Level 3

“The Amazing Octopus” The title

names the
main idea
Adapted from a text by Anna Gratz Cockerille explicitly.

O
f all the strange and wonderful creatures in the ocean, one stands
out. It is the amazing octopus. There are over 300 different types of
octopus, and they can be found in every ocean in the world!

Bodies Like No Other Subhead-

ings and
The octopus has a body unlike any other animal. Its body, called a mantle, topic sen-
The para-
graph is is soft and shaped like a bag. The octopus can squeeze into very small spaces tences pop
organized because it has no bones in its body. Its eight rubbery arms are attached to out the
into a main idea
its head near its mouth. The octopus’s arms are covered with suckers. The of each
clear list.
Each point suckers help the octopus grab and taste things. The octopus can see very far section.
is elabo- distances, but it cannot hear anything at all.
rated upon
equally.

Academic
vocabulary
The octopus’s body is amazing on the inside, too. The octopus has three words are
hearts. Two of its hearts send its blood, which is light blue, to its gills. Its explained
when used.

Level 3: “The Amazing Octopus”  ◆  page 1

May be photocopied for classroom use. © 2015 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study for Teaching Reading (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH).
 gills are organs for breathing, and they’re located on two of the octopus’s
arms. The third heart sends blood to the rest of the octopus’s body.

The phrase Talents Like No Other

“the The octopus has amazing ways to defend itself. When an octopus wants
amazing
octopus” is to move quickly to escape a predator, it can shoot out water to push itself
repeated to backwards. This is called jet propulsion. Using this skill, octopuses can The noun is
show how travel many miles. An octopus can also protect itself by squirting ink at a used more
this new frequently
part relates predator. The ink makes the predator become blind and lose its sense of than a
back to the smell temporarily. pronoun.
main idea. This makes it difficult for the predator to track the octopus once it has
darted away.  The octopus can hide from predators by changing its colors
to blend into its surroundings. The octopus can also escape a predator by
breaking off its arm, swimming away, and then growing a new one later!
The amazing octopus is also a predator. It hunts mainly at night. It has a
There is a
consistent varied diet, including snails, fish, turtles, small crustaceans, and even other
structure octopuses. An octopus catches its prey by grabbing it with its arms. To kill it,
throughout
the text.
the octopus bites its food with its tough beak and injects it with a poison so
the animal can’t move.

Text fea-
tures are
aligned to
main idea
of the text
and help
support
what is
being ex-
plained in
the text.

The octopus uses jet propulsion to swim away from predators.

Level 3: “The Amazing Octopus”  ◆  page 2

May be photocopied for classroom use. © 2015 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study for Teaching Reading (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH).
 Smarts Like No Other
The octopus isn’t just amazing physically. It’s smart, too. Scientists have
Examples
taught octopuses to learn shapes and patterns. Some octopuses in tanks are used
have been seen “playing” games. They throw objects into currents in the to dem-
onstrate a
water, then catch them again. Research shows that octopuses may have point.
emotions, too.  They can change color based on how they feel.
Of all the animals in the sea, on land, or in the air, none is quite like the
amazing octopus!

Image on page 1 © Juniors Bildarchiv/Alamy/HIP

Image on page 2 © YUSRAN ABDUL RAHMAN/Shutterstock

Level 3: “The Amazing Octopus”  ◆  page 3

May be photocopied for classroom use. © 2015 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study for Teaching Reading (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH).