Get five books from a language arts classroom or the library at your school. Randomly select two paragraphs, at least six sentences each, from each book that you will use for this activity. You should have a total of ten paragraphs. Let one group member be the counter and the other group member be the tally marker.

Make a table like the one below. You need to choose an appropriate scale for the column on the left. Count the number of letters in each word of the selected paragraphs. Use the same table for all of the books.

Repeat the above process with five books from a high school classroom or library on a second table and also with five books from a first grade classroom on a third table. Compare your frequency tables. How do your tables differ? How are they the same? How do you think the grade level of a book is related to the number of letters per word?