Text Leveling System

Elmer's Christmas

RDQ:	231	Max Word/Sent	21	Total Words	408		Diff Words	182
Lex	490	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	217	53.2%	Hi freq	79	43.4%
AR	2.0	Long Sentences	1.8	Low Freq occurs	16	3.9%	Low freq	12	6.6%

Elmer, the patchwork elephant, smiled. It was two days before the annual visit of Papa red. The young elephants work cited.
Take them for a walk, Elmer, said an older elephant. Then we can prepare the presents in peace.
Come on, youngsters, Elmer called. We'll go and get the tree.
Squealing with laughter, the young elephants hurried after Elmer.
What are we going where Papa red lives? They asked.
Close by, said Elmer.
Have you seen him, Elmer?
Elmer smiled. Yes, he said. For the rest of the walk, they asked Elmer about Papa red.
The walk went up and up. The jungle became pine trees. Then, for the first time in their lives, the youngsters saw snow. Papa red was forgotten.
Elmer left the young ones to play in the snow and went to choose a tree. Hello, Elmer, said a moose. Let the young elephants see Papa red tomorrow, but keep them hidden. We'll have a busy night ahead.
I know, said Elmer. We won't bother you.
Elmer chose a tree that would be easy to put back later. The youngsters helped to carry it. By now it was late. Straight to bed when we get home, said Elmer. We have a lot to do tomorrow.
The next day, everyone helped decorate the tree. The presents, the presents! Shouted the young elephants.
The presents, wrapped and decorated, were placed around the tree. When it was finished, the other animals came to admire it.
Wonderful, they said.
That night, when the big elephants were asleep, or pretending to be, Elmer collected the youngsters together. This is your chance to see Papa red, he said. Hide where you can see but not be seen.
The youngsters had just hidden when, from out of the sky, came six moose, pulling us play with Papa red aboard. They landed, and Elmer helped load the presents into the sleigh. Thanks, Elmer, said Papa red. Then he winked. I'm glad we weren't seen.
Papa red flew off. And the young ones rushed out. We saw him, we saw him! They shouted. He took the presents. Elmer laughed and said, this is the season for giving. We give and Papa red takes the presents to whoever needs them most.
Once all the elephants were finally asleep, Elmer tiptoed among them. By each young elephant, he placed a president that Papa red had left for them. Elmer smiled. Good old Papa red, he said.

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Dialog: Two speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Features

Topic

*Holidays, Events, Cele

Christmas

Low Frequency Words

aboard	annual	cited	collected	laughter
patchwork	peace	president	season	sleigh
squealing	youngsters