Text Leveling System

Wild, Wild Hair

RDQ:	266	Max Word/Sent	13	Total Words	311		Diff Words	179
Lex	520	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	164	52.7%	Hi freq	68	38%
AR	2.1	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	5	1.6%	Low freq	5	2.8%

Tisa Walker's hair was long and thick and wild. Sometimes Tisa's daddy called her his wild child. But every Monday morning, Tisa stayed in bed. She hung onto her pillow. She dove under the spread. School was not the problem. She liked going there. But Monday was the day Mommy braided Tisa's hair. ""My hair's a mess,"" she'd say. ""Wo what? I'm just a kid."" Tisa said that every week, and every week she hid. Her daddy looked for her. She hid behind a door. ""Come out, Tisa,"" he would say. ""What are you hiding for?"" Her brother checked the den, looked up and down the hall. He walked right by her twice, pressed flat against the wall. As always, Tisa's mother found her behind the stair. ""Let's go,"" Mother said. ""It's time to do your hair."" So Tisa balled her fists and curled up all ten toes. She closed her eyes. She made a face. She said, ""Okay. Here goes!"" ""Ouch!"" she cried before the comb had touched her head. Tisa fussed and grumbled, ""I wish I were in bed!"" Her hair was full of knots. Her mom raked through each one. Tisa stuck her lip way out and said, ""This is no fun."" ""Just cut your hair like mine,"" her brother, Steve, would tease. ""I can brush mine once or twice and I'm all set to leave."" By now Tisa was sure to jump out of her skin. Her mother sighed and said, ""All right. I can begin."" At last, Tisa sat still as Mommy told her to. Soon twenty braids were done. Her mother's fingers flew. Now Tisa eyed herself. She couldn't turn away. Steve rolled his eyes and said, ""The bus won't wait all day!"" Tisa grabbed her coat and gave her mom a hug. She even smiled when brother Steve gave one thick braid a tug.

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Dialog: Simple

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Character traits

Simple problem/solution

Topic

Body

Appearances

Hair/Haircuts

*Feelings, Behaviors

Low Frequency Words

comb

curled

eyed

knots

raked