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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 25 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 might a community replant seagrass and salt marsh along its coast?
  • A.They make the sea saltier
  • B.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  • C.They keep tourists away
2.Why do some fishing laws require nets with bigger holes?
  • A.So the nets are lighter
  • B.So more fish are caught
  • C.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
3.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.Using bigger boats
  • C.Catching the fish faster
4.A beach survey found most of the litter was plastic bottles and their tops. Which measure uses that evidence best?
  • A.A scheme that pays people back for returning bottles
  • B.Closing the beach in winter
  • C.Painting the bins blue
5.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 beach looks busy
  • C.So the town can tackle where most of it comes from
6.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
7.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.Use heavier anchors
  • C.Ban everyone from the harbor for ever
8.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

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 25 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 25. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  2. 2.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  3. 3.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed
  4. 4.A scheme that pays people back for returning bottles
  5. 5.So the town can tackle where most of it comes from
  6. 6.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
  7. 7.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  8. 8.Sea life and the people who swim there

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