Text Leveling System

Making Rice

RDQ:	504	Max Word/Sent	23	Total Words	890		Diff Words	324
Lex	640	Ave Word/.Sent	9	Hi Freq occurs	501	56.3%	Hi freq	112	34.6%
AR	2.7	Long Sentences	1.1	Low Freq occurs	42	4.7%	Low freq	28	8.6%

Rice is a very important food for more than half of the world's people. It is a very popular food in parts of Asia. Many Asians eat rice every day. They eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 
People have eaten rice for thousands of years. Pots of rice over 8,000 years old were once found in China. Rice has always been important to the people of China. One of the most important things that Chinese rulers had to do was keep people's rice bowls full. It kept the people fed and happy. Today, China remains the rice culture.
There are about 7,000 kinds of rice. They include long- and short-grain rice, sweet rice, wild rice, and brown rice. Rice is low in salt and fat. It is an excellent source of starch. Rice is grown in many countries of the world. It grows in fields called paddies.
Some rice needs lots of water to grow. So some rice paddies are flooded with water.
Many people greet each other by saying, "How are you?" But in China people greet each other differently. They say, "Chi fan mayo?" It means, "Have you eaten rice yet?" Rice is used in many other Chinese sayings, too.
If you say: "I lost my rice bowl," it means "I lost my job." Throwing a rice bowl on the floor is an insult and a sign of anger.
The Chinese teach their children that they must eat every grain of rice in their bowls. It is a way of showing appreciation for farmers who work hard in the rice fields.
Rice is used to make many things in China. Parts of the rice plant are used to make paper and baskets.
But the most important product is food. Rice grain is used for making rice wine and vinegar. Rice can be crushed into rice flour. The flour is used to make rice cakes, noodles, and sweet treats. Rice is used to make many tasty dishes, such as chicken fried rice.
You are going to learn to make this dish. But first, you must learn how to make plain rice. It's easy, so let's try it.
Before you start, wash your hands and put on an apron. Cooking is a lot of fun. But it's important to be very careful working with sharp knives, hot pans, and a hot stove. Always wear oven gloves when you pick up hot pots and pans.
Before you cook, it is best to gather what you need. It is also a good idea to clean up as you go along. Be sure to ask an adult to help with the cutting. And always have an adult around when working near a hot stove.
To cook rice you need these tools:
A measuring cup
 A saucepan with a lid
 A strainer.
You also need these things:
 2 cups of long-grain rice
 3 cups of water.
Now you are ready to prepare the food.
1 Measure two cups of rice.
2 Place the rice in a strainer. Rinse well with cold water.
3 Place the clean rice in the pan. Add three cups of water.
4 Place the pan on the stove. Bring the water to a boil. Boil until the rice absorbs most of the water.
5 Cover the pan with a lid. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Two cups of uncooked rice will become 6 cups of fluffy rice. 
Serve rice as the base for a great meal. Rice is good with many Chinese dishes. For example, it is good with sweet and sour pork, orange chicken, and beef broccoli. 
Or you can serve rice with steaks, fish, or chili and beans.
Now that you can make rice, let's try a popular Chinese dish - chicken-fried rice. First, get the tools you will need:
A cutting board 
A sharp knife
2 small mixing bowls.
A fork.
A measuring cup and measuring spoons
A large non-stick frying pan or a wok
 A spatula or a large wooden spoon.
You will also need the following things:
5 green onions
1 large chicken breast (boneless).
4 cups of cooked, chilled rice
3 eggs
1/2 cup of frozen peas, thawed.
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
You will need to make a sauce. 
So get these things:
 2 tablespoons of chicken broth
2 tablespoons of soy sauce.
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
Now it is time to get to work. You will need an adult to do the cutting.
1 Chop the green onions on the cutting board.
2 Cut the chicken breast into small strips.
3 In one small bowl, beat the eggs with a fork.
4 In the other small bowl, measure what you need for the sauce. Then mix those ingredients together.
Now it's time to cook. Make sure you have an adult around to help.
1 Heat the vegetable oil in the frying pan. 
2 Stir-fry the eggs until scrambled, about 1 minute. 
3 Add the green onions, chicken, and peas. 
Stir them over a high heat, about 2 minutes. 
4 Add the rice and sauce, and stir for 2 more minutes. 
5 Taste to see if you need a pinch of salt or pepper. 
Serve while it's hot. Put it in a large serving bowl or put it on dinner plates.
Chicken-fried rice makes a tasty meal for your family and friends. Enjoy it often. And when someone asks you, "Chi fan mayo?" you can answer "chi-la" (yes).]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Oral/Natural

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Additional activities

Features

Foreign words

Topic

Recipes

Cultures

Food

How-To

*Home Arts & Food

China/Chinese

Low Frequency Words

appreciation	breast	broccoli	chi	culture
excellent	ingredients	insult	knives	mayo
measure	measuring	paddies	product	rinse
sauce	saucepan	sayings	scrambled	sesame
source	spatula	tablespoons	teaspoon	thawed
uncooked	vinegar	wok