Text Leveling System

Hill of Fire

RDQ:	357	Max Word/Sent	23	Total Words	1102		Diff Words	330
Lex	580	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	726	65.9%	Hi freq	143	43.3%
AR	2.3	Long Sentences	2.1	Low Freq occurs	10	0.9%	Low freq	7	2.1%

Once there was a farmer 
who lived in Mexico. 
He lived in a little village 
in a house 
which had only one room. ]]
The farmer was not happy. 
"Nothing ever happens" 
he said. ]]
The people in the village 
thought the farmer was foolish. 
"We have everything we need" 
they said. ]]
"We have a school 
and a market ]]
and a church and an old bell 
that rings on Sundays. 
Our village is the best there is." 
"But nothing ever happens" 
said the farmer. ]]
Every morning 
when the farmer woke up 
the first thing he saw 
was the roof of his little house. 
Every morning for breakfast 
he ate two flat cakes 
of ground corn. 
His wife had made them 
the night before. 
He put honey over the cakes 
and drank cinnamon tea 
from a clay mug. 
"Nothing ever happens" he said. ]]
It was still dark and 
the farmer got ready 
to leave for the field. 
His son Pablo was still asleep. 
"Perhaps today" said his wife 
"something will happen." 
"No" said the farmer. 
"Nothing will." 
The farmer led his ox away 
and did not look back. ]]
At night the farmer returned. 
He fed his ox. 
Then he sat down by the fire. 
Pablo played with five smooth stones. 
He threw the stones at a hole 
he had dug in the earth. 
"See Papa!" said Pablo. 
"I got one in!" ]]
But the farmer was tired. 
He did not answer. 
Every day was the same. ]]
One morning 
the farmer woke up very early. 
He pulled on his woolen shirt.  
He took his big hat 
from a peg on the wall. 
"I must go to the field early" 
he said. 
"The plowing is not done. 
Soon it will be time 
to plant the corn."]]
All morning the farmer 
worked in his field. 
The ox helped him.]]
 When there was a big rock 
in the way the ox stopped 
and lay down. 
The farmer pushed the rock away. 
"Tst-tst!" said the farmer. 
The ox looked at the farmer. 
Then the ox got up 
and pulled again. ]]
Late in the morning 
when the sun was high 
Pablo came to the field. ]]
"Pablo!" said the farmer. 
"Why are you not in school?" 
"There is not school today, Papa" 
said Pablo. 
"I have come to help you plow."
The farmer smiled.  
He reached into his pocket 
and gave the boy 
a small wooden toy. 
"A bull!" cried Pablo. 
The farmer had made it for his son 
during the hot time of the day 
when he rested from his work. ]]
Pablo helped the farmer 
plow the field. ]]
The ox pulled 
and the plow turned up the soil. 
Suddenly the plow stopped. 
The farmer and his son pushed 
and the ox pulled 
but the plow did not move. 
It sank into the earth. 
It went down 
down 
down 
into a little hole. ]]
The hole became a bigger hole. 
There was a noise 
deep under the ground 
as if something big had growled. ]]
The farmer looked. 
Pablo looked. 
The ox turned its head. 
White smoke 
came from the hole in the ground. ]]
"Run!" said the farmer. 
"Run!" ]]
There was a loud crack 
and the earth opened wide. 
The farmer ran 
Pablo ran 
and the ox ran too. 
Fire and smoke came from the ground. ]]
The farmer ran all the way 
to the village. 
He ran inside the church 
and rang the old bell. ]]
The other farmers came 
from their fields. 
People came out of their houses. 
"Look!" said the farmer. 
"Look there!" ]]
That night no one slept. 
Everyone watched the fire in the sky.]]
It came from where the farmer's field 
had been. ]]
There was a loud boom 
and another and another. ]]
Hot lava came out of the earth. 
Steaming lava spread 
over the ground through the trees. 
It came toward the farmer's house. 
It came toward the village. 
Pieces of burning stone 
flew in the air. ]]
The earth was coughing. 
Every time it coughed 
the hill of fire grew bigger. ]]
In a few days 
the hill was as big as a mountain. 
And every few minutes 
there was a loud Boom. 
Squirrels and rabbits ran 
and birds flew away from the fire. 
People led their burros 
and their oxen to safety. ]]
Pieces of burning ash flew everywhere. 
The farmer and his neighbors 
put wet cloths over their noses 
to keep out the smoke. ]]
Some of the people 
went close to the steaming lava. 
They carried big crosses. ]]
They prayed for the fire to stop. 
The farmer and Pablo watched 
from the side of a hill. ]]
When the booming stopped 
and the fires grew smaller 
the farmer's house was gone. ]]
The school was gone. 
The market was gone. 
Half the village was gone. ]]
One day some men in uniform came 
in cars and trucks. ]]
"So you are the one with the plow 
that opened up the earth" 
they said to the farmer. 
They laughed. 
"You are luck to be alive amigo." ]]
The soldiers looked at the village. 
"Everyone must go!" 
the captain said. ]]
"It is not safe to live here any longer." 
The farmer and his wife and Pablo 
and all the people of the village 
went with the soldiers. T
hey rode away in the trucks. ]]
The farmer found a new house. 
It was bigger than 
the one they lived in before. ]]
It was not far from the old one. 
But it was far enough away 
to be safe from El Monstruo 
which means "The Monster." 
That is the name the people gave 
to the great volcano. ]]
The people made a new village. 
They made a new school 
and a new market. ]]
They had a great fiesta 
because now they were safe. 
At the fiesta the band played 
and the people danced 
and clapped their hands. ]]
People from the city came in a bus 
to see El Monstruo. 
The people of the village 
sold them oranges and melons 
and hot dogs and corn cakes to eat. ]]
Now the farmer had a new field. 
Every morning he woke up early. 
It was still dark 
and El Monstruo glowed in the sky. 
Every morning for breakfast 
he ate two flat cakes 
of ground corn. 
His wife had made them 
the night before. ]]
The farmer went 
to his new field. 
His ox went with him 
just as before. ]]
Sometimes Pablo brought 
the children of the village 
to see the farmer. 
From the field they could see 
the volcano smoking 
like an old man smoking his pipe. 
"Can you make another 
hill of fire?" 
the children said. ]]
"No my friends no no" 
said the farmer. He laughed. 
"One hill of fire 
is enough for me."   ]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Inferences: Some implications

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Character development

Topic

Mexico/Mexican

Attitudes

Cultures

Volcanoes

Ecology

Family

Farms

Foreign Country

Gardens/Gardening

Moving

Neighbors

Low Frequency Words

amigo	cinnamon	coughing	fiesta	melons
monstruo	neighbors