Article
Shutterstock.com
Mini Read,

The Pig Beach Mystery

By Laine Falk
From the March / April 2025 Issue

Students will learn about an island mysteriously populated only by pigs.

Lexile® measure: 380L
Featured Skill: Key Details,
Topic: Social Studies,
Common Core Standards
  • Science Focus
    Animals
  • Common Core Standards
    RI.2.1 Key details RI.2.4 Vocabulary RI.2.5 Nonfiction text features RI.2.10 Read grade-2-appropriate informational text SL.2 Participate in conversations about grade-2 texts
TEKS Standards
  • N/A

Magazine View
See Student View

An island sits in clear waters. The sun shines down on the white sand beach. What is that sound coming from the ocean?

Oink, oink, oink! It’s swimming pigs!

About 20 to 25 pigs live on an island in the Bahamas. It’s called Pig Beach. People visit the pigs by boat and feed them. No humans live on the island. 

A Big Mystery

How did the pigs get there? It’s a mystery. 

Some people think the pigs were on a ship that sank. The pigs swam to the island and made it their home. They had piglets there. 

Other people think that farmers kept the pigs on a nearby island. Then neighbors complained about the pigs’ smell. So the farmers took them to this island. 

The farmers took their boats out to feed them every day. That’s how the pigs started swimming. They would swim out to meet the boats! Their piglets learned to swim too. 

What is the truth? It’s a pig mystery! 

video (1)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (4)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
video (1)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (4) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Implementation

Small group; whole group; independent reading

Pairings and Text Connections

  • “The Flying Pig,” this issue’s poem about a fictional flying pig, pairs with this Mini Read about real swimming pigs.

Before-Reading Resources

  • Text Preview Bookmarks
    (5 minutes) Kids can cut out the nonfiction bookmark and use it to preview the text.
  • Video: Swimming Pigs
    (2 minutes) Show students a quick video where they can see what swimming pigs look like.

Suggested Reading Focus

Nonfiction text features (30 minutes)

  • Take a close look at the photo and the title. Ask students, “What do you think this article will be about?”

After-Reading Skills Practice

(15 minutes for each activity)

  • Quiz: Comprehension check
  • Mystery Chart: Compare the themed texts in the issue.
  • Flying Pig or Swimming Pig?: Once students have also read this issue’s poem, “The Flying Pig,” they can read about a handful of silly situations and decide which type of pig would be best at helping them in each situation: a flying pig or a swimming pig. Next they’ll come up with their own silly situation, draw it, and write about which pig would help them and how.

Text-to-Speech