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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. What breaks down the dead plants and animals?
  2. 2. If the frogs disappeared, what would the herons have left to eat?
  3. 3. If every snail were taken out, which animals would lose some of their food?
  4. 4. If a disease killed the pondweed and algae, what would happen?
2.Gray squirrels were brought into Britain. What happened to the red squirrels?
  • A.They increased
  • B.They declined, partly because the gray squirrels took their food
  • C.They ate the gray squirrels
3.A farmer sprays a field to kill every insect. What could happen to birds that eat insects?
  • A.They start eating the spray
  • B.They get more food
  • C.They have less food, so fewer survive
4.Too many deer graze in a wood. What happens to the young trees?
  • A.Many are eaten before they can grow tall
  • B.Nothing happens to them
  • C.They grow faster
5.Ladybirds are released in a greenhouse full of aphids. What happens to the aphids?
  • A.They eat the ladybirds
  • B.They increase
  • C.They fall in number, because ladybirds eat them
6.Why can removing one plant affect an animal that never eats it?
  • A.Animals smell plants
  • B.The animals that animal eats may depend on that plant
  • C.It cannot affect it
7.All the decomposers are removed from a sealed tank. What builds up?
  • A.More living plants
  • B.Dead material that is never broken down
  • C.Clean water

LessonPrint · 5-LS2-1 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Take One Out of the Web

Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Bacteria and worms in the mud. 2. Only the fish, so the herons would eat more fish. 3. The newts and the frogs, which eat snails. 4. The snails, tadpoles and mayfly larvae would lose their food, and then so would the animals that eat them.
  2. 2.They declined, partly because the gray squirrels took their food
  3. 3.They have less food, so fewer survive
  4. 4.Many are eaten before they can grow tall
  5. 5.They fall in number, because ladybirds eat them
  6. 6.The animals that animal eats may depend on that plant
  7. 7.Dead material that is never broken down

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