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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 6 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.Boats' anchors are tearing up a seagrass meadow. What could a harbor do?
  • A.Ban everyone from the harbor for ever
  • B.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  • C.Use heavier anchors
2.Why might a community replant seagrass and salt marsh along its coast?
  • A.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  • B.They keep tourists away
  • C.They make the sea saltier
3.Why do scientists count seabirds on a cliff every year?
  • A.To scare the birds away
  • B.To notice early if their numbers start to fall, so the cause can be found
  • C.To feed the birds
4.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
5.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.A scheme that pays people back for returning bottles
  • C.Painting the bins blue
6.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
7.A fishing town's catches fall year after year. What could help the fish recover?
  • A.Catching the fish faster
  • B.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed
  • C.Using bigger boats
8.Waste water is cleaned at a works before it reaches the sea. What does that protect?
  • A.Nothing, the sea cleans itself
  • B.Only the pipes
  • C.Sea life and the people who swim there

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 6 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 6. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  2. 2.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  3. 3.To notice early if their numbers start to fall, so the cause can be found
  4. 4.They wash down drains into the sea and are eaten by sea life
  5. 5.A scheme that pays people back for returning bottles
  6. 6.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  7. 7.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed
  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.