Article
Giuseppe Ramos/Alamy Stock Vector (Water); Shutterstock.com
Nonfiction,

The Great Octopus Escape

Inky the octopus lived in an aquarium in New Zealand. But one day he went missing. What happened to Inky?

By Janice Behrens
From the May/June 2023 Issue
Lexiles: 560L (The Great Octopus Escape), 280L (Your Turn to Read)
Guided Reading Level: K (The Great Octopus Escape), J (Your Turn to Read)
Featured Skill: Main Idea, Key Details,
Vocabulary: aquarium, tentacles, escape artists, prey, predators
Topic: Science,
Common Core Standards
  • RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text RI.1.4 Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meanings of words RI.1.5 Know and use various text features to locate information SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with peers and adults SL.1.2 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud L.1.4.A Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase
TEKS Standards
  • Social Studies
    (5) Geography. The student understands physical and human characteristics of place to better understand their community and the world around them. The student is expected to: (A) identify and describe the physical characteristics of place such as landforms, bodies of water, Earth’s resources, and weather.
  • Science
    (B) analyze and record examples of interdependence found in various situations such as terrariums and aquariums or pet and caregiver; and (C) gather evidence of interdependence among living organisms such as energy transfer through food chains or animals using plants for shelter. (10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and processes that help them survive within their environments. The student is expected to: (A) investigate how the external characteristics of an animal are related to where it lives, how it moves, and what it eats.

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Listen and Think

As you listen, think about how Inky escaped. 

National Aquarium of New Zealand

This is Inky in his tank at the National Aquarium of New Zealand.

Jim McMahon/Mapman ®

It was early morning at the aquarium. Workers arrived and said hello to the fish. But when they got to the octopus tank, they were shocked. Inky the octopus was gone! 

Was Inky kidnapped? It didn’t look like it. Instead, it looked like Inky had escaped. 

The top of Inky’s tank was slightly open. There was a wet trail on the floor. Octopus tracks! The slippery tracks led to a small drain in the floor. 

Inky must have slithered down the drain and into the water pipes. Those pipes led out to the ocean. Inky had gone to the sea!

Blotchy, the smaller octopus at the aquarium, was still in the tank. He had stayed behind. It was Inky who wanted to be free.

PAUSE AND THINK:  How did the people know Inky escaped?

National Aquarium of New Zealand

Inky was about the size of a soccer ball.

Inky’s Story

Before Inky lived in his tank, he was a wild octopus in the sea. A fisherman found him stuck in a lobster trap. The poor little guy was hurt, so the fisherman brought him to the aquarium. 

Inky had scars, and some of his tentacles were shortened. He was in bad shape. But the keepers at the aquarium took care of him and fed him fish. 

As Inky got healthy, he regrew his tentacles. That’s right. Octopuses can do that!

PAUSE AND THINK:  How did Inky get to the aquarium?

kali9/Getty Images

An aquarium is a place where people visit sea animals.

A Curious Boy

Now Inky had a nice, safe life in his tank with Blotchy. But his keepers started to notice that he was curious. 

Inky would come to the top of the tank to be fed by hand. He would reach up with his tentacles to feel his keepers. Sometimes he squirted water at them.    

“I don’t think he was unhappy with us,” said Rob Yarrell, the aquarium’s manager. “But he is such a curious boy. He would want to know what’s happening on the outside.” 

It made sense that Inky would go exploring one night and escape.

PAUSE AND THINK:  What was Inky’s personality like?

JORGEN JESSEN/AFP via Getty Images

An octopus can open a jar!

Masters of Escape

Photo 12/Alamy Stock Photo

In the movie Finding Dory, an octopus escapes from its tank. That story is fiction. Inky is the real thing!

Inky isn’t the only octopus to escape at night. At another aquarium, one octopus was known to slip out of its tank and go to a nearby tank with fish. After snacking on the fish, it would go back to its own tank by morning!

“Octopuses are famous escape artists,” said Mr. Yarrell.

Why are they good at escaping? For one thing, they are intelligent. In the wild, they learn to hide and sneak up on prey, like fish and crabs. 

