Text Leveling System

The Couch Potato

RDQ:	479	Max Word/Sent	29	Total Words	851		Diff Words	356
Lex	630	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	565	66.4%	Hi freq	143	40.2%
AR	2.6	Long Sentences	3.2	Low Freq occurs	44	5.2%	Low freq	40	11.2%

I am a potato.]]
Not a small potato like my brother. Not a sweet potato like my mother. Not a Mashed potato like my uncle Stu.]]
I am a couch potato. Oh, yeah, it's true. My favorite place to slouch is on the couch. I spend all my free time sitting in this exact spot.]]
Why would I ever leave this comfy , cozy couch? It's got everything a potato could need.]]
See? I have this. And this. And this. And one of these. And those. And this. And that. And these.]]
OH, and this. Check it out. This button activates A gadget that fetches me snacks whenever I want. Bam. Impressed? I don't have to move an inch. Much easier than going to the kitchen.]]
If the most important thing in life is to be comfortable at all times, then I think I've got it all figured out. ]]
But wait, there's more. I haven't revealed the absolute best part of my whole setup.]]
It's everything you see in front of me. Have a look around. Take it all in. Pretty spectacular, right? Yes, it's a sea of shimmering screens, from wall to shining wall. What joy. What bliss.]]
 These screens featured my favorite shows. This screen has all my unanswered messages. These screens are where I play video games. And this screen is a live stream to my friend, my best spud for life.]]
This is how my pals and I spend quality time together. It's much easier than trying to meet up somewhere, like folks did in the old days. That's for sure.]]
Yes, from this very couch, I can control everything in my life all the time, with just a few taps and a couple clicks. Not bad,eh? At least, that's what I thought until one day]]
something strange happened. There was a knock at the door. It was a delivery.]]
It was my newest device, a video camera that would allow me to watch myself react while I was watching all my favorite shows. All I had to do was plug it in, and my room nay, my Kingdom. Would be complete. But suddenly]]
everything went dark. Looked out. Coming through. Whoops. Oof.]]
Ow. Whump.]]
I made it to the window. I pulled back the curtains. The sun seemed brighter than I remembered.]]
There was nothing better to do, so I decided to take my dog, tater, for a walk. Outside. It had been a while.]]
Everything was so vivid, like a high resolution 156 inch curved screen, but even more realistic. Something smelled fresh. After a few minutes, I realized that it was the air. I heard a noise. Some chirps. A ringtone, perhaps? But no, I looked up to see some birds. I wandered down the street, from block to block, and across the neighborhood.]]
Eventually I found a park with a hill. There was a massive tree on top. It looked like a desktop background only it was real. I leaned against the tree. It wasn't as comfortable as my couch. Not even close. But after a while, it wasn't so bad.]]
Any worries about the power outage and what I might be missing drifted away. I wasn't thinking about my favorite shows, or my unanswered messages, or anything else, really.]]
I noticed the stillness. The view. The sky. The clouds. The sunset. And those colors. My goodness. It took a while, because there was no Fast forward option. But eventually the sun sank below the horizon.]]
By the time I got home, the power was back on. I sat on the couch. I hit the button to brush my teeth. I pulled the lever to change into my pajamas. I turned the knob to watch a bedtime story.]]
Then I noticed my reflection in one of the screens. I wondered how much of my life had been spent in that very spot. It was then and there that I made the decision to peel myself off the couch a bit more often. Maybe every day, even.]]
And so that's what I've done. I started hanging out with my friends my best spuddies. Outside. We started biking. And hiking. And swimming.]]
And hiding. And seeking. Sometimes we have snacks and play board games. Sometimes we talk all day. We might watch the clouds. There's no big plan. We just see what happens.]]
It makes me wonder what if I don't always need to be totally comfortable? What if I'm happier when I have a better balance between my gadgets and the world outside? Because it turns out that I'm more than just a couch potato. I'm an amusing potato. I'm a smart potato. I'm a kind potato.]]
I'm an entertaining potato. And I'm a sit on the hill and watch the sunset potato.]]
Yes, there's a great big world out there and I want to be part of it. In person.]
But don't get me wrong. At the end of the day, after I've run and played and talked and laughed with my friends I still think it's awfully nice to slouch on the couch. ]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: Some support

Vocabulary: More decoding/definition issues

Language: Few descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Oral/Natural

Inferences: Some implications

Author's purpose: Obvious

Features

Character traits

First Person

Present Tense

Topic

Behaviors

Choices

Habits

*Feelings, Behaviors

Low Frequency Words

absolute	activates	amusing	comfy	curtains
curved	decision	desktop	entertaining	eventually
featured	fetches	gadget	gadgets	happier
horizon	impressed	kingdom	knob	lever
massive	messages	neighborhood	option	outage
react	reflection	resolution	revealed	ringtone
shimmering	slouch	spectacular	spuddies	stillness
unanswered	vivid	wandered	whoops	whump