Skip to content
LessonPrint

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.

Set 25 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.

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. If the frogs disappeared, what would happen to the snails at first?
  2. 2. If the frogs disappeared, what would the herons have left to eat?
  3. 3. Why do the bacteria and worms matter to the pondweed?
  4. 4. If every snail were taken out, which animals would lose some of their food?
2.The rabbits in that field then increase. What happens to the grass?
  • A.There is more of it
  • B.There is less of it, because more rabbits are eating it
  • C.It is not affected
3.A farmer sprays a field to kill every insect. What could happen to birds that eat insects?
  • A.They have less food, so fewer survive
  • B.They get more food
  • C.They start eating the spray
4.The foxes are removed from a field. What happens to the rabbits at first?
  • A.They leave at once
  • B.They increase, because fewer are eaten
  • C.They decrease
5.Too many deer graze in a wood. What happens to the young trees?
  • A.Nothing happens to them
  • B.Many are eaten before they can grow tall
  • C.They grow faster
6.Why can removing one plant affect an animal that never eats it?
  • A.The animals that animal eats may depend on that plant
  • B.It cannot affect it
  • C.Animals smell plants
7.A forest fire burns the trees. Which animals lose their food first?
  • A.The animals that eat other animals
  • B.Those that eat the leaves and seeds of the trees
  • C.None, fire does not affect food

LessonPrint · 5-LS2-1 · Set 25 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Take One Out of the Web

Set 25. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. There would be more snails, because only the newts would be eating them. 2. Only the fish, so the herons would eat more fish. 3. They break down dead plants and animals, returning matter to the water that the pondweed can use. 4. The newts and the frogs, which eat snails.
  2. 2.There is less of it, because more rabbits are eating it
  3. 3.They have less food, so fewer survive
  4. 4.They increase, because fewer are eaten
  5. 5.Many are eaten before they can grow tall
  6. 6.The animals that animal eats may depend on that plant
  7. 7.Those that eat the leaves and seeds of the trees

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