Text Leveling System

If you were a Verb

RDQ:	223	Max Word/Sent	37	Total Words	401		Diff Words	178
Lex	480	Ave Word/.Sent	10	Hi Freq occurs	219	54.6%	Hi freq	59	33.1%
AR	2.0	Long Sentences	13.2	Low Freq occurs	9	2.2%	Low freq	5	2.8%

If you were a verb.]]
Verbs get things going. If you were a verb, you could balance and bend, twist and turn,]]
swoop and soar.]]
If you were a verb, you would appear in every sentence. You would be in every book, every newspaper, every magazine, and every letter ever written.]]
If you were a verb, extra words would help you show action. These extra words are called helping verbs. You may give the usher your ticket now. The popcorn will be popping soon.]]
 The movie has started on the big screen. If you were a helping verb, you would have 23 members in your family: may, might, must, be, being, been, am, are, is, was, were, do, does, did, should, could, would, have, had, has, can, will, shall.]]
If you were a verb, you could link things together. You would be a linking verb. Sometimes linking verbs are called state of being verbs. The swimmer was tired. The beach ball is floating.]]
The lifeguards were done for the day. If you were a linking verb, your most common forms would be is, am, were, was, are, be, being, and been.]]
If you were a verb, you would change when time passed. You could be in past tense, present tense, or future tense. Last night, the bicycles glided through the park..]]
Now, the bicycles glide through the park. Tomorrow, the bicycles will glide through the park.]]
If you were a verb, you would change when the number of people or things changed. One Acrobat swings above the crowd,]]
but five acrobats swing above the crowd.]]
If you were a verb, you would get together with other verbs to make cool and exciting sentences. The rocket speeds toward the space station]]
that World's End spins above Earth.]]
You could always be moving if you were a verb.]]
Fun with verbs
verbs can be full of action. Verbs can also be quiet. Directions: think of an action verb, such as running, jumping, or flying. Then make your friends guess what the verb is by acting it out. See how quickly they can figure out what your secret verb is. Take turns acting out action verbs and guessing.
Next time I choose a quiet verb such as  Standing, sleeping, thinking, staring, wishing, or hiding. Take turns acting out quiet verbs and guessing. Is it harder to act out an action verb or a quiet verb?]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Vocabulary: Few decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Oral/Natural

Inferences: Some implications

Features

Second Person

Topic

Words

*Language Arts

Low Frequency Words

future

lifeguards

soar

usher

verb