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Keeping the Sea Clean is a free printable Grade 5 science worksheet on how communities use science to protect coasts and oceans, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 5-ESS3-1. It prints 8 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 13 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.

Keeping the Sea Clean

5-ESS3-1

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.Storm drains carry street litter into the sea. What could a town do?
  • A.Sweep the litter into the drains
  • B.Make the drains wider
  • C.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
2.Why are tiny plastic beads banned from face washes in many countries?
  • A.They are too expensive
  • B.They wash down drains into the sea and are eaten by sea life
  • C.They make faces too clean
3.Boats' anchors are tearing up a seagrass meadow. What could a harbor do?
  • A.Ban everyone from the harbor for ever
  • B.Use heavier anchors
  • C.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
4.A town turns off its seafront lights during the turtle nesting season. How could it check this worked?
  • A.Ask people whether they liked the dark
  • B.Count the streetlights
  • C.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
5.Waste water is cleaned at a works before it reaches the sea. What does that protect?
  • A.Sea life and the people who swim there
  • B.Nothing, the sea cleans itself
  • C.Only the pipes
6.A beach survey found most of the litter was plastic bottles and their tops. Which measure uses that evidence best?
  • A.Closing the beach in winter
  • B.Painting the bins blue
  • C.A scheme that pays people back for returning bottles
7.Why might a community replant seagrass and salt marsh along its coast?
  • A.They make the sea saltier
  • B.They keep tourists away
  • C.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
8.Why do scientists count seabirds on a cliff every year?
  • A.To notice early if their numbers start to fall, so the cause can be found
  • B.To feed the birds
  • C.To scare the birds away

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
  2. 2.They wash down drains into the sea and are eaten by sea life
  3. 3.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  4. 4.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
  5. 5.Sea life and the people who swim there
  6. 6.A scheme that pays people back for returning bottles
  7. 7.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  8. 8.To notice early if their numbers start to fall, so the cause can be found

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 5-ESS3-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.