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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 21 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 places charge a small amount for plastic carrier bags?
  • A.To make bags stronger
  • B.To make the stores tidier
  • C.Fewer bags are used, so fewer end up in rivers and the sea
2.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
3.Waste water is cleaned at a works before it reaches the sea. What does that protect?
  • A.Only the pipes
  • B.Nothing, the sea cleans itself
  • C.Sea life and the people who swim there
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.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
6.A fishing town's catches fall year after year. What could help the fish recover?
  • A.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed
  • B.Catching the fish faster
  • C.Using bigger boats
7.Why do some fishing laws require nets with bigger holes?
  • A.So the nets are lighter
  • B.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  • C.So more fish are caught
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 scare the birds away
  • C.To feed the birds

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Fewer bags are used, so fewer end up in rivers and the sea
  2. 2.A scheme that pays people back for returning bottles
  3. 3.Sea life and the people who swim there
  4. 4.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
  5. 5.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  6. 6.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed
  7. 7.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  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.