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Where the Sun Sends the Water is a free printable Grade 5 science worksheet on using a covered-bowl model of how the sun moves water from sea to air, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 5-ESS2-1. 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.

Where the Sun Sends the Water

5-ESS2-1

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

Salty Water Under Plastic Wrap

Notes from two bowls of salty water, each covered with plastic wrap with a small cup in the middle, left out for one sunny day. BOWL IN THE SUN Morning: plastic wrap dry, cup empty Midday: water drops forming under the plastic wrap Afternoon: drops running down the plastic wrap and dripping into the cup Evening: 15 ml of water in the cup, and a white salt crust around the bowl's edge A drop from the cup, dried on a dark tile, left no white mark. BOWL IN THE SHADE Evening: only a few drops under the plastic wrap, cup still empty

  1. 1. Why did the drop from the cup leave no white mark on the tile?
  2. 2. Where did the drops under the plastic wrap come from?
  3. 3. Why was a second bowl left in the shade?
  4. 4. What claim does this record support?
2.Water vapor rises and cools. What happens to it?
  • A.It disappears
  • B.It condenses into tiny droplets that form clouds
  • C.It turns into salt
3.Rain falls far inland that began as sea water. What carried it there?
  • A.Birds
  • B.Underground rivers
  • C.Moving air, as wind carrying clouds
4.Which two of Earth's systems does evaporation from the sea link?
  • A.The land and living things
  • B.The air and the rocks only
  • C.The water and the air
5.In a model, a bowl of salty water stands for the sea. What could stand for the cool air where clouds form?
  • A.The table
  • B.Plastic wrap stretched over the top
  • C.The salt
6.What gives sea water the energy to evaporate?
  • A.The salt in it
  • B.The fish in it
  • C.Heat from the sun
7.Sea water is left in a shallow pan in the sun for a week. What is left?
  • A.Fresh water
  • B.Salt crystals, after the water has evaporated
  • C.Nothing at all

LessonPrint · 5-ESS2-1 · Set 10 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Where the Sun Sends the Water

Set 10. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Only the water left the bowl; the salt stayed behind as a crust. 2. Water from the salty water went up into the air and turned back into drops on the plastic wrap. 3. So the effect of the sun could be seen by comparing the two bowls. 4. The sun's warmth sends water from salty water into the air, and the salt is left behind.
  2. 2.It condenses into tiny droplets that form clouds
  3. 3.Moving air, as wind carrying clouds
  4. 4.The water and the air
  5. 5.Plastic wrap stretched over the top
  6. 6.Heat from the sun
  7. 7.Salt crystals, after the water has evaporated

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 5-ESS2-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.