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Low-Tide Predictions at Ripple Rock

Use rocky-shore observations and a graph to predict which animals could survive well, less well, or not at all.

Grade 3ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to3-LS4-3

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
14 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

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

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students connect animal needs to habitat evidence to argue that animals differ in how well they can survive.
Students use water-duration data to predict how a habitat change could affect survival.

How to use

Read the shore report and graph together. Have students connect each prediction to an animal's needs, then write arguments using specific evidence.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

3-LS4-3

Argue that in a habitat some living things survive well, some less well and some cannot survive.

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Low-Tide Predictions at Ripple Rock

Use habitat evidence to predict which animals could survive.

1. Read the Shore Evidence

Use the report and graph to answer. Predict whether animals could make this rock shelf their home, not just visit briefly.

Five Hours at Ripple Rock

Ripple Rock is a low rock shelf at a beach. Seawater covers it at high tide. As the tide goes out, water stays in six rock hollows, labeled A through F. During a cool five-hour visit, a shore team watched the hollows without touching or moving animals.

The team began timing when the outgoing tide left the hollows behind. Each hollow started with seawater. Some lost water through cracks before the sea returned. The graph records how long each stayed filled. A bar reaching five hours means the hollow held water for the whole visit. There was no freshwater pool or stream on the shelf.

Hard rock covers most of the shelf. Many acorn barnacles are attached there. These small animals feed on tiny living things carried by seawater when the tide covers them. They can close their hard plates to hold moisture during a cool low tide like this one. The team saw them feeding when the sea returned.

Tide-pool sculpins are small fish that usually need seawater covering their gills to breathe well. The hollows have hiding cracks and tiny animals they can eat. Bluegill are different fish: they need fresh water with little salt. Full-strength seawater, like the water at Ripple Rock, does not meet that need.