Skip to content
LessonPrint

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 7 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next set

One paper per student

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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 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
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 make the sea saltier
  • C.They keep tourists away
3.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 the stores tidier
  • C.To make bags stronger
4.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
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.A fishing town's catches fall year after year. What could help the fish recover?
  • A.Using bigger boats
  • B.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed
  • C.Catching the fish faster
7.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
8.Why do scientists count seabirds on a cliff every year?
  • A.To scare the birds away
  • B.To feed the birds
  • C.To notice early if their numbers start to fall, so the cause can be found

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.They wash down drains into the sea and are eaten by sea life
  2. 2.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  3. 3.Fewer bags are used, so fewer end up in rivers and the sea
  4. 4.So young fish escape and grow up to breed
  5. 5.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
  6. 6.An area of sea where no fishing is allowed, so fish can breed
  7. 7.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
  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.