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Take One Out of the Web is a free printable Grade 5 science worksheet on predicting how a change to one part of a food web affects the rest, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 5-LS2-1. It prints 7 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.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Take One Out of the Web

5-LS2-1

NameDate

Read the food web, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

Who Eats What in Our Pond

A food web the class drew from a term of pond-dipping records. WHO EATS WHAT Pondweed and algae are eaten by snails, tadpoles and mayfly larvae. Mayfly larvae are eaten by newts and fish. Snails are eaten by newts and frogs. Tadpoles are eaten by newts and fish. Frogs and fish are eaten by herons. Dead plants, dead animals and droppings are broken down by bacteria and worms in the mud, returning matter to the water.

  1. 1. Why do the bacteria and worms matter to the pondweed?
  2. 2. If the frogs disappeared, what would happen to the snails at first?
  3. 3. If a disease killed the pondweed and algae, what would happen?
  4. 4. What breaks down the dead plants and animals?
2.A new road cuts a wood in two. What is one effect on the animals?
  • A.None at all
  • B.Some can no longer reach food or mates on the other side
  • C.They all get more food
3.All the decomposers are removed from a sealed tank. What builds up?
  • A.Dead material that is never broken down
  • B.Clean water
  • C.More living plants
4.Why does a web with many kinds of living thing cope better with a change?
  • A.If one food runs short, animals can eat something else
  • B.Big webs never change
  • C.More kinds means less food
5.Gray squirrels were brought into Britain. What happened to the red squirrels?
  • A.They increased
  • B.They ate the gray squirrels
  • C.They declined, partly because the gray squirrels took their food
6.Too many deer graze in a wood. What happens to the young trees?
  • A.They grow faster
  • B.Many are eaten before they can grow tall
  • C.Nothing happens to them
7.Rabbits were brought to a country where nothing ate them. What happened?
  • A.They died out at once
  • B.Their numbers grew huge and they stripped the plants
  • C.Nothing changed

LessonPrint · 5-LS2-1 · Set 10 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Take One Out of the Web

Set 10. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. They break down dead plants and animals, returning matter to the water that the pondweed can use. 2. There would be more snails, because only the newts would be eating them. 3. The snails, tadpoles and mayfly larvae would lose their food, and then so would the animals that eat them. 4. Bacteria and worms in the mud.
  2. 2.Some can no longer reach food or mates on the other side
  3. 3.Dead material that is never broken down
  4. 4.If one food runs short, animals can eat something else
  5. 5.They declined, partly because the gray squirrels took their food
  6. 6.Many are eaten before they can grow tall
  7. 7.Their numbers grew huge and they stripped the plants

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 5-LS2-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.