Text Leveling System

The Case of the Two Masked Robbers

RDQ:	330	Max Word/Sent	17	Total Words	1226		Diff Words	338
Lex	560	Ave Word/.Sent	5	Hi Freq occurs	767	62.6%	Hi freq	154	45.6%
AR	2.3	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	27	2.2%	Low freq	12	3.6%

One evening 
Grandpa Raccoon hurried 
to Arabella and Albert's house. 
"There has been a holdup" 
he called. 
"Where?" asked the twins.  ]]
"At Meadow Marsh Bank" 
said Grandpa. 
"Two robbers stole the eggs 
that Mrs. Turtle deposited." ]]
"Did the cops catch the robbers?" 
asked Arabella. 
"Will there be a shoot-out?" 
asked Albert. ]]
"Were there any clues?" 
asked Mr. Raccoon. ]]
"No" said Grandpa. 
"The robbers wore masks 
and long dark coats. 
They moved slowly. 
They were very scary. 
After the robbery 
one went east 
and one went west. 
Nobody dared to follow them." 
"I bet I could find more clues" 
said Arabella. 
"Me too!" said Albert. 
"I would catch those robbers fast!" ]]
The twins went to bed. 
They could not fall asleep. 
"I wonder who stole those eggs" 
whispered Albert. 
"I bet we can solve the mystery" 
said Arabella.  
The twins lay awake a long time. 
Suddenly 
Arabella said 
"Albert we have masks. 
All we need are long dark coats. 
Then we will look like the robbers." ]]
Arabella tiptoed to the closet. 
She came back 
with two big dark coats. 
"Here" she said to Albert. 
"Put this on and let's go!" 
"Where are we going?" asked Albert. ]]
"We are going to find the robbers" 
said Arabella. 
"Robbers are dangerous" said Albert. 
"Not if they think 
we are robbers!" 
said Arabella. ]]
The twins tiptoed past the kitchen. 
They slipped quietly 
out the front door. 
They ran through the shadowy woods. ]]
An owl hooted 
"Twoo-hoo! Twoo-hoo!" 
"Arabella" Albert whispered. 
"Maybe the real robbers 
are hiding near here."]]
"I hope so" said Arabella. 
"Grandpa said 
one robber went east 
and one robber went west. 
Now it is dark. 
They will meet back here. 
They will split up the loot 
and we will be there to catch them!" ]]
The twins came 
to the edge of the woods. 
There was Meadow Marsh Bank. 
I think the robbers will meet here" 
whispered Arabella. ]]
"Sshh!" said Albert.
"I hear something!" 
Arabella and Albert sat very still. 
They could hear the wind 
in the leaves. 
They could hear the birds 
peeping softly in the trees. 
They could hear 
a swish-swish-swishing. 
It came closer 
and closer 
and 
closer. ]]
"It is one of the robbers!" 
whispered Arabella. 
"It is moving slowly 
just like Grandpa said!" ]]
"It is a snake!" yelled Albert. 
"I am getting out of here!" 
Albert jumped into the bushes. ]]
The snake slithered 
over a root. 
It stopped in front of Arabella. ]]
Arabella saw the snake's tongue 
dart in and out. 
She was afraid to move. ]]
"Where is your hump?" 
hissed the snake. 
"What hump?" asked Arabella. 
"The hump on your back" 
hissed the snake. 
"You had a hump 
when you stole Mrs. Turtle's eggs. 
You are wearing 
the same coat and mask. 
But now you do not have a hump." ]]
"I am ot a robber" said Arabella. 
"My brother and I 
are looking for the robbers. 
We want to scare them. 
Then they will give back the eggs." ]]
"I just saw your brother" 
said the snake. 
"He was moving much faster 
than the robbers!" 
The snake slithered 
out of sight. ]]
"Albert" called Arabella softly. 
"The snake is gone." 
Albert did not answer. 
Suddenly 
there were hoarse squawks 
near Meadow Marsh Bank. ]]
"Help! Help! Let me go!" 
yelled Albert. 
"Oh!" cried Arabella. 
"The robbers have Albert!" 
She ran quickly 
to Meadow Marsh Bank. ]]
She saw two dark shadowy figures. 
They were holding Albert 
upside down. ]]
They were shaking him. 
"Aaawk! Aaawk! 
Robber! Robber! Robber!" 
they croaked. ]]
"I am not a robber!" 
yelled Albert. 
"Put me down you old crows!" 
"Give us the eggs!" 
croaked one of the crows. 
"Yum! Yum!" croaked the other crow. 
