Text Leveling System

Get Ready for Second Grade, Amber Brown

RDQ:	481	Max Word/Sent	34	Total Words	1473		Diff Words	457
Lex	630	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	986	66.9%	Hi freq	175	38.3%
AR	2.7	Long Sentences	3.6	Low Freq occurs	47	3.2%	Low freq	33	7.2%

The good news is that I, Amber Brown,
am going to be a second-grader.
The bad news is that Mrs. Wilson,
the second-grade teacher,
had to quit two weeks ago .
Her husband got a new job
and they moved.
Anyone who was ever a second-grader
loved Mrs. Wilson and said she was
a great teacher.
She used to smile at me in the hall.]]
Now there's going to be a new teacher.
I don't know her.
She doesn't know me.
What if she doesn't like me?
I try not to think about it .
In just an hour I will find out
who the second-grade teacher is.]]
Right now I will get ready for school.
On my bed are all my school
supplies: new pens and pencils,
a new notebook, and my lucky pen
with purple feathers.]]
I unzip my new teddy-bear backpack.
My aunt Pam sent it to me .
She said that it's an
"Enjoy Second Grade Present."
I named him Bear Lee.
His full name is Bear Lee Brown
because he is barely brown, and he
is barely ready for second grade.
Just like me.]]
I put everything in my backpack
and zip it up .
"Bear Lee," I say, "you are so special.
Everyone is going to like you
except Hannah Burton.
But  don't worry.
She is mean to a lot of people,
especially me."]]
"Amber," my mom calls upstairs.
"It's time for breakfast ."
I pick up Bear Lee and look
in the mirror.
I'm wearing my new clothes.
On my knee is a scab.
It is almost ready to fall off.
I named it Scabulous.]]
Bear Lee, Scabulous, and I are ready.
Second grade, here we come!]]
Breakfast.
Mom and Dad have breakfast with me.
"You look beautiful ," Dad says.
I smile at him.
"You look smart ," he continues.
"You look like everybody will want you to be their best friend.]]
"Mom puts a bowl of cereal
in front of me..
"I know that this is going to be
a great year for you," she says.
I, Amber Brown, know that they are
just saying that because they are my]]
There's a knock on the door.
It's Justin, my best friend .
He is wearing his new
Roboman backpack.]]
My dad is driving Justin and
me to school.
Justin says, "This year
I am going to tell chicken jokes."
I just look at him.]]
Why did the chicken
cross the playground?" he asks.
I think about it.
"To get to second grade?"
He makes a face.
"No, silly.
To get to the other slide."
My father laughs and so do I.]]
We get out of the car and go to
the playground.
That's where second-graders meet
before school starts.
Jimmy Russell and Bobby Clifford
are wrestling on the ground
in their brand-new school clothes.]]
Vinnie Simmons is showing everyone
the snake tattoo on his arm.
Even though he tells everyone it is
real, I can tell that it's not.]]
I stick my finger in my mouth
to get it wet.
I ask Vinnie to let me look
at the tattoo.
I touch it with my wet finger.]]
Some of it comes off.
I don't say anything, but I, Amber
Brown, know for sure that the tattoo
is not on Vinnie's arm forever.
Vinnie knows I know.
He sticks out his tongue at me.]]
Gregory Gifford and Freddie Romano
are showing each other the tricks that
they have learned over the summer.
Gregory can whistle, standing on
his hands.
Freddie can recite 15 state
capitals and do armpit music
at the same time.]]
The girls are talking about the
new teacher.
Alicia Sanchez says that her name
is Ms. Light.
"I hear that she really wants to teach
high-school students," Alicia says.
"I hear that she calls second-graders
'knee biters,"' Naomi Schwartz adds.
Tiffany Schroeder holds on to her
good-luck Barbie doll.
"I' m scared ", she says.
"I want Mrs. Wilson to come back."]]
Hannah Burton joins our group.
She looks at my backpack.
"How baby, Amber.
A second-grader shouldn't wear a
baby backpack that looks like a
teddy bear."]]
I am not going to let Hannah
ruin second grade for me.
I ignore Hannah Burton.
Naomi and Alicia put their animal
backpacks down next to Bear Lee
and look at Hannah.
She shrugs and mumbles, "Babies."]]
My class talks about Ms. Light and 
the things that we are worried about.
I wasn't so worried until we all
started talking.
What if she gives seven hours of
homework?
What if she gets really upset
