Worksheet

Life Cycle Connections at the Fountain Steps

Compare lacewing, pigeon, and dandelion life cycles using park records, then build a model connecting generations.

Grade 3ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to3-LS1-1

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Single worksheet
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1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer, Drawing

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students compare the stages in lacewing, pigeon, and dandelion life cycles.
Students identify birth, growth, reproduction, and death in observations and models.
Students build a model showing how reproduction connects generations.

How to use

Read the park records together. Have students trace model arrows before answering, then use the final drawing to check their understanding of generations.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

3-LS1-1

Model that living things have different life cycles that all include birth, growth, reproduction and death.

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Name Date

Life Cycle Connections at the Fountain Steps

Use park records to compare life cycles and build a model.

Investigate the Park Records

Read the passage. Use its evidence to answer the questions.

Three Lives Near a City Park Fountain

The steps beside a city park fountain are a good place to watch living things. Pigeons nest on a nearby ledge. Lacewings visit the shrubs. Dandelions grow beside the steps. A park naturalist, Ada, collects photographs and notes over several years. Her records follow changes in individual plants and animals.

Scientists use life cycle models to organize changes. Birth means a new life begins; hatching and seed sprouting can represent this beginning in a model. Growth includes getting larger or developing new body parts. Reproduction means producing offspring, or new young. Death ends an individual's life. Not every individual survives to reproduce. Models can show a typical life cycle without claiming that each individual completes it.

Lacewing records: A tiny larva hatches from an egg. The larva eats and grows. Later, it makes a small cocoon and becomes a pupa inside. An adult with wings emerges. Adult lacewings can reproduce and lay eggs. Ada's photographs follow individuals through these changes.

Pigeon records: A chick hatches from an egg. The chick grows and develops feathers. Later, it can fly and grows into an adult. Adult pigeons can reproduce and lay eggs. The records show no cocoon or pupa stage.

Dandelion records: A seed sprouts. The seedling grows more leaves and becomes an adult plant. An adult produces flowers and then seeds. Some seeds sprout into new plants.

Ada also records the deaths of individual lacewings, pigeons, and dandelions. Individuals may live for different lengths of time after reproducing. Adults and their offspring may be alive together. An adult does not shrink back into its own egg or seed.

A visitor thinks a lacewing larva and an adult lacewing are different kinds of animals. Which evidence best helps correct this idea?

A. Larvae and adults were photographed near the same shrubs.
B. One individual was followed from larva through pupa to adult.
C. The adult had wings, while the larva had a different shape.
D. Several larvae were photographed beside one another.

Sort each observation by the life process it shows.

A pigeon chick develops feathers.An adult dandelion produces seeds.A lacewing larva hatches from its egg.An individual pigeon's life ends.A dandelion seedling grows more leaves.An adult lacewing lays eggs.

Birth	Growth	Reproduction	Death

Which comparison would make an accurate label for the lacewing and pigeon models?

A. Both begin as seedlings, but they develop different kinds of wings.
B. Both hatch from eggs, and both pass through a pupa stage.
C. Both develop feathers, but their adults reproduce in different ways.
D. Both hatch from eggs, but their stages before adulthood differ.

Complete the lacewing model. Use the word bank. One word will not be used.

Word bank: adult · seedling · pupa

Egg hatches → larva grows → inside a cocoon → winged

Underline the two statements supported by comparing all three records.

The three living things follow different paths as they grow into adults.The three living things pass through a cocoon stage before adulthood.Adults of the three living things can produce eggs or seeds that lead to offspring.Adults of the three living things change back into their own eggs or seeds.

Read and Improve Models

An arrow shows a connection. Decide whether it shows growth, reproduction, or the end of an individual's life.

An unfinished pigeon model
Egg hatches → chick grows and develops feathers → adult pigeon → death

Which addition would show how this pigeon model connects to a new generation?

A. Add a branch from the adult to new eggs, labeled reproduction.
B. Add a branch from death to the same chick, labeled birth.
C. Add a branch from the chick to a pupa, labeled growth.
D. Add a branch from the adult to its original egg, labeled growth.

Match each arrow in a dandelion model to its meaning.

Seedling → larger adult plant
Adult plant → seeds that can sprout
Living plant → death

A. Reproduction connects a parent to possible offspring.
B. The life of one individual comes to an end.
C. The same individual grows and develops.

Sort these model labels. Which describe a process shared by all three life cycles? Which describe a detail found in just one of these three cycles?

A young living thing grows.A pupa develops inside a cocoon.An adult can reproduce.A seed sprouts into a seedling.An individual's life ends.A chick develops feathers.

Shared process	Detail of one cycle

Support this claim: “Dandelions and lacewings have different life cycles, but their cycles include the same four life processes.” Name the four shared processes. Then give one dandelion detail and one lacewing detail that show how their cycles differ.

Follow the Next Generation

Use the dated record and the passage to check a claim and build your own model.

A tagged dandelion beside the fountain steps
May 8: Plant A is alive and has a seed head. Ada collects several of its seeds and plants them in a labeled pot.
May 29: Some collected seeds have sprouted. Plant A is still alive beside the steps.
August 14: Ada records that Plant A has died. Several young plants grown from its seeds are still alive.

10.

What does the May 29 record show about generations?

A. The parent became a seedling again after making seeds.
B. The parent had to die before its offspring could sprout.
C. The parent and some of its offspring were alive together.
D. The offspring had reached the same adult stage as the parent.

11.

A student draws “Plant A dies → Plant A turns into the young plants.” Which correction best fits the dated record?

A. Show Plant A growing backward into seedlings before August.
B. Show Plant A's seeds sprouting into young plants before it died.
C. Show Plant A dying before its seeds began to sprout.
D. Show the young plants changing into Plant A after August.

12.

Ada wants to extend the record to show another connection between generations. Which new observation would provide the best evidence?

A. One young plant grows several larger leaves in its pot.
B. One young plant stays alive after Plant A has died.
C. One young plant matures and makes seeds that later sprout.
D. One young plant is photographed beside another young plant.

13.

Build a lacewing life cycle model with words, pictures, and arrows. Include an egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Label birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Show which arrow connects to a new generation. Show death as the end of an individual's life, not as a step that changes it into an egg.