Skip to content
LessonPrint

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

Next set

One paper per student

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

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. Why might starfish survive well in the low pool but not in the high pool?
  4. 4. What claim does this survey support?
2.What would happen to a kelp forest if the sea became very cloudy?
  • A.Nothing would change
  • B.The kelp would get less light and grow less well
  • C.The kelp would grow faster
3.Why does an anglerfish have a glowing lure on its head?
  • A.To attract prey in the dark deep sea, where no sunlight reaches
  • B.To keep itself warm
  • C.To scare the sun away
4.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
5.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
6.A limpet clamps tight to a rock when the tide goes out. How does that help?
  • A.It keeps it warm
  • B.It stops it drying out until the sea comes back
  • C.It helps it swim
7.Why does kelp grow only in shallow water?
  • A.It is too heavy for deep water
  • B.It needs sunlight, which cannot reach the deep sea
  • C.It cannot swim

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-3 · Set 22 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Three Rock Pools

Set 22. 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. The low pool is covered by the sea nearly all day, while the high pool warms up and its water drops in the sun. 4. Some sea creatures survive well high on the shore, and others only in the pool near the sea.
  2. 2.The kelp would get less light and grow less well
  3. 3.To attract prey in the dark deep sea, where no sunlight reaches
  4. 4.The reef gives them food and places to hide
  5. 5.It will survive less well, or not at all, unless it gets back to water
  6. 6.It stops it drying out until the sea comes back
  7. 7.It needs sunlight, which cannot reach the deep sea

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