Skip to content
LessonPrint

Too Small to See is a free printable Grade 5 science worksheet on modelling matter as particles too small to be seen, aligned to Common Core standard 5-PS1-1. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 11 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Too Small to See

5-PS1-1

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.A smell spreads across a room. What does a particle model say?
  • A.Particles from the source spread out through the air
  • B.The smell has no substance
  • C.Air carries nothing
2.Sugar water is left to evaporate. What is left behind, and why?
  • A.New sugar made by the water
  • B.Nothing at all
  • C.The sugar, because its particles stayed when the water left
3.How could you show the sugar is still there?
  • A.Stir it faster
  • B.Taste it, or evaporate the water and weigh what is left
  • C.Look harder
4.Sugar stirred into water disappears from view. What has happened to it?
  • A.It has been destroyed
  • B.It has broken into particles too small to see, spread through the water
  • C.It has turned into water
5.A balloon is inflated. What model explains why it is heavier?
  • A.The rubber grew heavier
  • B.Air has no mass
  • C.Air is made of particles, and more have been put in
6.What does a good model of matter have to do?
  • A.Be complicated
  • B.Explain the observations and predict new ones
  • C.Look attractive
7.Why can a particle model be used if nobody can see the particles?
  • A.It explains and predicts what we can measure
  • B.Models must be visible
  • C.It cannot be used
8.Which observation is best explained by particles too small to see?
  • A.Ice is cold
  • B.A dissolved solid can be recovered by evaporating the liquid
  • C.Water is wet

LessonPrint · 5-PS1-1 · Set 11 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Too Small to See

Set 11. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Particles from the source spread out through the air
  2. 2.The sugar, because its particles stayed when the water left
  3. 3.Taste it, or evaporate the water and weigh what is left
  4. 4.It has broken into particles too small to see, spread through the water
  5. 5.Air is made of particles, and more have been put in
  6. 6.Explain the observations and predict new ones
  7. 7.It explains and predicts what we can measure
  8. 8.A dissolved solid can be recovered by evaporating the liquid

More practice for 5-PS1-1

Model matter as particles far too small to see.

Teaching this next? Too Small to See is the 60-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 5-PS1-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.