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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 9 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. What does this survey not tell you?
  2. 2. What claim does this survey support?
  3. 3. How many starfish were in the low pool?
  4. 4. Why count for ten minutes at each pool?
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 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.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.The kelp would grow faster
  • C.Nothing would change
5.Why are there no coral reefs in polar seas?
  • A.Polar seas are too salty for fish
  • B.Reef coral needs warm water to survive
  • C.Polar bears eat the coral
6.How can a seal live in icy seas?
  • A.It never gets wet
  • B.It lives on land all year
  • C.A thick layer of fat under its skin keeps it warm
7.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

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-3 · Set 9 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Three Rock Pools

Set 9. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It does not tell you what lives in the pools at high tide. 2. Some sea creatures survive well high on the shore, and others only in the pool near the sea. 3. 5 starfish. 4. So each pool was searched for the same time and the counts can be compared.
  2. 2.It needs sunlight, which cannot reach the deep sea
  3. 3.The reef gives them food and places to hide
  4. 4.The kelp would get less light and grow less well
  5. 5.Reef coral needs warm water to survive
  6. 6.A thick layer of fat under its skin keeps it warm
  7. 7.They are fixed tight to the rocks, and the waves bring them food

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