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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 16 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. How many ammonites were found?
  2. 2. Why record what was NOT found as well as what was?
  3. 3. What kinds of living thing are in this layer?
  4. 4. How many land animal bones were found?
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.Why compare a fossil with a living organism?
  • A.A living relative shows how the fossil organism probably lived
  • B.To see which is older
  • C.To make the fossil heavier
4.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.Coral grows on hills
  • C.The coral walked there
5.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
6.A fossil footprint has three toes and is the size of a dinner plate. What does it tell you?
  • A.A bird is still nesting here
  • B.The rock is new
  • C.A large animal once walked across soft ground here
7.Mammoth bones are found with thick woolly hair. How was a mammoth unlike a living elephant?
  • A.It could fly
  • B.It lived in the sea
  • C.It had thick hair for a much colder climate

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-1 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — What the Quarry Held

Set 16. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. 24 ammonites. 2. The absence of land bones and fern fronds is part of the evidence. 3. Sea creatures: ammonites, sea urchins and fish. 4. No land animal bones at all.
  2. 2.Ammonites lived in the sea, as the nautilus does
  3. 3.A living relative shows how the fossil organism probably lived
  4. 4.The land was once under a warm shallow sea
  5. 5.They probably lived on the sea floor, as living ones do
  6. 6.A large animal once walked across soft ground here
  7. 7.It had thick hair for a much colder climate

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