Text Leveling System

We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past

RDQ:	664	Max Word/Sent	44	Total Words	685		Diff Words	323
Lex	670	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	355	51.8%	Hi freq	112	34.7%
AR	3.1	Long Sentences	10.3	Low Freq occurs	34	5%	Low freq	25	7.7%

Grandma wore her
blue dress
with all those flowers on it.
Brought biscuits and chicken
and me.]]
Everything she made a 
big show of putting out.
Got up a four this
morning to make this
chicken. Best batch I
ever fried. These 
biscuits just as tasty.
Can't chew for
swallowing 'cause
you'll be too busy 
reaching for more.
And look at my grandchild.
Just as
pretty as a 
day. Turn and 
show them that
dress I made you,
Teeka.
Oh, how Grandma
can brag when 
she wants to.
Then turning to me
she whispered,]]
Hope Martha
don't bring that
pie again.
Everyone says that pie's a
bit on the dry side, but
not in front of Cousin
Martha, 'cause that
would hurt her feelings.
Grandma says Martha should be in any room
but the kitchen. Says
she thinks Cousin Martha
scares the stove into 
baking bad.
Every year, same
Cousin Martha,
same dried-out 
apple pie. And
you better eat
every bite of it
so you don't hurt
Martha's feelings.]]
Luther is 
Grandma's oldest
boy. He married 
Lucinda. Now they have
Terrance, mean old 
cousin of mine.
Terrance brought
plastic flies, put them
right on Auntie Sadie's
sweet cob corn.
Goodness, can my
Auntie Sadie scream!
And give an ear a
pinch if it need one.
And whisper to
Grandma, You seen 
hide or hair of
Martha's pie?]]
Uncle Luther
set a loaf of
cinnamon bread in the 
center of things.
Grandma, smiling just as proud, said
Can't my boy bake himself some
bread!
Look at my second cousin Laurie's son, Jefferson.
He thinks he's so cute. Hmph!]]
Auntie Kim's my all time favorite.
She's the smart one - teaches second
grade, I whispered to Paulette.
(Paulette's no relation - just my best friend.)
Don't go bragging, Grandma said, nudging
me. But you can tell she's just as proud.
Auntie Kim doesn't want to marry (and
maybe me and Paulette won't, either.)
I brought some cranberry muffins,
Auntie Kim said, and cookies 
shaped like angels for my angel,
handing one right 
to me.]]
Then Cousin Trevor came - 
empty handed.
Pretty-boy Trevor walking
into that park with a handful
of nothing. 
Can't eat air, I whispered
to Paulette.
Don't be a smartie,
Grandma said, but you know
she was thinking the same
exact thing. Cousin Trevor
picked daisies as he 
strutted up, talking 
about daisies
for all the pretty ladies.
Hmph,
Grandma said,
frowning.
Hmph, me and 
Paulette 
echoed.]]
Still no sign of
Cousin Martha.
Still no sign 
of that pie.
Moon Pie and
Callie - Moon Pie is
really Joseph,
but don't he look 
just like a moon 
pie? - came empty-
handed, too.
Nobody can eat 
that smile you
brought for the
camera, Moon Pie.]]
Sister Carol and Reverend Luke toted the Bible to the picnic.
Reverend Luke can eat like the devil - strange, since he's
such a holy man.
Little Astrid, two front teeth missing, trailed behind 
them carrying a pail of peaches fresh as summer.
Tooth fairy bring you anything? Paulette wanted to know.
Got a quarter for them, Astrid said, and held out his hand to
show us the shiny quarter there.]]
Then Mr. Pete came running -
he's got a thing for Grandma.
Mr. Pete, well, you can set 
that sweet-potato pie right
over here by me, I said.
Wasn't that peach cobbler Miss
Mary's daughter Pat brought 
just out of this world?
And yams and potato
salad and collards, a big
old ham, Grandma's
chicken fried crisp 
and tender, melt-in-
your-mouth
cornbread...]]
Then here came Cousin Martha with a
big pink box out in front of her, just
as proud, smiling.
Goodness, Grandma whispered, don't
tell me she mad two this year.

No time to bake, Martha said.]]
Store-bought 
cake and my 
apologies.
Oh, but Cousin
Martha, Grandma
said, all year long,
I've been thinking 
about your pie.]]
Goodness
that picnic table was 
something to see!
Topped it all off with cookies, melon, 
homemade ice cream, and the most
delicious store-bought cake
Cousin Martha never made.]]
We had a picnic this
Sunday past.
You should have been there.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Inferences: Some implications

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Colorful, figurative

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Several Implications

Complexity: Several ideas - closely related

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Bold/Italicized Words

Features

Character traits

Integral Setting

First Person

Dialect/Accents

Idioms

Unusual use of vocabulary

Topic

Food

Grandparents

*Home Arts & Food

*Family & Friends

Picnics

Low Frequency Words

astrid	biscuits	cinnamon	cobbler	collards
cranberry	daisies	delicious	echoed	handing
ladies	laurie's	melon	nudging	paulette
paulette's	relation	reverend	smartie	strutted
swallowing	teeka	terrance	toted	whisper