Text Leveling System

Quest for Clean Water

RDQ:	1084	Max Word/Sent	29	Total Words	3070		Diff Words	738
Lex	760	Ave Word/.Sent	6	Hi Freq occurs	2085	67.9%	Hi freq	329	44.6%
AR	3.8	Long Sentences	1.7	Low Freq occurs	153	5%	Low freq	79	10.7%

Most days, Coral was early for sea
school. But this morning, Coral was having
one purr-oblem after another. First,
she dropped he.r seaweed pancakes all
over the ocean floor. She cleaned them
up. But then she got a stain on her new
top and had to change. Then she tried to
put on her favorite bracelet. But she accidentally
knocked a stack of snail mail and
her bracelet behind a bookcase!]]
"Mama!" Coral shouted. "I can't reach
my bracelet!" She frowned. "My arms are
too short."
"I'm coming," Mama replied. She
floated over and reached a paw behind
the bookcase. "I can't quite get it," she
said. "Help me move this out of the way."
Coral glanced at the clock on the
wall. "I'm going to be late to school," she
whined.
Coral loved many things about sea
school. She loved being in the same class
as her two best friends. She loved having
the most fin-teresting teacher ever, Ms.
Harbor, who made every day paw-sitively
amazing.
"Do you want to go to sea school without
it today?" Mama asked.
"No!" Coral yelped. She couldn't leave
her bracelet behind! "You know Shelly,]]
Angel,  and I wear our- bracelets every
day."
Shelly and Angel were Cora's best
friends. They wore their matching friendship
bracelets so that everyone in Kittentail
Cove knew they were a team. Coral
would rather be late than go without her
bracelet-and she hated being late!
Coral moved to the far side of the
bookcase. She and Mama pushed until
it was a few inches away from the wall.
"Do you see it?"
Coral gasped. "Yes, I do-and a lot
more!" she exclaimed. She scooped up
her bracelet and the snail mail. Then
she picked up a sea-glass necklace, a
book, a scallop shell -from her last trip to
Tortoiseshell Reef, and a half-eaten piece
of Founder's Day candy. "I had no idea
how much was back here!"]]
"Sometimes, if you look hard enough,
you can find all sorts of unexpected
things," Mama said.
Coral handed Mama. the snail mail
and said, "If I hurry, I can still get to sea
school on time." She put her bracelet on
her paw and reached for the doorknob.
Before Coral could open the door,
Mama shouted, "Hold on a minute!
There's something here for you." She held
out an envelope.
Coral's eyes grew wide. She said, "Snail
mail? For me?"
Mama nodded.
Coral had never gotten snail mail
before. But there was no time to read a
letter. "I'm running behind schedule," she
said. I'll take it with me." She stuffed the
envelope in her bag and waved goodbye.
Coral hurried to Leondra's Square to]]
meet up with Shelly and Angel. When she
saw them, she yelled, "I'm sorry I'm late!
Let's hurry!" She zipped by her friends
without even stopping.
Angel and Shelly looked at each other
and shrugged. Usually, it was Coral who
complained that the girls were swimming
too fast. "You must be really worried
about missing the bell!" Angel joked.]]
"Can't hear you!" Cora I called.  You're
too far behind me!"
It didn't take long for the girls to get
to sea school. Coral's heart was pounding
from swimming so fast. But, luckily, by
the time the bell rang, Coral, Angel, and
Shelly were at their desks in Room Eel Twelve.
All the other students in the class
were there, too. The only one missing was
the teacher!
"Where's Ms. Harbor?" Adrianna
asked. "She's never late."
"She isn't under my desk," Baker said.
"She isn't under mine, either," Taylor
said.
Angel rolled her eyes. "Of course, she
isn't!" she said. She swam to the  classroom
door. "I'll check the hallway," she
said, peeking left and right.
Coral spied a note on Ms. Harbor's]]
desk. She floated over to read it. Then she
said, "I think we can stop looking." She
motioned for everyone to come closer. "I
don't think we'll find Ms. Harbor here.
But I did find this." She read the note out
loud.
"Why does Ms. Harbor want us to go
to the schoolyard?" Shelly asked.
"Maybe today's lesson is ... RECESS!"
Angel exclaimed.
"I'm really good at recess," Baker said.]]
"I don't even need a lesson!" Taylor
added.
Coral giggled. "I don't think we're getting
a lesson in recess," she said.
The purrmaids headed to the schoolyard.
Ms. Harbor was there waiting to
welcome them. "You found my note," she
purred.
"Not right away," Angel said.
"We actually looked for you for a little
while before Coral found your note,"
Cascade said.
"It's always fun to find something
unexpected," Ms. Harbor said. "In fact,
finding surprises is going to be our lesson
today." She smiled at the class. "I'm sending
you on a scavenger hunt!"]]
"A scavenger hunt?" Shelly asked.
