beast says.
Dawn Bosco raises her hand. "I know something to tell Beast." She looks around at him. "Don't wiggle around all over the stage"
Sherri Dent cuts in. "And don't wave to your friends in the audience ..."
"I always forget my part" Beast sounds worried.
 "He's probably going to ruin the whole thing" says Sherri Dent.
"Probably" says Dawn Bosco.
"No" says Emily. "If you. forget your part make it up as you go along."
"If we have too many lines to remember" Ms. Rooney says "we'll write them out on paper. We can read them to the audience."]]
Beast taps Matthew's arm. "Too bad we don't know how to read."
"One last thing;" Dawn Bosco says. "If your costume starts to fall off don't pay any attention. just keep going."
"You've got the idea " says Ms. Rooney. "We'll start with The Candy Corn Contest."]]
Acting ... The Candy Corn Contest]]
CHARACTERS (The people in the play):
Ms. ROONEY
The class: ALEx BEAST DAWN DERRIcK EMILY HOLLY JASON JILL MAThEw NOAH SHERRI TIMOTHY WAYNE
SETTING (What the stage looks like):
Ms. Rooney's classroom with desks a chalkboard and a wall clock. PROPERTIES (Things you'll need): Brown chalk
Lunch bag with a sandwich Jar filled with candy corn Cookbook
Library .book
Schoolbooks for each student 
Sweater]]
Apples
Box of raisins
Wad of string
Small pencil
Crumpled piece of paper
Loose candy corn (several pieces) 
Bowl
Large pot to make applesauce
COSTUMES:
Children in Ms. Rooney's class will wear everyday clothes. It's almost Thanksgiving. If you live in a place that's not too warm some children might wear; sweaters.
Ms. Rooney might wear a skirt and blouse. Tie a scarf around the blouse collar or around her shoulders. You might want to add a dark-blue button-down sweater.]]
MAKEUP: 
For Ms. Rooney's hair: If your hair is long you can wear it up in a bun. If your hair is medium length or short don't wear barrettes or ribbons.
Remember Ms. Rooney likes orange lip gloss. She likes earrings; too.
Use a little eye shadow and some blush. Make her look elegant!
The class should use makeup too. The]]
coloring of our faces fades under bright lights onstage. Makeup helps the audience see us better. So darken eyebrows; put blush on your cheeks. The girls might wear lipstick.]]
SCENE 1
MS. ROONey is standing at the chalkboard. She traces her hand with brown chalk.
Today we're going to talk about Thanksgiving. This is the way to draw a Thanksgiving turkey:
 BEAST puts his hand into his desk. He starts to open his lunch bag. The bag crackles. (It crackles a lot.) MAThEw turns around and they begin to laugh.
I have some exciting news.  She holds up  a jar filled with candy corn.
We're going to have a contest. Guess how many pieces of. candy are in this jar?]]
you read a page of your library - book you can take a guess. Matthew: Ohhhh no. I'm a terrible reader.
Great!
 BEAST whispers to Matthew.  BEAST:Timothy is the fastest reader in the class. He'll probably win. Too bad.
I'm going to try to win.
Good for you.
Emily's a terrible reader just like us:
. BEAST pulls his library book out from his desk. 
This book is too fat and hard. ]]
I'm.going to get a nice skinny one.
No cheating. No reading skinny little baby books.
BEAsT taps Matthew's arm. 
BEAST:If I win I'll share with you. 
Can anyone tell us about the first Thanksgiving? 
I can.
Me too:
Many years ago some people sailed across the ocean.
 EMILY raises her hand. 
They came on a boat called the Mayflower.]]
 MS. Rooney looks at the clock.  It's time to go home. For tomorrow I want everyone to bring an apple. We'll make Thanksgiving applesauce.
 The class packs their books. Everyone leaves but bEAsT. He sticks his head out the door. He's looking
 for someone. He speaks to himself.  
BEAST:My sister Holly always makes me wait.
 He walks around the classroom. He picks up Matthew's sweater from the floor. He puts it on MATThews chair. He walks over to ms. ROONEY's desk.
I wonder how many pieces of candy corn there are? I'd love to eat the whole jar right now.  He tries to count the candy corn. He takes the top off the jar and]]
pokes his finger into the jar. He takes four pieces out of the jar. He puts them on the desk. . He puts three back into the jar. He pops one into his: mouth. Then he reaches back into the jar and pops &second and a third piece into his mouth. He puts the top back on the jar. There's a sound at the door. 
Forgot my sweater.]]
 BEAST tries to talk and hide the candy corn in his mouth. 
I wish we'd win: BEAST:  Mmmm
I saw Ms. Rooney counting all the candy corn at lunchtime. BEAST: Oh.
She wrote the number on the bottom of the jar.
I wouldn't look.
I wouldn't look either. Ms. Rooney said we're going to count them again. After someone wins. She said it will be a good math lesson.]]
Oh
I'm going to work on my book tonight.
 MATTHEW holds up his book.  
I can't read the name but it looks good.
I can't read the name either. I can't even read any of the words. But it's about the rain forests. I can tell by-the pictures.
 Neat.
 HOLLY pokes her head in the classroom door.
Get moving.
I'm coming. Stop rushing me.]]
 He speaks to himself. 
What will Ms. Rooney do when she sees than three pieces of candy corn are gone?
End of Scene 1]]
SCENE 2
It's the next day at school. BEAST is alone in the classroom. He is holding the candy corn jar.
Oh good. No one is here. Now I can change the number on the candy corn jar. I hate to do this but .
 He looks at the number. 
Two seventy-eight. IT just take away three. Then IT just forget the-number.
 There is a noise from outside. Someone is coming. BEAST. puts the jar back on ms.  Rooney's desk. He races for his seat. The class comes in. 
We have time for some quick candy corn guesses.]]
 Several children raise their hands. EMILY comes to the front. BEAST slides down in his seat. 
I have two guesses. Nine hundred one.
 MS. ROONEY shakes her head no. EMILY stares at the jar. 
Six hundred .sixty-eleven.  MS. ROONEY shakes her head.  
No such number.
Your turn Timothy.
I have a bunch of guesses. Six hundred. Eight hundred. A thousand . . .
 Ms. ROONEY keeps shaking her head no. 
Too bad. We'll try again tomorrow. Right now we're going to]]
make applesauce. Everyone hold up your apples.
 The class holds up apples. BEAST puts his hand up to his mouth. He's forgotten his apple. 
 Beast I don't see your apple.
I left it home. .
I'll share.
You're a good pilgrim Matthew.
My mother gave me a box of raisins for the applesauce.
Another good pilgrim. I have some nice cold -water in the pot. We'll take our apples and
the pot down to the cafeteria.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Unconventional format

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Oral/Natural

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Chapters

Features

Topic

Plays

*Entertainment & Fun

*Schools & Education

Low Frequency Words

audience	barrettes	cafeteria	chalk	chalkboard
earrings	elegant	gloss	mayflower	medium
onstage	pilgrim	properties	props	raises
raisins	scarf	schoolbooks	seventy	sweater
sweaters	wad	whispers