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 21 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.
Coral fossils in rock on a hillside
Fish fossils high in a mountain
Fern fronds and tree trunks fossilised
Ammonites and sea urchins in one layer
A.A warm shallow sea covered this land
B.The rock formed underwater and was later lifted
C.This place was once a warm wet forest
D.This place was once under the sea
2.Draw a line from each one to its match.
Fossil footprints in dried mud
Mammoth bones in gravel
No land animal bones in a sea layer
Pollen grains preserved in peat
A.Evidence that this was not dry land
B.An animal walked across soft ground here
C.The climate here was once much colder
D.Which plants grew nearby at that time
LessonPrint · 3-LS4-1 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — What the Rock Remembers
Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. Coral fossils in rock on a hillside — A (A warm shallow sea covered this land) 2. Fish fossils high in a mountain — B (The rock formed underwater and was later lifted) 3. Fern fronds and tree trunks fossilised — C (This place was once a warm wet forest) 4. Ammonites and sea urchins in one layer — D (This place was once under the sea)
2.1. Fossil footprints in dried mud — B (An animal walked across soft ground here) 2. Mammoth bones in gravel — C (The climate here was once much colder) 3. No land animal bones in a sea layer — A (Evidence that this was not dry land) 4. Pollen grains preserved in peat — D (Which plants grew nearby at that time)
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.