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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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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. What would happen on a hotter, sunnier day?
  3. 3. What formed under the plastic wrap at midday?
  4. 4. How is the bowl like the sea and the sky?
2.Why do salt makers spread sea water in wide shallow ponds?
  • A.The sun and wind can evaporate the water faster
  • B.So fish can swim in them
  • C.So the water stays cold
3.Why do puddles dry faster on a sunny day than a cloudy one?
  • A.The sun's heat makes the water evaporate faster
  • B.Clouds add water to puddles
  • C.Puddles drain faster in sunlight
4.What gives sea water the energy to evaporate?
  • A.The fish in it
  • B.Heat from the sun
  • C.The salt in it
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 salt
  • B.Plastic wrap stretched over the top
  • C.The table
6.Which two of Earth's systems does evaporation from the sea link?
  • A.The water and the air
  • B.The air and the rocks only
  • C.The land and living things
7.Rain falls far inland that began as sea water. What carried it there?
  • A.Underground rivers
  • B.Birds
  • C.Moving air, as wind carrying clouds

LessonPrint · 5-ESS2-1 · Set 11 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Where the Sun Sends the Water

Set 11. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Only the water left the bowl; the salt stayed behind as a crust. 2. More drops would form under the plastic wrap and more water would collect in the cup. 3. Water drops. 4. The salty water is like the sea, and the plastic wrap is like the cool air where water vapor turns back into drops.
  2. 2.The sun and wind can evaporate the water faster
  3. 3.The sun's heat makes the water evaporate faster
  4. 4.Heat from the sun
  5. 5.Plastic wrap stretched over the top
  6. 6.The water and the air
  7. 7.Moving air, as wind carrying clouds

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