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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 8 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.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
3.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
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 the streetlights
  • B.Count how many hatchlings reach the sea before and after
  • C.Ask people whether they liked the dark
6.Boats' anchors are tearing up a seagrass meadow. What could a harbor do?
  • A.Ban everyone from the harbor for ever
  • B.Use heavier anchors
  • C.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
7.Why do scientists count seabirds on a cliff every year?
  • A.To feed the birds
  • B.To scare the birds away
  • C.To notice early if their numbers start to fall, so the cause can be found
8.Storm drains carry street litter into the sea. What could a town do?
  • A.Sweep the litter into the drains
  • B.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter
  • C.Make the drains wider

LessonPrint · 5-ESS3-1 · Set 8 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Keeping the Sea Clean

Set 8. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Fewer bags are used, so fewer end up in rivers and the sea
  2. 2.They shelter young fish and hold the mud in place
  3. 3.A scheme that pays people back for returning bottles
  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.Put in fixed moorings so boats do not need to drop anchor
  7. 7.To notice early if their numbers start to fall, so the cause can be found
  8. 8.Fit nets or screens on the drains to catch litter

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