Text Leveling System

The Sleeping Beauty

RDQ:	391	Max Word/Sent	22	Total Words	621		Diff Words	266
Lex	600	Ave Word/.Sent	12	Hi Freq occurs	357	57.5%	Hi freq	100	37.6%
AR	2.4	Long Sentences	8.2	Low Freq occurs	38	6.1%	Low freq	26	9.8%

Once upon a time, there lived a
King and Queen who wanted a child
more than anything in the world.
After many wishful years, the Queen
at last gave birth to a little daughter.
The King invited all the people to
a great party, and the Queen asked
seven fairies to be the baby girl's
godmothers. Each fairy was to give
the new Princess a magical gift.]]
But there was another fairy-a
very old fairy-whom the Queen
had forgotten to invite. This fairy
appeared at the party. She was angry
at having been forgotten, so the
Queen apologized and quickly
ordered a place set for her.
The young fairy who sat beside
her heard the evil fairy muttering to
herself. She hid behind the curtains
in case the old fairy caused some
mischief.]]
The time came for the godmothers
to give their gifts. The first fairy
gave the baby beauty, the second
gave her the gift of goodness. Four
more fairies followed with more
wonderful gifts.
Then the old fairy stepped
forward. She was still angry at being
forgotten by the Queen. "A curse I
give this Princess. On her sixteenth
birthday, she will prick her finger on
the spindle of a spinning wheel and
she will die."]]
Everyone shook with fear at the
terrible curse. But the last fairy
stepped out from her hiding place.
"I cannot take away this curse,"
she said, "but I can soften it. The
Princess will not die when the
spindle pricks her finger. Instead she
will fall into a deep sleep that will
end with the kiss of a prince."
The King wanted to save his
daughter from this curse, so he
ordered all spinning wheels in his
kingdom destroyed.]]
Years later, on her sixteenth
birthday, the Princess was exploring
the castle. At the top of the tallest
tower, she came upon a little room,
where an old woman sat spinning
thread. The Princess , who had never
seen anyone spin before, asked the
woman if she could try.
But as soon as she started to spin,
she pricked her finger on the spindle
and fell into a deep sleep.]]
No one in the kingdom could
wake the Sleeping Beauty. When
the seventh fairy heard that the
curse had come to pass, she flew to
the kingdom. She touched everyone
in the castle with her magic wand.
Everyone she touched fell fast asleep
and would not awaken until the
Princess's eyes opened.
Then she grew a magical forest of
thorny trees around the castle to
protect it.]]
Many, many years passed. People
forgot the castle hidden in the
woods. One day, a Prince noticed a
tower above the trees. He asked
many people about the strange
castle, until he learned the story of
the Sleeping Beauty.
The Prince decided to rescue the
Princess. He was ready to cut his
way through the thorny forest, but
the trees parted magically to make a
path for him!]]
The Prince bravely entered the
castle's open door. Everywhere he
looked he saw people sleeping
soundly. The Prince searched
through the castle until he found
the Princess. At the sight of her, he
leaned down and kissed her cheek.
The Princess opened her eyes.
Seeing the young man, the Princess
smiled and asked, "Is it you, my
Prince?"]]
The Prince told her that he had
come to save her. The two spoke for
a long time, though they were so
excited and happy that their words
made little sense.
They were interrupted by a great
cheer. The whole castle was now
awake! The King called for a great
celebration. The Princess and her
Prince were married, and their life
together was even happier than they
had dreamed possible.]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Dialog: Simple

Sentences: Simple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Features

Retelling of story/fable/legend

Topic

Princes/Princesses

Fairies

Kings/Queens

*Fictional Ideas/Charac

Low Frequency Words

awaken	castle's	curse	curtains	exploring
fairies	happier	interrupted	kingdom	magical
magically	mischief	muttering	parted	prick
pricked	pricks	seventh	sixteenth	soften
soundly	spindle	thorny	thread	wand
wishful