if we color outside the lines?]]
What if she doesn't give out
bathroom passes?
What if she's an alien from some
foreign planet?]]
The bell rings.
It's time to meet Ms. Light.
We all go inside to Room 2.
Ms. Light doesn't look like any teacher
I've ever seen before.
She looks like a high-school kid
or a babysitter.
She's wearing a denim dress.
There are all sorts of patches
and pins on it-school buses, pens,
pencils, chalk, books, paper ...
She's got on ear rings
that are shaped like lightbulbs ...
and they light up.
I get it ... Ms. Light.
Lightbulbs.]]
She smiles and says
"Hello" and "Welcome"
to each of us as we go in.
She even says hello to Bear Lee.
I'm beginning to think 
that Ms. Light might be okay. ]]
The entire room is decorated.
We go lo the seats where our names
are written on cardboard
cutouts of lightbulbs.]]
I'm sitting with Fredrich  Allen.
I hope that over the summer
he stopped picking his nose.]]
I'm sitting with Justin Daniels.
Hooray.
I'm sitting with Hannah Burton.
Yuck.]]
Hannah looks at my name
on the cardboard lightbulb.
"Amber Brown.
What a sap you are.
You probably don't even know
that amber comes from tree sap.
Sometimes there are things
like spiders and bugs in it."
I know she is right about that.
My mom gave me a book about
amber, and my dad gave me an
amber pendant with
a little fly in it.
Hannah makes
a face at me.
That's it.]]
I say, "Look, Hannah BURPton.
Stop it."
Fredrich Allen says,
"Hannah Burpton."
Justin starts singing,
"Unhappy Burpton to you."]]
Ms. Light stands at the front
of the room.
"Welcome to second grade,"
she says and smiles at us.
"This is going to be such
an exciting school year.
We are going to learn new things
about the world and ourselves."]]
She continues,
"As you know, my name is Ms. Light.
Do you know what the word light
means?"
I raise my hand quickly.
I want to be the first person
to answer a question in second grade.
Everyone else has a hand raised.]]
Ms. Light chooses Fredrich.
"Light is a kind of energy," he says.
Fredrich Allen is very smart.
Ms. Light beams at him.
I guess that makes it a Light beam.]]
She says, "Absolutely right.
Light helps us to see things.
Most of our light comes from the sun.
Some of our light comes from
the moon.
We get light from electricity
when we flick a switch."]]
Justin pretends to put his finger
in a make-believe socket.
Ms. Light nods at him.
"That can really happen ...
electricity can be very powerful."
"Wow, " we all say.
She grins at me.
"Amber.
Do you know what your name has
do with the word
electricity?"
I shake my 
head no.]]
She continues, The word electricity
comes from the word electron.
Electricity is flowing electrons.
The Greek word for electron is ... "
Everyone looks at me.
"Amber," Ms. Light says.
I light up.
I, Amber Brown, am so happy.]]
I guess now that I know about
electricity, I can say that I am all
charged up.
Turning to Justin, I grin.
He gives me a thumbs-up.
"Way to go."
I look at Hannah Burton.
I smile and cross my eyes.]]
Ms. Light continues, "I want all of
you to have lots of energy to learn
and to grow.
I, Ms. Light, want to help you shine
as students.]]
From now on, you are going
to be the group known as
the Bright Lights."
We all grin.]]
Next, Ms. Light gives us all the rules
we will follow in second grade.
We will be respectful.
We will be on time.
We will do our work.]]
Then she picks up a book from her
desk and goes to her rocking chair.
She starts reading us a book.
It's a chapter book.
Hooray!]]
By the end of the year, I, Amber Brown,
am going to be able to read a chapter
book all on my own.
And next year, when I go to third
grade, I'm going to tell the new
second-graders that they don't have
to be scared.
I, Amber Brown, am ready for
second grade.]]

Subjective Criteria

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Simple phrases

Text structure: Blend of written/oral

Features

Simple Plot

First Person

Topic

Teacher/Teaching

Fears

Classrooms

*Schools & Education

Low Frequency Words

absolutely	alien	burpton	capitals	chalk
charged	daniels	electricity	electron	foreign
fredrich	gifford	ignore	lightbulb	lightbulbs
naomi	ourselves	patches	pendant	recite
respectful	roboman	romano	sanchez	scabulous
schroeder	schwartz	simmons	socket	supplies
unzip	vinnie's	wrestling