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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 claim does this log support?
  2. 2. What had appeared in the mealworm tank by week 13?
  3. 3. Why were both tanks checked on the same day each week?
  4. 4. Why are the young stick insects called nymphs rather than larvae?
2.How is a caterpillar different from the butterfly it becomes?
  • A.It has more wings
  • B.It looks completely different and has no wings
  • C.It is exactly the same, only smaller
3.A maggot is the larva of which insect?
  • A.A cricket
  • B.A fly
  • C.A grasshopper
4.Why does a larva eat so much?
  • A.It needs to grow wings straight away
  • B.It is about to lay eggs
  • C.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
5.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
6.A young grasshopper looks like a small adult with no wings. What is it called?
  • A.A larva
  • B.A pupa
  • C.A nymph
7.Which of these insects never has a pupa stage?
  • A.A moth
  • B.A cockroach
  • C.A bee

LessonPrint · 3-LS1-1 · Set 23 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Mealworms and Stick Insects

Set 23. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Both insects grew into adults, but only the mealworm had a pupa stage. 2. Black adult beetles. 3. So the changes in the two tanks could be compared week by week. 4. They are already shaped like the adults and simply grow, with no pupa stage.
  2. 2.It looks completely different and has no wings
  3. 3.A fly
  4. 4.It must grow and store food before it becomes a pupa
  5. 5.The larva's body is rebuilt into the adult's
  6. 6.A nymph
  7. 7.A cockroach

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