Text Leveling System

Lucky Beans

RDQ:	589	Max Word/Sent	27	Total Words	1243		Diff Words	446
Lex	660	Ave Word/.Sent	7	Hi Freq occurs	759	61.1%	Hi freq	198	44.4%
AR	2.9	Long Sentences	1.2	Low Freq occurs	66	5.3%	Low freq	38	8.5%

Cold wind ripped through Marshall Loman's old wool jacket. The snow froze his toes right through his had me down boots. He ran up the steps into the steamy kitchen. What's for dinner, Ma? I'm starving!]]
"Get those boots off and hang your
coat up," Ma said without looking
around. "And I don't want to hear any
complaints about dinner."
But Marshall had already peeked
into the big pot. "Beans! Again? Aw,
Ma, can't we ever have anything else?"
"Yes, it's beans again, and we're
lucky to have them. So get washed
on the double and then set the table."
Marshall didn't feel so lucky. The
elbows of his jacket were worn almost
all the way through. Dad had been out
of work for months, and there was no
money. The house was crowded since
Aunt Minnie and Uncle Matt moved
in. Now Marshall had to share a room
with his little brother and sister, Tommy
and Patsy.
And he was starting to hate beans.]]
After dinner, when Ma pulled out her mending basket,
Marshall showed her his worn-out jacket.
Dad turned on the radio. "President Roosevelt's going
to speak tonight," he said. "Maybe he's found a way to
get America out of the mess we're in."
Marshall was halfway through his homework when the
president came on the radio. He didn't understand all the
big words, but he knew Mr. Roosevelt was on the poor
people's side.]]
On the way to school the next
morning, Marshall and Tommy trudged
past Kaplan's Furniture Store. Whenever
Marshall helped Ma carry groceries
home, she would stop to look at the
shining sewing machine in the window.
"Only $23.95!" the sign had said. That
was twenty-three dollars and ninety-five
cents that Ma would never have.
Today, alongside the sewing machine
was the biggest jar of beans he had ever
seen. There was a different sign.
HOW MANY BEANS ARE IN
THE JAR? WIN THIS BRAND NEW
SEWING MACHINE!
"How many beans they got in there,
Marshall?" Tommy pulled on Marshall's
sleeve. "A hundred? A thousand?"
"How should I know?" Marshall
answered. But he was thinking, I know
somebody who would know.]]
On the way home, Marshall looked through the store
window again. Ladies were writing on little cards of paper
and pushing them through a slot into a big box.]]
That night, after Ma checked his homework, Marshall
told her about the contest.]]
The next day, when Marshall and Tommy got
home, Ma said, "I went to the furniture store today."
She was cooking beans again.
"Did you enter the contest.? "
"Not so fast. I need a little more time to chew
it over. Aren't you going to complain about having
beans?" Ma joked.
Marshall shook his head. "I figure the more you
know about beans, the better."]]
That night's homework was a page of arithmetic problems.
How many cups are in a pint? Marshall knew the answer two.
How many pints are in a quart? Ma was looking over
his shoulder.
"Boy, don't you know how many pints fit in a quart?" she
asked. "Go down in the cellar and fetch me an empty pint jar."
In the cellar, Ma kept food she had canned from Dad's
garden. There were more empty jars than full ones. Last winter,
when Ma sent them to fetch something, he and Tommy would
snitch a pickle from the big crock at the foot of the stairs. Now
the pickle crock was empty, too.
Ma showed him how to fill up the small pint jar with water
and pour it into an empty quart milk bottle to measure it. Two
pints filled the quart. So four cups made a quart.]]
After school the next day, Marshall
saw a new sign in Mr. Kaplan's window.
"Only two days left to make your guess!"
Kids were standing around.
"Our ma's going to win the sewing
machine," Tommy piped up.
"Your ma?" Agnes, a girl in Marshall's
class, whirled around to face Tommy.
"They won't let your mama win. Only
white ladies can win contests."
Tommy shouted back, "That's not
true!" Then he turned to Marshall.
