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Mealworms and Stick Insects is a free printable Grade 3 science worksheet on using an insect log to compare complete and incomplete metamorphosis, 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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Mealworms and Stick Insects

3-LS1-1

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

Mealworms and Stick Insects

A log the class kept of two insect tanks, checked every Monday for sixteen weeks. MEALWORM TANK Week 1: small brown larvae, called mealworms, eating bran Week 6: larvae longer; empty skins where they had shed Week 10: some larvae still and pale, curled up as pupae, not eating Week 13: black adult beetles; no pupae left STICK INSECT TANK Week 1: tiny nymphs, shaped like the adults, eating privet leaves Week 8: nymphs much longer; shed skins on the leaves Week 16: adult stick insects laying eggs; no pupa seen at any point

  1. 1. What had appeared in the mealworm tank by week 13?
  2. 2. What were the mealworms eating?
  3. 3. What claim does this log support?
  4. 4. What did both kinds of insect leave behind as they grew?
2.What happens inside a pupa?
  • A.It lays eggs
  • B.It sleeps and stays the same
  • C.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
3.How is a caterpillar different from the butterfly it becomes?
  • A.It looks completely different and has no wings
  • B.It is exactly the same, only smaller
  • C.It has more wings
4.What does a nymph do as it grows?
  • A.It spins a chrysalis
  • B.It stays the same size
  • C.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
5.A maggot is the larva of which insect?
  • A.A grasshopper
  • B.A cricket
  • C.A fly
6.A dragonfly nymph lives under water and the adult flies. Which kind of life cycle does it have?
  • A.Incomplete: egg, nymph, adult
  • B.Complete: egg, larva, pupa, adult
  • C.It has no life cycle
7.Which of these insects never has a pupa stage?
  • A.A moth
  • B.A cockroach
  • C.A bee

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 20 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 20. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Black adult beetles. 2. Bran. 3. Both insects grew into adults, but only the mealworm had a pupa stage. 4. Shed skins.
  2. 2.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  3. 3.It looks completely different and has no wings
  4. 4.It sheds its skin several times, looking more like the adult each time
  5. 5.A fly
  6. 6.Incomplete: egg, nymph, adult
  7. 7.A cockroach

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