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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 16 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. What does this survey not tell you?
  3. 3. Where was the kelp found?
  4. 4. Where would you look to find more kelp?
2.Why do some animals in the deep sea have no working eyes?
  • A.There is no light to see by down there
  • B.They are always asleep
  • C.The water is too salty for eyes
3.Why do so many kinds of fish live on coral reefs?
  • A.The reef gives them food and places to hide
  • B.Reefs are cold and dark
  • C.Fish cannot live anywhere else
4.Why can mussels and barnacles live where the waves crash?
  • A.They swim away from every wave
  • B.They are fixed tight to the rocks, and the waves bring them food
  • C.Waves cannot reach them
5.Which ocean habitat could a polar bear survive in?
  • A.A warm coral reef
  • B.The sea ice of the Arctic
  • C.The floor of the deep dark sea
6.What would happen to a kelp forest if the sea became very cloudy?
  • A.The kelp would grow faster
  • B.The kelp would get less light and grow less well
  • C.Nothing would change
7.A crab from a rock pool is left on dry sand in the hot sun. What will happen?
  • A.It will survive less well, or not at all, unless it gets back to water
  • B.It will be fine all day
  • C.It will grow faster

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-3 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Three Rock Pools

Set 16. 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. It does not tell you what lives in the pools at high tide. 3. Only in the low pool. 4. Lower down the shore, near the sea like the low pool.
  2. 2.There is no light to see by down there
  3. 3.The reef gives them food and places to hide
  4. 4.They are fixed tight to the rocks, and the waves bring them food
  5. 5.The sea ice of the Arctic
  6. 6.The kelp would get less light and grow less well
  7. 7.It will survive less well, or not at all, unless it gets back to water

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