"Is it?"
Marshall grabbed his brother's hand
and marched into the store. "Come on,
Tommy. We're going to find out!"]]
"Well, young man, what can I do for
you?" Mr. Kaplan said to Marshall.
"I have a question about the sewing machine
contest rules. Can anybody win?
Or can only white ladies win?"
Mr. Kaplan took his glasses off and
looked Marshall in the eye. "Anybody
can win the contest," he said. "This is
America. It will be fair."]]
When Marshall and Tommy got home, Ma was cooking potatoes
and cabbage. But five sacks of beans sat on the kitchen table.
"Where'd all those beans come from?" Marshall asked.
"Oh, the church ladies. And neighbors. After dinner I want
you boys to help me count them. But run down to the cellar now,
Marshall, and fetch me a pint jar of tomatoes."]]
Out of habit, Marshall checked the pickle crock before starting
back upstairs. Of course it was still empty-but Marshall stopped
in his tracks. The pickle crock he was sure of it was the same size
as that big jar of beans! They could count how many beans fit into the
pickle crock. Then Ma would know the right number!]]
After dinner, Dad lugged the
pickle crock up to the kitchen. They
all crowded around, counting beans
from the sacks and dumping them
into the crock.
The last bean was number 4,341.
But the 4,341 beans didn't fill much
of the crock. Ma peered in. "Well," she
said, "the sign did say 'guess.' I reckon
that's what we'll have to do."]]
Then Marshall remembered something from school. His
class was finished with measuring and now they were learning
estimating. "It's better than guessing," Miss Dover had said.
"Use what you already know to solve the problem."
Marshall said, "Ma, I know. Let's count how many beans
fit in a quart jar, and how many quarts of water fill up the
crock. Then we can can multiply beans times quarts to
estimate the number of beans."
Ma grinned at him. "Now you're cooking with gas!"
she said.
When they were finished counting and multiplying, they
had the number Ma thought was right 53,280 beans.]]
On Saturday morning, Mr. Kaplan's furniture store was full
of people. "Ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Kaplan announced,
"we had 327 entries-and today we have a winner! First, let's
reveal how many beans are in the jar."]]
He unscrewed the lid and showed the number marked inside.
"Fifty-three thousand, two hundred ninety-three!"
Marshall heard gasps and a whistle. "Holy mackerel!"
somebody said.
Marshall's heart was thumping hard. Ma's guess was so close!
Was she going to win?]]
Mr. Kaplan went on. "One guess was off by
only thirteen beans! And the winner, who guessed
53,280 beans, is ... Mrs. Josephine Loman, from
7234 Monticello Street!"]]
"Ma! That's you!" Marshall threw his arms around his
mother's waist.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Loman!" Mr. Kaplan shook
Ma's hand.]]
After Ma won the sewing machine, everything
got a little better. Ma was sewing up a storm, and
getting paid for it, too. Dad got part-time work
helping Mr. Kaplan with deliveries.
The only thing that wasn't so good was the other
prize Ma won. That jar of beans seemed even bigger
in Ma's kitchen than it had in Mr. Kaplan's store.
To Marshall, it looked like a lifetime supply!]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Little support

Dialog: Multiple 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

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Features

Character traits

Integral Setting - Historical

Simple problem/solution

Simple Plot

Topic

Competition

*History

Counting

Winning/Losing

Measurement

Fair play/Fairness

*Math

*Feelings, Behaviors

Low Frequency Words

alongside	announced	cellar	complaints	congratulations
dover	entries	estimate	groceries	kaplan
ladies	loman	loman's	lugged	mackerel
marshall	marshall's	measure	measuring	mending
monticello	multiply	neighbors	peered	pint
pints	piped	pour	president	quart
quarts	reckon	reveal	thumping	trudged
unscrewed	where'd	whirled