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Three Rock Pools is a free printable Grade 3 science worksheet on using rock-pool counts to argue which sea creatures survive well where, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 3-LS4-3. 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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Three Rock Pools

3-LS4-3

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

Three Rock Pools

Counts the class made in three rock pools at low tide: one high on the shore, one in the middle and one near the sea. WHAT WE COUNTED High pool (out of the sea for most of the day): 30 barnacles, 6 limpets, some green seaweed, no starfish, no kelp Middle pool: 12 limpets, 9 sea anemones, 4 crabs, brown seaweed, no kelp Low pool (covered by the sea for all but an hour a day): 5 starfish, 11 sea anemones, 6 crabs, kelp, 3 small fish The high pool's water was the warmest, and its level dropped most in the sun. We counted for ten minutes at each pool.

  1. 1. Which pool had the most kinds of living thing?
  2. 2. Why count for ten minutes at each pool?
  3. 3. Barnacles were most common in the high pool. What does that suggest about them?
  4. 4. What does this survey not tell you?
2.Why does kelp grow only in shallow water?
  • A.It is too heavy for deep water
  • B.It cannot swim
  • C.It needs sunlight, which cannot reach the deep sea
3.Why does an anglerfish have a glowing lure on its head?
  • A.To scare the sun away
  • B.To attract prey in the dark deep sea, where no sunlight reaches
  • C.To keep itself warm
4.A limpet clamps tight to a rock when the tide goes out. How does that help?
  • A.It stops it drying out until the sea comes back
  • B.It keeps it warm
  • C.It helps it swim
5.Which ocean habitat could a polar bear survive in?
  • A.The floor of the deep dark sea
  • B.A warm coral reef
  • C.The sea ice of the Arctic
6.Why are there no coral reefs in polar seas?
  • A.Reef coral needs warm water to survive
  • B.Polar bears eat the coral
  • C.Polar seas are too salty for fish
7.Why do so many kinds of fish live on coral reefs?
  • A.Fish cannot live anywhere else
  • B.The reef gives them food and places to hide
  • C.Reefs are cold and dark

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-3 · Set 10 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Three Rock Pools

Set 10. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The low pool, near the sea. 2. So each pool was searched for the same time and the counts can be compared. 3. Barnacles can survive being out of the sea for most of the day. 4. It does not tell you what lives in the pools at high tide.
  2. 2.It needs sunlight, which cannot reach the deep sea
  3. 3.To attract prey in the dark deep sea, where no sunlight reaches
  4. 4.It stops it drying out until the sea comes back
  5. 5.The sea ice of the Arctic
  6. 6.Reef coral needs warm water to survive
  7. 7.The reef gives them food and places to hide

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 3-LS4-3 of the Next Generation Science Standards.