What the Rock Remembers is a free printable Grade 3 science worksheet on using fossils as evidence of past organisms and environments, aligned to Common Core standard 3-LS4-1. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.
Set 2 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.
What the Rock Remembers
3-LS4-1
NameDate
Draw a line from each find to what it shows.
1.Draw a line from each one to its match.
Ammonites and sea urchins in one layer
Fern fronds and tree trunks fossilised
No land animal bones in a sea layer
Fish fossils high in a mountain
A.Evidence that this was not dry land
B.This place was once a warm wet forest
C.This place was once under the sea
D.The rock formed underwater and was later lifted
2.Draw a line from each one to its match.
Pollen grains preserved in peat
Coral fossils in rock on a hillside
Mammoth bones in gravel
Fossil footprints in dried mud
A.The climate here was once much colder
B.A warm shallow sea covered this land
C.Which plants grew nearby at that time
D.An animal walked across soft ground here
LessonPrint · 3-LS4-1 · Set 2 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — What the Rock Remembers
Set 2. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. Ammonites and sea urchins in one layer — C (This place was once under the sea) 2. Fern fronds and tree trunks fossilised — B (This place was once a warm wet forest) 3. No land animal bones in a sea layer — A (Evidence that this was not dry land) 4. Fish fossils high in a mountain — D (The rock formed underwater and was later lifted)
2.1. Pollen grains preserved in peat — C (Which plants grew nearby at that time) 2. Coral fossils in rock on a hillside — B (A warm shallow sea covered this land) 3. Mammoth bones in gravel — A (The climate here was once much colder) 4. Fossil footprints in dried mud — D (An animal walked across soft ground here)
More practice for 3-LS4-1
Use fossils as evidence of what lived where, long ago.
Teaching this next? What the Rock Remembers is the 55-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.