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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. How many starfish were in the low pool?
  2. 2. What claim does this survey support?
  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.What would happen to a kelp forest if the sea became very cloudy?
  • A.The kelp would get less light and grow less well
  • B.Nothing would change
  • C.The kelp would grow faster
3.Which ocean habitat could a polar bear survive in?
  • A.The sea ice of the Arctic
  • B.A warm coral reef
  • C.The floor of the deep dark sea
4.A limpet clamps tight to a rock when the tide goes out. How does that help?
  • A.It helps it swim
  • B.It keeps it warm
  • C.It stops it drying out until the sea comes back
5.Why can mussels and barnacles live where the waves crash?
  • A.They are fixed tight to the rocks, and the waves bring them food
  • B.Waves cannot reach them
  • C.They swim away from every wave
6.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
7.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 scare the sun away
  • C.To keep itself warm

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-3 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Three Rock Pools

Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. 5 starfish. 2. Some sea creatures survive well high on the shore, and others only in the pool near the sea. 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.The kelp would get less light and grow less well
  3. 3.The sea ice of the Arctic
  4. 4.It stops it drying out until the sea comes back
  5. 5.They are fixed tight to the rocks, and the waves bring them food
  6. 6.It will survive less well, or not at all, unless it gets back to water
  7. 7.To attract prey in the dark deep sea, where no sunlight reaches

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