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Caterpillars and Frogspawn is a free printable Grade 3 science worksheet on using eight weeks of observations to compare two animal life cycles, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 3-LS1-1. It prints 7 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

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Caterpillars and Frogspawn

3-LS1-1

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

Two Life Cycles Watched

Observations the class kept of caterpillars and frogspawn over eight weeks. WHAT WE WATCHED Butterfly: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, adult, eggs again Frog: egg, tadpole, tadpole with legs, froglet, adult, eggs again Both started as eggs. Both grew, then produced eggs of their own. Neither adult lived past the end of the year.

  1. 1. What does this record not tell you?
  2. 2. Why are the two cycles different in the middle?
  3. 3. What would you expect a beetle's cycle to include?
  4. 4. What do both life cycles have in common?
2.A tadpole grows back legs, then front legs, and loses its tail. What is happening?
  • A.It is turning into a fish
  • B.It is changing into a frog
  • C.It is dying
3.Why is a life cycle called a cycle?
  • A.Every stage is round
  • B.The adult makes young, and they go through the same stages again
  • C.It happens on a bicycle
4.What hatches from a fish's egg?
  • A.A tiny larva that grows into a young fish
  • B.A tadpole
  • C.A caterpillar
5.How is a frog's life cycle different from a chicken's?
  • A.The frog has no eggs
  • B.The young frog lives in water and changes shape before it lives on land
  • C.The chicken changes shape completely
6.What do the life cycles of a chicken, a frog and a fish all have in common?
  • A.Each begins as an egg, grows, and makes young of its own
  • B.Each is born alive
  • C.Each has a chrysalis
7.Which four things do all life cycles share?
  • A.Birth, growth, reproduction and death
  • B.Eggs, wings, legs and tails
  • C.Flowers, seeds, fruit and leaves

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Caterpillars and Frogspawn

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It does not tell you how long each stage lasted. 2. Different organisms have different stages between birth and adult. 3. Birth, growth, reproduction and death, with its own stages between. 4. Both begin as eggs, grow, produce eggs of their own, and end in death.
  2. 2.It is changing into a frog
  3. 3.The adult makes young, and they go through the same stages again
  4. 4.A tiny larva that grows into a young fish
  5. 5.The young frog lives in water and changes shape before it lives on land
  6. 6.Each begins as an egg, grows, and makes young of its own
  7. 7.Birth, growth, reproduction and death

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 3-LS1-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.