"Scrambled eggs poached eggs 
fried eggs! 
Give back those lovely turtle eggs!" 
The crows shook Albert 
until his teeth chattered. ]]
Arabella stepped forward. 
"Reach for the sky Crows!" 
she yelled. 
"I have you covered!" ]]
"Yaaawk! Yaaawk!"  
screeched the crows. 
"Help! Another robber!" ]]
"We are not robbers" 
said Arabella. 
"We thought you were the robbers." ]]
"We are not robbers" 
said one of the crows. 
"We flew over to eat...oops...
I mean to see 
Mrs. Turtle's eggs. 
We eat...I mean...see 
her eggs every year. 
When we got here 
the eggs were gone!" 
"Sneaky Mrs. Turtle" 
said the other crow. 
"She always deposited her eggs at 
Duckweed Swamp Bank before." ]]
"Well" said Arabella. 
"I am glad the eggs were stolen 
before you got here. 
You are very nasty 
to eat them every year." ]]
"If that is the way you feel 
we will leave right now" 
said the crows. ]]
"We have seen a snake" 
said Albert. 
"We have seen some crows. 
But we have not seen the robbers." ]]
"The snake and the crows 
give us two more clues!" 
said Arabella. 
"Come on let's go!" ]]
"Wait a minute" said Albert. 
"I know all the other clues. 
But what is the snake's clue?" 
Arabella whispered in Albert's ear. 
"You are right" said Albert. 
"The snake gave us a great clue!" ]]
The twins ran through the woods 
to their house. ]]
"Let's leave our coats on the porch" 
whispered Arabella. 
"We do not want to look like robbers."]] 
Then they slipped away 
to the other side of the pond. 
They found the old log house 
by the light of the moon. ]]
Arabella knocked at the door. 
"Who is there?" called a voice. 
"It is the raccoon twins" 
said Albert. 
"We know who stole the eggs." ]]
"Go away" said another voice. 
"We have had enough trouble." 
"Please let us in" 
said Arabella. 
"We came to help." ]]
The door opened a crack. 
Mr. Turtle stuck out his head. 
"Come in" he said. ]]
Mrs. Turtle was sitting 
at the kitchen table. 
On the table was a basket. 
In the basket 
were the stolen turtle eggs! ]]
"We knew the eggs 
would be here" said Albert. 
"How did you know that?" 
asked Mrs. Turtle. 
"Well" said Arabella. 
"We knew that the robber ran slowly. 
Turtles run very slowly. 
We knew that the robbers 
had humps on their backs. 
Turtles have shells. 
The shells would look like humps 
under long coats." ]]
"That's right" said Albert. 
"Then we found the crows. 
They were looking for the eggs. 
They said you always deposited them 
at Duckweed Swamp before." ]]
We thought you were tired 
of the crows eating your eggs" 
said Arabella. 
"So this year 
you deposited the eggs 
at Meadow Marsh to confuse them." ]]
"That was my idea" 
said Mr. Turtle proudly. 
"It was my idea 
to stage the robbery" 
said Mrs. Turtle
"to confuse the crows even more." ]]
"But we figured out 
who stole the eggs" 
said Arabella. 
"The crows 
will figure it out too." ]]
"Let us take the eggs 
to our house" said Albert. 
The crows will never think 
to look for them there." ]]
Mr. and Mrs. Turtle 
looked at each other. 
"The twins are right Mother" 
said Mr. Turtle. 
"I know they are" 
said Mrs. Turtle. 
"I did not know where 
we could hide the eggs next." ]]
Arabella and Albert carried the eggs 
back to their house. 
The kitchen light 
was still on. 
"Do you think Mother and Father 
will be angry 
because we sneaked out?" 
asked Albert. 
"Maybe they will be angry at first" 
said Arabella. 
"But when they hear 
how we found the eggs 
they will be very proud." ]]
"I bet Grandpa 
will be proudest of all!" 
said Albert. ]]
And that is exactly what happened. ]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Simple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Features

Topic

Snakes

Turtles

Mystery

Stealing

*Feelings, Behaviors

Night

Low Frequency Words

deposited	duckweed	figures	hoarse	marsh
meadow	poached	robbery	scrambled	slithered
squawks	swamp