What the Quarry Held is a free printable Grade 3 science worksheet on comparing fossil organisms with living ones to infer a past environment, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 3-LS4-1. 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 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
A list of fossils found in one rock layer at a quarry, from the museum's record card.
FOSSILS IN ONE LAYER
Ammonites ............ 24
Sea urchins .......... 11
Fish scales .......... 7
Fern fronds .......... 0
Land animal bones .... 0
The rock is a fine gray limestone.
1. How many ammonites were found?
2. What kinds of living thing are in this layer?
3. Why record what was NOT found as well as what was?
4. What would you expect in a layer that was once a forest?
2.Ammonites have no living species, but they look like today's nautilus. What does that suggest?
A.Ammonites lived in trees
B.Ammonites lived in the sea, as the nautilus does
C.Ammonites are still alive
3.A fossil footprint has three toes and is the size of a dinner plate. What does it tell you?
A.A large animal once walked across soft ground here
B.The rock is new
C.A bird is still nesting here
4.Fossil palm leaves are found in a country with icy winters. What does that suggest?
A.The climate there was once much warmer
B.Somebody planted them
C.Palms grow in snow
5.Some fossils are of organisms with no living species at all. What does that tell you?
A.Every kind of living thing is still alive
B.Fossils are not real
C.Some kinds of living thing that once lived have died out
6.Fossil coral is found on a hillside far from the sea. What does that suggest?
A.The coral walked there
B.Coral grows on hills
C.The land was once under a warm shallow sea
7.Fossil sea urchins look almost like living ones. What can you say about how they lived?
A.They lived in the air
B.They probably lived on the sea floor, as living ones do
C.They lived in deserts
LessonPrint · 3-LS4-1 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — What the Quarry Held
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. 24 ammonites. 2. Sea creatures: ammonites, sea urchins and fish. 3. The absence of land bones and fern fronds is part of the evidence. 4. Fern fronds and land animal bones rather than sea urchins.
2.Ammonites lived in the sea, as the nautilus does
3.A large animal once walked across soft ground here
4.The climate there was once much warmer
5.Some kinds of living thing that once lived have died out
6.The land was once under a warm shallow sea
7.They probably lived on the sea floor, as living ones do
Questions about What the Quarry Held
What does the What the Quarry Held worksheet cover?
It practices comparing fossil organisms with living ones to infer a past environment — 7 questions for Grade 3, all on NGSS 3-LS4-1: Use fossils as evidence of what lived where, long ago. The instruction to students is “Read the record, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which NGSS performance expectation does What the Quarry Held practice?
3-LS4-1, under Life Science for Grade 3. The published performance expectation reads: “Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.” The worksheet assesses that performance expectation rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
What the Quarry Held is written for Grade 3, typically ages 8-9. It is one of the sheets on 3-LS4-1, so it suits any student working at that standard — including older students revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does What the Quarry Held come with an answer key?
Yes. All 7 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of What the Quarry Held can I print?
25 — one per student, and all 25 ask different questions. Set 1 downloads the whole class as a single PDF. Every version is fixed to its own address, so a sheet printed today holds the same problems when you reopen it next week.
Is What the Quarry Held free to print and photocopy?
Yes. What the Quarry Held, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
More practice for 3-LS4-1
Use fossils as evidence of what lived where, long ago.