Text Leveling System

Corduroy

RDQ:	494	Max Word/Sent	37	Total Words	707		Diff Words	302
Lex	630	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	471	66.6%	Hi freq	133	44%
AR	2.7	Long Sentences	12.9	Low Freq occurs	26	3.7%	Low freq	15	5%

Corduroy is a bear who once lived in the toy department of a 
big store. Day after day he waited with all the other animals and 
dolls for somebody to come along and take him home. ]]
The store was always filled with shoppers buying all sorts of things 
but no one ever seemed to want a small bear in green overalls. ]]
Then one morning a little girl stopped and looked straight into 
Corduroy's bright eyes. 
"Oh Mommy!" she said. "Look! There's the very bear I've always 
wanted." "Not today dear." her mother sighed. "I've spent too much already. 
Besides he doesn't look new. He's lost the button to one of his 
shoulder straps." ]]
Corduroy watched them sadly as they walked away.  
"I didn't know I'd lost a button" he said to himself. "Tonight I'll go 
and see if I can find it." ]]
Late that evening when all the shoppers had gone and the doors 
were shut and locked Corduroy climbed carefully down from his ]]
shelf and began searching everywhere on the floor for his lost 
button. ]]
Suddenly he felt the floor moving under him! Quite by accident he 
had stepped onto an escalator - and up he went! ]]
"Could this be a mountain?" he wondered. "I think I've always 
wanted to climb a mountain." ]]
He stepped off the escalator as it reached the next floor and there 
before his eyes was a most amazing sight - 
tables and chairs and lamps and sofas and rows and rows of beds. 
"This must be a palace!" Corduroy gasped. "I guess I've always 
wanted to live in a palace." ]]
He wandered around admiring the furniture. 
"This must be a bed" he said. "I've always wanted to sleep in a 
bed." And up he crawled onto a large thick mattress. ]]
All at once he saw something small and round. 
"Why here's my button!" he cried. And he tried to pick it up. But 
like all the  other buttons on the mattress it was tied down tight. ]]
He yanked and pulled with both paws until POP! Off came the 
button - and off the mattress Corduroy toppled 
bang into a tall floor lamp. Over it fell with a crash. ]]
Corduroy didn't know it but there was someone else awake in the 
store. The night watchman was going his rounds on the floor above.  
When he heard the crash he came dashing down the escalator. 
"Now who in the world did that!" he exclaimed. "Somebody must be 
hiding here!" ]]
He flashed his light under and over sofas and beds until he came to 
the biggest bed of all. And there he saw two fuzzy brown ears 
sticking up from under the cover. ]]
"Hello!" he said. "How did you get upstairs!" ]]
The watchman tucked Corduroy under his arm and carried him 
down the escalator 
and set him on the shelf in the toy department with the other 
animals and dolls. ]]
Corduroy was just waking up when the first customers came into 
the store in the morning. And there looking at him with a wide 
warm smile was the same little girl he'd seen only the day before. ]]
"I'm Lisa" she said "and you're going to be my very own bear. Last 
night I counted what I've saved in my piggy bank and my mother 
said I could bring you home." ]]
"Shall I put him in a box for you?" the saleslady asked. 
"Oh no thank you" Lisa answered. And she carried Corduroy home 
in her arms. ]]
She ran all the way up four flights of stairs into her family's 
apartment and straight to her own room. ]]
Corduroy blinked. There was a chair and a chest of drawers and 
alongside a girl-size bed stood a little bed just the right size for him. 
The room was small nothing like that enormous place in the 
department store. 
"This must be home" he said. "I know I've always wanted a home!" ]]
Lisa sat down with Corduroy on her lap and began to sew a button 
on his overalls. 
"I like you the way you are" she said "but you'll be more 
comfortable with your shoulder strap fastened."]]
 "You must be a friend" said Corduroy. "I've always wanted a 
friend." 
"Me too!" said Lisa and gave him a big hug.   ]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Simple language

Sentences: Many Long Complex

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Simple Plot

Topic

Toys

Shopping

Homes

*Family & Friends

Bears

Low Frequency Words

admiring	alongside	corduroy	customers	drawers
escalator	fastened	mattress	overalls	saleslady
toppled	waking	wandered	watchman	yanked