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

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

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. What does that suggest about this place long ago?
  2. 2. What claim does this record support?
  3. 3. How many ammonites were found?
  4. 4. Why record what was NOT found as well as what was?
2.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
3.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 the air
  • C.They lived in deserts
4.A fossil fern is found in a cold, dry place today. What does it suggest about the past?
  • A.The place was once warm and wet enough for ferns
  • B.Ferns like cold deserts
  • C.The fossil was carried there yesterday
5.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
6.Fossil palm leaves are found in a country with icy winters. What does that suggest?
  • A.Palms grow in snow
  • B.The climate there was once much warmer
  • C.Somebody planted them
7.Mammoth bones are found with thick woolly hair. How was a mammoth unlike a living elephant?
  • A.It could fly
  • B.It had thick hair for a much colder climate
  • C.It lived in the sea

LessonPrint · 3-LS4-1 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — What the Quarry Held

Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It was under the sea, because only sea creatures are fossilized here. 2. Fossils give evidence of the organisms and the environments of long ago. 3. 24 ammonites. 4. The absence of land bones and fern fronds is part of the evidence.
  2. 2.The land was once under a warm shallow sea
  3. 3.They probably lived on the sea floor, as living ones do
  4. 4.The place was once warm and wet enough for ferns
  5. 5.A large animal once walked across soft ground here
  6. 6.The climate there was once much warmer
  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.