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

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What the Quarry Held

3-LS4-1

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

What the Quarry Held

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. 1. Why record what was NOT found as well as what was?
  2. 2. What claim does this record support?
  3. 3. What would you expect in a layer that was once a forest?
  4. 4. What does that suggest about this place long ago?
2.Ammonites have no living species, but they look like today's nautilus. What does that suggest?
  • A.Ammonites are still alive
  • B.Ammonites lived in the sea, as the nautilus does
  • C.Ammonites lived in trees
3.Fossil palm leaves are found in a country with icy winters. What does that suggest?
  • A.Somebody planted them
  • B.Palms grow in snow
  • C.The climate there was once much warmer
4.A fossil footprint has three toes and is the size of a dinner plate. What does it tell you?
  • A.The rock is new
  • B.A large animal once walked across soft ground here
  • C.A bird is still nesting here
5.Fossil coral is found on a hillside far from the sea. What does that suggest?
  • A.The land was once under a warm shallow sea
  • B.The coral walked there
  • C.Coral grows on hills
6.Why compare a fossil with a living organism?
  • A.A living relative shows how the fossil organism probably lived
  • B.To make the fossil heavier
  • C.To see which is older
7.Fossil sea urchins look almost like living ones. What can you say about how they lived?
  • A.They probably lived on the sea floor, as living ones do
  • B.They lived in deserts
  • C.They lived in the air

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-1 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — What the Quarry Held

Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The absence of land bones and fern fronds is part of the evidence. 2. Fossils give evidence of the organisms and the environments of long ago. 3. Fern fronds and land animal bones rather than sea urchins. 4. It was under the sea, because only sea creatures are fossilized here.
  2. 2.Ammonites lived in the sea, as the nautilus does
  3. 3.The climate there was once much warmer
  4. 4.A large animal once walked across soft ground here
  5. 5.The land was once under a warm shallow sea
  6. 6.A living relative shows how the fossil organism probably lived
  7. 7.They probably lived on the sea floor, as living ones do

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 3-LS4-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.