Text Leveling System

Shoes Around The World

RDQ:	245	Max Word/Sent	17	Total Words	360		Diff Words	176
Lex	500	Ave Word/.Sent	8	Hi Freq occurs	175	48.6%	Hi freq	63	35.8%
AR	2.1	Long Sentences	0	Low Freq occurs	18	5%	Low freq	15	8.5%

I love shoes! All kinds of shoes. My grandma likes to travel. Last year, she took a trip around the world. She sent my brother postcards from all the places she visited. She sent me shoes!]]
Grandma started her trip in Arizona. She sent me cowboy boots from Arizona. Did you know cowboy boots are pointed so cowboys can slip their feet into the stirrups easier? And the reason they're so tall is to protect cowboys from cactuses and rattlesnakes. I hope Grandma didn't run into any rattlesnakes in Arizona!]]
Grandma sent me some Saami reindeer boots from Lapland. That's the part of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia that's north of the Arctic Circle. These boots are very warm. See how the toes turn up? That's to help people walk through the snow. The boots tie around your ankle to keep the snow out and the heat in.]]
Grandma sent me some klompen from Holland. They make a clip-clop sound when I walk. That's because they're made of wood. People used to wear them as work shoes in factories, mines, and on the farm. Today, people wear them because they're comfortable and they look nice.]]
Grandma also sent me some babouches from Morocco. They are soft and comfortable like slippers. But you can wear them outdoors. Grandma says they're made from camel hair. They're easy to slip on and off.]]
Grandma sent me some sandals from West Africa. It's very hot in West Africa. That's why these sandals have such thick soles. Thick soles protect your feet from the hot ground. Sandals let air in around your feet to keep you cool.]]
Grandma sent me some lotus shoes from China. Aren't they pretty?  But they're very small. Grandma says Chinese girls and women used to wrap bandages around their feet to make them smaller. That sounds painful. I think it would be hard to walk if my feet were bound. I'm glad Chinese girls don't bind their feet anymore.]]
I can tell that people around the world wear different kinds of shoes. They wear different shoes at different times. They wear different shoes for different reasons. Just like me!]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Simple graphics, not necessary to text

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Oral/Natural

Complexity: Several ideas - closely related

Additional activities

Features

Simple Plot

First Person

Topic

Shoes

Grandparents

*Family & Friends

Low Frequency Words

babouches	factories	finland	klompen	lapland
lotus	morocco	norway	reasons	reindeer
saami	sandals	soles	stirrups	sweden