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Helping and Harming is a free printable Kindergarten science worksheet on solutions that reduce what people do to the local environment, aligned to NGSS performance expectation K-ESS3-3. It prints 3 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 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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All 25 sets ask different questions.

Helping and Harming

K-ESS3-3

NameDate

Sort each one into helps or harms.

1.Sort each one: Helps living things or Harms living things?

Sort: Dropping a chip bag on the field, Turning the faucet off while brushing, Pulling up flowers the bees visit, Filling a bird feeder in winter

Helps living thingsHarms living things
2.Sort each one: Helps living things or Harms living things?

Sort: Breaking branches off a young tree, Walking to school instead of driving, Making a pond for frogs, Leaving the faucet running all break

Helps living thingsHarms living things
3.Sort each one: Helps living things or Harms living things?

Sort: Planting a tree in the grounds, Leaving a bag in the pond, Putting litter in a trash can, Pouring paint down a drain

Helps living thingsHarms living things

LessonPrint · K-ESS3-3 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Helping and Harming

Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Dropping a chip bag on the field — Harms living things 2. Filling a bird feeder in winter — Helps living things 3. Pulling up flowers the bees visit — Harms living things 4. Turning the faucet off while brushing — Helps living things
  2. 2.1. Breaking branches off a young tree — Harms living things 2. Leaving the faucet running all break — Harms living things 3. Making a pond for frogs — Helps living things 4. Walking to school instead of driving — Helps living things
  3. 3.1. Leaving a bag in the pond — Harms living things 2. Planting a tree in the grounds — Helps living things 3. Pouring paint down a drain — Harms living things 4. Putting litter in a trash can — Helps living things

Questions about Helping and Harming

What does the Helping and Harming worksheet cover?

It practices solutions that reduce what people do to the local environment — 3 questions for Kindergarten, all on NGSS K-ESS3-3: Share ways people can do less harm to the land, water, air and living things nearby. The instruction to students is “Sort each one into helps or harms”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.

Which NGSS performance expectation does Helping and Harming practice?

K-ESS3-3, under Earth and Space Science for Kindergarten. The published performance expectation reads: “Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.” The worksheet assesses that performance expectation rather than a paraphrase of it.

What age or grade is this worksheet for?

Helping and Harming is written for Kindergarten, typically ages 5-6. It is one of the sheets on K-ESS3-3, so it suits any student working at that standard — including older students revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.

Does Helping and Harming come with an answer key?

Yes. All 3 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.

How many different versions of Helping and Harming can I print?

25 — one per student, and all 25 ask different questions. Set 1 downloads the whole class as a single PDF. Every version is fixed to its own address, so a sheet printed today holds the same problems when you reopen it next week.

Is Helping and Harming free to print and photocopy?

Yes. Helping and Harming, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.

Is there a lesson plan to teach K-ESS3-3?

Yes — “Helping and Harming” is a 45-minute Kindergarten plan for K-ESS3-3, timed section by section, with the misconceptions to expect and an exit ticket. Helping and Harming is the practice that follows it.

More practice for K-ESS3-3

Share ways people can do less harm to the land, water, air and living things nearby.

Teaching this next? Helping and Harming is the 45-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Kindergarten worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to K-ESS3-3 of the Next Generation Science Standards.