"What's that?"
"I know!" Coral said. "On a scavenger
hunt, you get a list of things to find. The
hunt is over when you've found everything
on the list."
"Exactly!" Ms. Harbor purred.
"Are we searching the schoolyard?"
Adrianna asked.
Ms. Harbor shook her head. "No, you'll]]
do your scavenger hunt after school. We're
going to practice in the schoolyard. But
first, we have to talk about what kinds of
things you might find in the ocean." She
motioned for the purrmaids to follow her.
"All the creatures on this planet share the
oceans in some way," she continued. "For
example, sea birds, such as pelicans, use
the ocean as a hunting ground for food.
Humans use the ocean to travel across
the world."
"And purrmaids use the ocean as a
home," Angel said.
"Exactly!" Ms. Harbor exclaimed.
"We all share a responsibility to keep
the waters of the world clean and safe.
But what is trash to one creature might
he treasure to another. She pointed to
something tucked near the bottom of a]]
rock bench. "We've all seen bottle caps
on the ocean floor. Sometimes humans
throw them into the ocean, even though
they really shouldn't."
They're just garbage, right?" asked
Umiko.
They are trash to purrmaids," Ms.
Harbor continued. "But some hermit crabs
can reuse these bottle caps as homes."
 Really?" Coral asked.  
Ms. Harbor nodded. "The bottle caps
are lighter than seashells, so a crab who
chooses one for a shell can move very
quickly," Ms. Harbor explained. "We
wish humans wouldn't let these litter the
ocean. But it's nice that crabs are able to
use them."
"So should we leave bottle caps alone?"
Cascade asked.]]
"Make sure there's no crab first," Ms.
Harbor replied. "If they're empty, throw
them away properly."
The class floated to the school's small
sea vegetable patch. Ms. Harbor pointed
behind a sea lettuce and asked, "What do
 you all think of whale poop?"
"Gross!" groaned the class.]]
Ms. Harbor laughed. "I agree. But
there are tiny ocean creatures who rely on
whale poop for food. And humans actually
use whale poop to make perfume."
"No way!" Baker exclaimed.
"They want to smell like whale poop?"
Taylor groaned.
"Humans can be hard to understand,"]]
Ms. Harbor joked. "But that's a whole
different lesson."
"We're not going to be hunting for
whale poop, are we?" Shelly asked. She
hated getting her paws dirty.
"Don't worry, Shelly," Ms. Harbor
said. "Remember, since whale poop is
reused as a source of food, it should
 remain wherever it is."
Shelly still looked a little seasick. "Let's
talk about something else," she mumbled.
"I think there's something over here,"
Angel shouted. She reached under the
sea-saw and grabbed a glass bottle and
a metal soda can. "This bottle isn't
garbage," she said. "We can make sea
glass from this. And I love sea-glass
jewelry!"
"The can isn't garbage, either," Adrianna
said. "My uncle, the mayor, always
says that purrmaids can recycle them and
put them to good use."
"You're right," said Ms. Harbor. ,
The students spread out, looking for
things they hadn't noticed before. Coral,
Angel, and Shelly floated toward the
waterslide. Shelly swam to the top and
slipped down the slide. When she jumped
off, she was holding Something in her
paws. "Look at these!" she shouted.
Ms. Harbor came over. "Pieces of
a plastic fishing net and a few six-pack
rings," she purred. "What should we do
with them?"
Coral frowned. "We can't recycle any
of that," she said. "They're definitely all
trash."
Ms. Harbor nodded. "Most plastic
things that end up in the ocean can't be
reused or recycled. But they're not just]]
litter. They can be dangerous. Many animals
get tangled up I in plastic garbage.
Then they can't swim properly or open
their mouths to eat."
"We don't want harmful things in our
ocean," Baker said.
Taylor asked, "What can purrmaids
do to help?"
"The most important thing is to make
sure plastic gets removed from the ocean.
It should always end up in garbage cans,
Ms. Harbor said. "There's one more thing
we can do to make these less dangerous.
She extended one of her claws and used
it to cut through the six-pack rings and
fishing nets. "Now these can't get stuck
around anything or anyone."
"That's easy to do," Shelly said.
"And it's a great excuse to get my claws
out!" Adrianna joked.]]
"We have a few more minutes before
we have to go back to Eel-Twelve," Ms.
Harbor said. "Does anyone see anything
else fin-teresting?"
Coral glanced around the schoolyard.
She couldn't see any more bottles, cans,
plastic bits, or even whale poop. She
really wanted to find something special,]]
just like Shelly and Angel had. "Maybe
there's something near the sea-fan fence,"
she told her friends.
"I don't know," Angel said. "It looks
