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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.

Set 13 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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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. Why might starfish survive well in the low pool but not in the high pool?
  2. 2. Why count for ten minutes at each pool?
  3. 3. Where was the kelp found?
  4. 4. What claim does this survey support?
2.Which ocean habitat could a polar bear survive in?
  • A.The floor of the deep dark sea
  • B.The sea ice of the Arctic
  • C.A warm coral reef
3.A crab from a rock pool is left on dry sand in the hot sun. What will happen?
  • A.It will be fine all day
  • B.It will survive less well, or not at all, unless it gets back to water
  • C.It will grow faster
4.Why can mussels and barnacles live where the waves crash?
  • A.Waves cannot reach them
  • B.They swim away from every wave
  • C.They are fixed tight to the rocks, and the waves bring them food
5.Why are there no coral reefs in polar seas?
  • A.Polar seas are too salty for fish
  • B.Polar bears eat the coral
  • C.Reef coral needs warm water to survive
6.Why do so many kinds of fish live on coral reefs?
  • A.Reefs are cold and dark
  • B.Fish cannot live anywhere else
  • C.The reef gives them food and places to hide
7.Why do some animals in the deep sea have no working eyes?
  • A.The water is too salty for eyes
  • B.There is no light to see by down there
  • C.They are always asleep

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-3 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Three Rock Pools

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The low pool is covered by the sea nearly all day, while the high pool warms up and its water drops in the sun. 2. So each pool was searched for the same time and the counts can be compared. 3. Only in the low pool. 4. Some sea creatures survive well high on the shore, and others only in the pool near the sea.
  2. 2.The sea ice of the Arctic
  3. 3.It will survive less well, or not at all, unless it gets back to water
  4. 4.They are fixed tight to the rocks, and the waves bring them food
  5. 5.Reef coral needs warm water to survive
  6. 6.The reef gives them food and places to hide
  7. 7.There is no light to see by down there

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