Text Leveling System

Dolphin (An I Can Read Book)

RDQ:	245	Max Word/Sent	18	Total Words	1084		Diff Words	292
Lex	500	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	655	60.4%	Hi freq	108	37%
AR	2.1	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	22	2%	Low freq	7	2.4%

It is morning. 
The large sun comes up 
in the sky.
The sea is calm. ]]
Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! 
These sounds 
are made by dolphins. 
They are excited. 
They swim around 
a large female dolphin. 
She is going to have
a baby dolphin. ]]
First a small tail 
comes out of her body. 
Then suddenly 
her baby is born. 
It is three feet long. 
The mother dolphin is 
eight feet long. ]]
Baby dolphins 
are called calves. 
Grown-up female dolphins 
are called cows. 
Grown-up male dolphins 
are called bulls.  
The new baby is a male. ]]
Dolphins are mammals. 
They must breathe air. ]]
The new baby must breathe air soon 
or he will drown. 
The mother dolphins 
quickly swims under her baby. 
She gently pushes him 
up to the top of the water. 
Swish! Swish! 
The calf takes his first breath of air. 
His nose is on top of his head. 
It is called a blowhole. 
Now the baby swims by himself. 
He will breathe air 
when he needs it. ]]
The calf is hungry. 
He swims close to his mother. 
She turns on her side. 
He gets warm milk 
from her. ]]
Whirr. Whirr. Whirr. 
The dolphins hear a new sound. 
It is a ship. 
The dolphins swim toward it. 
The baby dolphin swims
next to his mother. ]]
He is a fast swimmer. 
The baby dolphin 
moves his tail flukes 
up and down. 
The flukes push him 
through the water. ]]
The fin on top of his back 
keeps him from rolling over. 
His front fins 
are called flippers. 
The baby dolphin uses them 
to swim up and down 
and to turn right or left. ]]
The mother and baby 
swim faster and faster. 
They race to the front 
of the ship. 
Then they stop swimming. 
They ride on the waves 
made by the ship. ]]
Other dolphins join them.  
They dive and jump 
and play in the waves. 
Their skin is smooth and bare. 
It is easy for them 
to swim through the water. ]]
It is getting dark.  
The dolphins swim away 
from the ship. 
It is time to rest. 
The baby calls to his mother. 
Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! 
He is hungry 
for his mother's milk. ]]
The dolphins rest and breathe 
on top of the water. 
They will rest 
for several hours. 
The baby dolphin 
closes his eyes.  
It has been a long day. ]]
The next morning 
the mother dolphin is hungry. 
She must find food. 
Dolphins hunt together 
in a group. 
A group of dolphins 
is called a pod. ]]
The pod hunts for food 
every day. 
They eat fish shrimp 
and small squid. 
Today they find
a large school 
of mackerel. ]]
The mackerel swim away. 
But the dolphins are faster. 
Some of them swim 
below the school of fish. 
Some swim to the right 
and some to the left. 
Now the mackerel 
are all close together.  
It is easy 
for the dolphins 
o catch them. ]]
A wounded fish swims 
near the baby dolphin. 
The baby quickly grabs it. 
But the fish is too large. 
The baby cannot hold it 
in his mouth. 
The fish gets away. ]]
Churp! Churp! Churp! 
This is the sound 
of killer whales. 
Killer whales are enemies 
of dolphins. 
They eat seals large fish 
and dolphins. ]]
Slap! Slap! Slap! 
A dolphin hits the water 
with his tail.  
That is the signal for danger.  
The mother dolphin goes quickly 
to her baby. ]]
All the dolphins swim away. 
They swim faster and faster. 
But the killer whales 
are coming closer 
and closer. ]]
The baby dolphin is tired. 
Some of the bull dolphins 
stay near 
to protect him. ]]
Then the killer whales 
see the large school of mackerel.  
They chase the mackerel instead. 
The dolphins swim away.  
They are safe. ]]
Each day the calf 
grows larger and larger.  
He is now six months old. 
He is over four feet long. 
When he is two years old 
he will be 
as big as his mother. ]]
Sometimes the mother dolphin 
leaves her calf 
to dive for food. 
While she is gone 
two other cows 
watch the baby.  
They help the mother dolphin 
care for her calf. ]]
The baby dolphin 
cannot dive as deep 
as his mother. 
He can stay under water 
for only three minutes. 
The mother dolphin can dive 
one hundred feet deep. 
The deep water is cold. 
But she has a thick layer of fat 
under her skin. 
The fat keeps her warm. 
She stays under water 
for six minutes. ]]
The mother dolphin comes back 
with a fish in her mouth. 
She lets the fish go. 
She wants the calf 
to catch it by himself. ]]
The calf chases the fish 
and holds it with his teeth. 
His small teeth are not like 
baby teeth. 
He will keep them 
all of his life. 
They will grow bigger 
as he grows bigger. 
The calf does not chew the fish.  
He swallows it whole. ]]
Whirr. Whirr. Whirr. 
A shrimp boat is coming. ]]
Men pull in the large nets.  
The nets are full of 
shrimp and fish.  
The men take the shrimp 
but they do not want the fish. 
They throw them 
back into the sea. 
The dolphins swim up quickly 
and eat the fish. ]]
Sometimes the water is muddy. 
The dolphins cannot see the fish. 
Click! Click! Click! 
The dolphins make 
special sounds. 
These sounds go through the water. 
They hit the fish 
and bounce back 
to the dolphins. ]]
These sounds 
tell the dolphins 
where the fish are. ]]
Click! Click! Click! 
The baby dolphins swims 
back and forth 
eating small fish. 
Suddenly there is a huge animal 
in the muddy water.  
It is much bigger that 
the mother dolphin. 
It is a giant tiger shark. 
The shark is after the fish too. ]]
Slap! Slap! Slap! 
One of the dolphins 
makes the danger sound. 
It is too late! 
The shark catches the baby dolphin 
by the flipper. 
The little dolphin 
is wounded. 
The tip of his flipper 
is gone. ]]
The baby dolphin 
needs air. 
Two dolphins swim 
under him. 
They push him up 
to the top of the water. 
Now he can breathe. 
The dolphin pod 
stays near the baby 
to protect him. 
He is not hurt badly.  
His flipper will soon heal. ]]
Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! 
The mother dolphin is calling. 
The baby dolphin rushes 
to her side. 
It is time to get milk. ]]
After he is one year old 
the dolphin calf 
will not need milk. ]]
He will be able 
to care for himself. ]]
The dolphin may live for thirty years. 
He will stay with the pod 
for a long time.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Simple phrases

Text structure: Oral/Natural

Features

Topic

Whales

Pregnancy

Fish

Swimming

Babies

Dolphins

Sharks

*Animals

Animals: Ocean

Habitat

Helping

Low Frequency Words

calves	churp	flukes	mackerel	swallows
tweet	whirr