In one experiment, a scientist gave an octopus a jar with a crab inside. The octopus figured out how to open it and grab the crab!

Plus, octopuses can squish through small spaces. They have soft bodies and no bones. 

That is probably how Inky fit into the small drain and slipped out to the sea. 

PAUSE AND THINK:  Why are octopuses great escape artists?

Gary Bell/Oceanwide/Minden Pictures

Inky went to live in the ocean like this wild octopus.

Where Is Inky Now?

Inky never returned to the aquarium. Even though he was safe from predators like seals and sharks there, he went for freedom.

“We’ll miss him,” said Mr. Yarrell when Inky left. “But we hope he does well in his new life.”

What would Inky be doing in that life? He would probably hide from sharks and hunt for crabs. Perhaps he would make a home in a little sea cave.

As a curious little octopus in the sea, Inky would surely have many adventures.

Your Turn to Read!: How Inky Did It

Follow Inky’s path to freedom.

ILLUSTRATION BY BECKY DAVIES

  1. He opened the lid and slipped out.
  2. He crawled along the floor.He dripped water.
  3. He squeezed into the drain.
  4. He went down the pipe and into the ocean!
video (2)
video (2)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
video (2)
video (2)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (3) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)

More About the Article

English Language Arts Focus

Informational text

Science Focus

Animal habitats and behaviors

Vocabulary

aquarium, tentacles, escape artists, prey, predators

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Essential Question

The essential question of this issue is Why do we go on adventures? The articles below connect to this theme.

  • Big Read-Aloud: “The Great Octopus Escape,” p. 10
  • Fiction: “Mouse on the Moon,” p. 22
  • What Do You Think?: “Vacation in Space: Fun or Foolish?,” p. 28
  • Poetry: “What Do You Need?,” p. 32

Through the above genres, students will discuss:

  • What is an adventure?
  • Where do we go on adventures?
  • How can we travel to faraway places?

IMPLEMENTATION SUGGESTIONS

Read-Aloud

  • Nonfiction read-alouds give children access to more complex text that is on their listening level. Use the read-aloud to develop children’s comprehension, knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding of nonfiction texts.

Paired Text: Background Builder

  • Pair your read-aloud with “Background Builder: Weird and Wonderful Octopuses!” (p. 8). This is a lower-level nonfiction article that gives children background knowledge before they encounter the Big Read-Aloud. It features simple headings and chunked text.

Technology Time: Video Read-Aloud

  • Kids can hear the article read aloud and see the imagery come to life. This online resource models fluent reading.

1. BEFORE READING

Preview Vocabulary (3-5 minutes)

  • Play the online vocabulary slideshow. This issue features rich vocabulary including: aquarium, tentacles, escape artists, prey, and predators.

Preview the First Pages and Set a Purpose for Reading (5-10 minutes)

  • Open your magazines to “The Great Octopus Escape.” Let students take a picture walk. Point out the title and the pictures of the drain and the tentacle. Can they predict what will happen in the article?
  • Review the title and the Listen and Read prompt on the first page, “As you listen, think about how Inky escaped.”
  • You can also review some of the nonfiction text features in the story so children can follow along. Point out the headline, map, subheadings, and photo captions.

2. READ ALOUD (15-30 minutes)

  • Read each article section, modeling expressive, fluent reading. Check comprehension as you read together with the Pause and Think questions.
  • Turn to the sidebar at the end of the article, “Your Turn to Read: How Inky Did It.” It is written at a lower level so that children can practice reading text on the same topic as the main article.
  • Extend with a discussion. Children can turn and talk with a partner to answer this question: Do you think Inky should have stayed in the tank at the aquarium? Why or why not? Give them a sentence frame to start the discussion: “I think Inky should/should not have stayed because ________.”

3. AFTER READING: FOCUS ON SKILLS

ELA Focus: Key details (10 minutes)

  • The Reading Checkpoint helps you assess students’ comprehension.

ELA Focus: Narrative Writing (30 minutes)

  • Tap into student creativity with a Silly Summer Adventure skills sheet. (This page also goes with other stories in the issue.)

ELA Focus: Key details (15 minutes)

Text-to-Speech