Text Leveling System

The Case of the Scaredy Cats

RDQ:	247	Max Word/Sent	28	Total Words	823		Diff Words	259
Lex	510	Ave Word/.Sent	5	Hi Freq occurs	489	59.4%	Hi freq	112	43.2%
AR	2.1	Long Sentences	0.6	Low Freq occurs	10	1.2%	Low freq	4	1.5%

"Girls!" Snitch yelled. 
"A broom!" cried Wizard. "A flower pot!" said Tubby. "A snowlady!" said Skinny. "I told you old Marigold and her gang moved in" Snitch said. But the clubhouse was not for girls. The sign on the door said so. The clubhouse was for private eyes. The sign on the door said so. Wizard and his brother Snitch and their friends Skinny and Tubby were private eyes. Wizard was their leader. The sign on the door said so. Snitch said "Can't they read?" Marigold came out. She said "Let us join you club or you stay out." then she slammed the door. Hard. "How do we get them out? We can't hit them" Skinny said. "Why not?" Snitch wanted to know. "They're girls" Tubby told him. "Six of them" Skinny said. "And they are big" Snitch cried. "So what" Wizard said. "Girls are girls. Come on. I have a plan." First the boys went to the store. The grocer gave them some empty boxes. They took them to Tubby's house. "Girls are silly" Wizard said. "They cry a lot." Then he told the boys his plan. They used Tubby's paints and rope and the boxes. "It will be easy" Wizard said. "No fighting. No yelling. When the girls see us they will run away for good." That made the boys smile. But Gussie and Gertie did not smile when they saw Snitch's sign. "Don't even look" Marigold said. Nobody smiled at Tubby's sign. Not Alice. Not Annie. "What does it say?" Annie asked. "Never mind" Marigold said. "Don't even look." And Millie did not smile at Skinny's sign. "Don't even look" Marigold said  But when Marigold saw Wizard's sign about her she forgot everything she had told Gussie and Gertie and Alice and Annie and Millie. Marigold tackled Wizard. And there were plenty of fighting and plenty of yelling. Alice grabbed Tubby and Annie helped. Gussie and Gertie tied up Snitch. And Millie pushed Skinny. Tubby got Annie's thumb out of his ear. He ran to hide behind the garbage can. Skinny ran to hide up a tree. Snitch ran to hide behind the garbage can with Tubby. And Wizard ran to hid on the roof. "Well" said Marigold "we took care of those boys. All of them. And-" She looked around. "Where is Annie?" she cried. Annie was not there. "How can I tell Annie's mother we lost her?" Marigold cried. Alice started to cry. "She was my best friend" she said. "I'll miss her" sobbed Gertie. "I liked her" cried Gussie. "So did I" wailed Millie. The girls cried so loud the boys heard them. They ran from their hiding places. "I told you they cry a lot" Wizard said. "What is the matter now?" Wizard asked. "We lost a girl" Marigold cried. "That" said Wizard "is a case for private eyes. We are just the ones you need." "Give us the girl's name please" Wizard said. "It's Annie" Marigold told him.   "What does she look like?" Skinny asked. "It's Annie!" Marigold yelled. "You know Annie. Annie is your sister." "When was she last seen?" tubby asked. "You just got her thumb out of your ear a minute ago" Marigold cried. "Did you look for Annie?" Wizard asked. Marigold said"No." "boy do you need us!" Wizard said. "I will look in the clubhouse my men will look around and you girls can cry." Annie was not in the clubhouse. But Wizard found one hair ribbon and a string of beads. Annie was not anywhere. They called and called for her. "Does Annie hear okay?" Wizard asked. "Sure" Skinny said. "There is only one thing wrong with Annie. She is a scaredy cat." "she wasn't scared to put her thumb in my ear" Tubby said. "She can run faster than you" Skinny told him.   "Anyway" Tubby said "Annie always gave me her lollipop while she sucked her thumb." "She was nice" Snitch said. "Not bad for a girl" Wizard said. "We will have to find her" said Skinny. "It will make Mom happy." Ah-Choo! "Who sneezed?" Wizard asked. "I didn't" Marigold said. "Did you Millie?" "No. Did you Gussie?" "No. Did you Gertie?" "No. Did you Alice?" "No. Did you Snitch?" "No. Did you Tub?" "No did you Skin?" "No. Did you Wiz?" "I asked the question" Wizard said. "Oh." "That sign is sneezing" Snitch yelled. "What sign?" Wizard cried. "The sign with the mittens" Snitch yelled. "Oh" said Wizard. "Signs do not sneeze" Wizard told Snitch. Then he yelled "The sign with the mittens!" "Everybody stay back!" Tubby cried. "It may not be safe." One by one they all got behind Wizard. Slowly...slowly...slowly they sneaked up on the sign. "Those are Annie's mittens" Wizard whispered. "That is Annie's hat" Marigold whispered. "Are they on Annie?" Snitch asked. "Annie are you in there?" Wizard yelled. "Now don't be scared. There is nothing to be scared about."]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Topic

Mystery

Fears

Friendship

*Family & Friends

Low Frequency Words

grocer

marigold

private

scaredy