Text Leveling System

The Beginning

RDQ:	422	Max Word/Sent	26	Total Words	581		Diff Words	251
Lex	620	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	328	56.5%	Hi freq	100	39.8%
AR	2.5	Long Sentences	6.9	Low Freq occurs	24	4.1%	Low freq	19	7.6%

Bear loved honey. 
He loved honey more than any other bear could imagine loving it. He and his family lived in a cozy little cottage on Honey Hill Farm that has shelves for honey and jam. But the honey jars on the shelves were usually empty because Bear ate honey all day long. And all day long he thought about getting more honey. One day a bee flew by and a thought flew into Bear's head. "Where bees are honey is!" He followed the bee to its hive. Then another idea came to Bear. "To get closer to the hive - to get the honey - I can dress like a bee!" He'd ear his striped pajamas. He'd hum a bee's buzz! He'd pretend to fly! "And then when the bees think I'm just another big bee I'll grab the honey!" he thought quickly changing clothes. He finished his costume and spread his arms. "I am Bumble Bear!" he shouted. And off he dashed to the beehive. As soon as he saw the hive Bumble Bear became much too eager to put his paws on the honey. He forgot to hum or pretend to fly. He even forgot he was dressed like a bee. He wanted the honey so badly he made a beeline straight to the hive crashing through the field making more noise than a freight train. Bumble Bear was so close to the hive he could imagine reaching right inside for the honey. Then he stumbled! He tripped and tumbled! He was really flying through the air now! He knocked over the hive as he landed and combs of honey flew into the air just out of reach. And something else flew toward Bumble Bear - a swarm of angry bees. Bumble Bear had truly bumbled! The bees aimed straight for the place where Bumble Bear's homemade stinger used to be. He felt stungled! He jumped into the water to get away from the bees. As a Beeginner he hadn't even been able to get close to the honey in the hive. When he landed in the pond the cold water eased the hurt of his stings - but not his feelings. He'd lost his glasses. And he wore a hive on his head - a hive with no honey in it. "All this trouble and still no honey!" he thought. Bumble Bear had been humbled. He grumbled as he trudged home in his underwear. Home to empty jars. Home to hungry Gwendolyn Bear his wife and his two cubs Wear and Tear. His stomach rumbled. It rumbled so loudly it scared the birds. So loudly  in fact that Wear and Tear and Gwendolyn Bear heard him coming. They watched this rumbling and grumbling from the cottage windows. That night Bumble Bear lectured to Wear and Tear on the value of honey as he peered into the depths of an empty jar. Wear and Tear and Gwendolyn Bear were used to this lecture. They'd heard it all before. After his speech Bumble Bear went to his study and planned far into the night thinking up new ways to get honey into his rumbling tummy. "Tomorrow I'll try again" he mumbled. "What if ..." Upstairs Gwendolyn tucked the cubs into bear. Tear said" Daddy sure likes honey but I like race cars." "I like Pooh and honey too" Wear said sleepily. "I like a real honey and that's your father" said Gwendolyn Bear. "He's a good bear but not a very good bee. Good Night."]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concept: Fanciful

Features

Topic

Likes/Dislikes

Food

Insects

Bears

Pretend

Low Frequency Words

beeginner	depths	eased	freight	grumbling
gwendolyn	humbled	lecture	lectured	peered
shelves	sleepily	speech	stinger	stungled
swarm	trudged	truly	underwear