purr-ty dean."
Coral shrugged. She checked the fence,
from the tops of the sea fans to the sand
on the ocean floor. She was about to give
up when she spotted a flash of bright
orange. She leaned in closer and gasped.
"I found something!"]]
Coral pointed to the spiky orange thing
on the far side of the fence. "Look, everyone!"
she shouted.
Ms. Harbor floated next to Coral. Her
eyes grew wide. "You found something
fin-credible!" she said. "Can you get it for
me?"
Coral nodded and reached for the
orange spikes. But just like that morning]]
with her bracelet, she was too small. "I
can't reach it," she mumbled.
"I'll get it," Shelly purred. She picked
up the orange thing and gave it to Ms.
Harbor.
Coral tried not to frown.
"This is a basket starfish," Ms. Harbor
said. "Its arms branch out many times
into twisty spikes,
making it look like
 a basket." She gently
placed the starfish back
on the ground. "They
are very, very rare.
I've never seen one in
Kittentail Cove." She grinned. "Coral
made a real discovery!"
"What a paw-some way to finish
the practice scavenger hunt," Angel
whispered.]]
"It was almost as nice as when we discovered
Sirena," Coral replied, smiling.
"But the basket starfish isn't something
we have to keep secret," Shelly said.
Sirena was a mermicorn-a creature
who was part mermaid and part unicorn. Coral, Shelly, and Angel had met
her while they were exploring the nature
reserve near the Kittentail Cove Science
Center. Most purrmaids thought mermicorns
were imaginary. But Coral and her
friends knew they were real. Sirena was
their first mermicorn friend!
Remembering Sirena made Coral smile
as she went back to Eel-Twelve. When the
students were settled, Ms. Harbor said,
"l hope you all had  fun outside."
"We did!" everyone replied. 
Coral said, "I can't believe we found so
much stuff in the schoolyard."]]
"I never noticed any of it before,"
Angel said.
"You can find a lot of unexpected
things if you look hard enough," Ms.
Harbor said. She floated to the board and]]
held up her sea pen. "Outside, we found
things that can be reused." She wrote
reused on the board.
"Like bottle caps!" Baker shouted.
"And whale poop!" Taylor exclaimed.
Ms. Harbor nodded. "What else?" she
asked.
Adrianna raised her paw. "There were
things that can be recycled."
"Like glass bottles," Umiko said.
"And metal cans," Cascade said.
Ms. Harbor added recycled to the
board.
Angel said, "There were also things
that should be removed."
"Like all that plastic garbage," Shelly
said.
Ms. Harbor wrote removed on the
board. "Anything else?" she asked.]]
The students looked at each other. No
one said anything.
"Think carefully," Ms. Harbor purred. 
Coral-had an idea. She raised her paw.
"The basket starfish," she said. "It could
be discovered.,,
"Purr-feet!" Ms. Harbor said. She
added discovered to the board. "When
you look carefully, you can find things
in the ocean that can be reused, recycled,
removed, or discovered," she said.
"Tonight, I'd like you to get into groups
and explore some part of Kittentail Cove.
You could search your neighborhood,
Meow Meadow, Leondra's Square, or
anywhere else you want." She put a piece
of paper on each student's desk. "Here's
what you're searching for."
Coral read the instruction sheet.]]
Eel-Twelve Scavenger Hunt
two things to reuse.
two things to recycle.
two things to remove.
extra credit one thing to discover.
Are we supposed to collect all these
things?" Angel asked.
Coral scrunched her brow. "We can't
collect all of it," she replied. She pointed
to the instructions. "Someone might be
using the reusable things. We shouldn't
take those away."
"If we discover something, we might]]
have to leave it where it is," Angel said.
"Like the basket starfish."
 Ms. Harbor smiled. "You don't want
to take a hermit crab's bottle-cap home
away," she said. "You don't want to
take a whale-poop feast away from our
tiny ocean neighbors. But you probably
shouldn't leave anything that could be
recycled where you find it. It would be
best to bring those things to our recycling
centers."
"And we can't leave the garbage out
in the ocean," Coral said. "Especially
not the dangerous garbage. We have to
make sure all of that gets cleaned Up and
thrown out!"
Shelly sighed. "I guess I can go hunting
for garbage-if it keeps our ocean safe."
Ms. Harbor ducked behind her desk to
grab something. "I'm going to give each]]
group two bags. Use the green ones to
collect anything for recycling. Use the red
ones for trash.
"What do we take to prove we found
things that we can't move?" Adrianna
asked.
"You take notes!" Ms. Harbor
exclaimed. "Come back tomorrow and
describe what you found. Your notes will
be all the proof I need."]]
