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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 3 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 young fish escape and grow up to breed
  • C.So more fish are caught
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.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
5.Why are tiny plastic beads banned from face washes in many countries?
  • A.They wash down drains into the sea and are eaten by sea life
  • B.They are too expensive
  • C.They make faces too clean
6.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
7.Why do some places charge a small amount for plastic carrier bags?
  • A.Fewer bags are used, so fewer end up in rivers and the sea
  • B.To make bags stronger
  • C.To make the stores tidier
8.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

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 3 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 3. 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.To notice early if their numbers start to fall, so the cause can be found
  5. 5.They wash down drains into the sea and are eaten by sea life
  6. 6.Sea life and the people who swim there
  7. 7.Fewer bags are used, so fewer end up in rivers and the sea
  8. 8.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after

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