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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 18 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.Why do some fishing laws require nets with bigger holes?
  • A.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  • B.So more fish are caught
  • C.So the nets are lighter
2.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.Only the pipes
  • C.Nothing, the sea cleans itself
3.Storm drains carry street litter into the sea. What could a town do?
  • A.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
  • B.Sweep the litter into the drains
  • C.Make the drains wider
4.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
5.A town turns off its seafront lights during the turtle nesting season. How could it check this worked?
  • A.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
  • B.Ask people whether they liked the dark
  • C.Count the streetlights
6.Boats' anchors are tearing up a seagrass meadow. What could a harbor do?
  • A.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  • B.Ban everyone from the harbor for ever
  • C.Use heavier anchors
7.Volunteers record every kind of litter they pick up on a beach. Why record the kinds?
  • A.So the litter weighs more
  • B.So the town can tackle where most of it comes from
  • C.So the beach looks busy
8.Why are tiny plastic beads banned from face washes in many countries?
  • A.They make faces too clean
  • B.They wash down drains into the sea and are eaten by sea life
  • C.They are too expensive

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 18. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  2. 2.Sea life and the people who swim there
  3. 3.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
  4. 4.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  5. 5.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
  6. 6.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  7. 7.So the town can tackle where most of it comes from
  8. 8.They wash down drains into the sea and are eaten by sea life

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