When the school bell rang, Ms. Harbor
purred, "The best thing you can do
tonight is learn to pay attention to all the
things around you.
"We can do that, right?" Shelly said.
Coral nodded. "As long as the three of
us work together," she said, "I think we'll
be just fine."
"Fine?" Angel said. "No, together we'll
be paw-some!"]]
The purrmaids giggled and headed
off to Coral's house. They swam to her
kitchen for a snack. "We need to decide
where to go for the scavenger hunt,"
Coral said.
"Can we eat first?" Shelly asked.
"I'm glad you girls are hungry," Papa
said. He held out a tray of food.
"Sea cucumber sushi!" Coral shouted.
"My favorite!"
"And shrimp salad!" Shelly added. "I
love shrimp salad."
"And I love all of it!" Angel laughed.
The girls began to eat. Papa asked,
"How was sea school today? Did you do
anything fin-teresting?"
Coral's mouth was full so she mumbled,
"Mm-hmm." She, swallowed her
mouthful and said, "Our homework is a
scavenger hunt."]]
"That sounds fun!" Papa said. "What
will you be hunting for?"
"I'll show you the instructions," Coral
said. She opened her bag to find the sheet.
But she'd been in such a hurry to pack
up that the paper had gotten stuffed
somewhere-and now she couldn't find
it! "It should be here." She pawed through
the bag. "What if I lost it?"
"It has to be in there," Shelly said. "I
watched you put it away."
"Just dump out your bag," Angel suggested.
"That's what I'd do."
Coral never liked making a mess. But
she wanted to find the scavenger-hunt
instructions quickly. So she spilled her
bag out onto the kitchen table.
"Here it is!" Angel cried, holding up
the sheet.]]
Coral reached for something else
instead-her letter from that morning.
"I forgot about this," she said.
"What is it?" Shelly asked.
"It's snail mail," Coral said. "For me." 
"That's so exciting!" Angel exclaimed.
"I've never gotten snail mail addressed to
me."
"Me neither," Shelly added.]]
Coral looked at the envelope. Her
name was written clearly on the front:
She turned it around to see who sent it.
Sirena Cheval
Seadragon Bay
"It's from Sirena!" Coral squealed . She
held the envelope out for her friends to
see.
"Sirena?" Angel asked. "From Siren
Island?
"It does say Seadragon Bay," Shelly
said. "It must be her."
"We were just talking about her today,"
Coral said. "I wonder why she wrote to
me."
"Read it!" Shelly and Angel said
together.]]
Dear Coral,
My family and I are camping
in Ponyfish Grotto on the edge
of Tortoiseshell Reef this week.
I know that is close to Kittentail
Cove. I thought maybe you
could visit me there.Love, Sirena.
P.S. I sent the same invitation to
Angel and Shelly. I hope they can
come, too!
"I would love to see Sirena again!"
Shelly said. Angel nodded.
Coral frowned. "I want to see her
again, too," she said. "But when we went
to Tortoiseshell Reef, we got lost."]]
That's one way to look at it," Angel
replied. "But you could also say that the
last time we went to Tortoiseshell Reef,
we found a shipwreck, sunken treasure,
and a new friend!"
Coral sighed. Angel was right That trip 
 really was paw-some. But it was also a little
scary! "What about our homework?"
Coral asked. "We need to do our scavenger
hunt. We might not have enough time
to finish that and go see Sirena."
Shelly scowled. "Our homework does
come first," she said.
 Angel crossed her paws and tapped
her tail on the ground. Suddenly, she
exclaimed, "I have a great idea! We can
head toward Tortoiseshell Reef to see
Sirena. On the way, we can look for the
things in the scavenger hunt."]]

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: No support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Vocabulary: Some difficult words

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Multiple phrases

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inserts/Side bars

Author's purpose: Obvious

Features

Simple Plot

Unusual use of vocabulary

Topic

Water

Environment

Ocean

*Fictional Ideas/Charac

*Habitats/Environments

*Global Issues

Low Frequency Words

accidentally	adrianna	cascade	cheval	coral
coral's	credible	exploring	founder's	gross
grotto	harbor	harbor's	imaginary	instruction
instructions	invitation	jewelry	kittentail	leondra's
lighter	luckily	meadow	mermicorn	mermicorns
motioned	mouthful	nature	necklace	neighborhood
neighbors	oblem	pawed	pelicans	perfume
properly	prove	purrmaids	recycle	recycled
recycling	reef	rely	reserve	responsibility
reusable	reuse	scallop	scavenger	schedule
schoolyard	science	scowled	scrunched	seadragon
seasick	shipwreck	shrugged	siren	sirena
sitively	source	spied	spiky	squealed
starfish	sunken	sushi	swallowed	tangled
taylor	teresting	tortoiseshell	umiko	unexpected
unicorn	waterslide	whined	yelped