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 20 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.
Fish fossils high in a mountain
Fern fronds and tree trunks fossilised
Mammoth bones in gravel
Pollen grains preserved in peat
A.Which plants grew nearby at that time
B.The climate here was once much colder
C.This place was once a warm wet forest
D.The rock formed underwater and was later lifted
2.Draw a line from each one to its match.
Coral fossils in rock on a hillside
Ammonites and sea urchins in one layer
Fossil footprints in dried mud
No land animal bones in a sea layer
A.Evidence that this was not dry land
B.An animal walked across soft ground here
C.This place was once under the sea
D.A warm shallow sea covered this land
LessonPrint · 3-LS4-1 · Set 20 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — What the Rock Remembers
Set 20. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. Fish fossils high in a mountain — D (The rock formed underwater and was later lifted) 2. Fern fronds and tree trunks fossilised — C (This place was once a warm wet forest) 3. Mammoth bones in gravel — B (The climate here was once much colder) 4. Pollen grains preserved in peat — A (Which plants grew nearby at that time)
2.1. Coral fossils in rock on a hillside — D (A warm shallow sea covered this land) 2. Ammonites and sea urchins in one layer — C (This place was once under the sea) 3. Fossil footprints in dried mud — B (An animal walked across soft ground here) 4. No land animal bones in a sea layer — A (Evidence that this was not dry land)
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.