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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.

Set 12 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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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. What would happen on a hotter, sunnier day?
  2. 2. Why did the drop from the cup leave no white mark on the tile?
  3. 3. How much water was in the cup by the evening?
  4. 4. How is the bowl like the sea and the sky?
2.Sea water is left in a shallow pan in the sun for a week. What is left?
  • A.Nothing at all
  • B.Salt crystals, after the water has evaporated
  • C.Fresh water
3.What would happen to rain over the land if the sun stopped warming the sea?
  • A.Much less water would evaporate, so there would be much less rain
  • B.There would be more rain
  • C.Nothing would change
4.Which two of Earth's systems does evaporation from the sea link?
  • A.The air and the rocks only
  • B.The water and the air
  • C.The land and living things
5.Where does most of the water vapor in the air come from?
  • A.Water evaporating from the oceans
  • B.Breathing animals
  • C.Ponds in parks
6.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
7.Rivers pour into the sea all the time. Why does the sea not overflow?
  • A.The sea floor drinks it
  • B.Rivers stop at night
  • C.Water evaporates from its surface all the time

LessonPrint · 5-ESS2-1 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Where the Sun Sends the Water

Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. More drops would form under the plastic wrap and more water would collect in the cup. 2. Only the water left the bowl; the salt stayed behind as a crust. 3. 15 ml of water. 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.Salt crystals, after the water has evaporated
  3. 3.Much less water would evaporate, so there would be much less rain
  4. 4.The water and the air
  5. 5.Water evaporating from the oceans
  6. 6.Plastic wrap stretched over the top
  7. 7.Water evaporates from its surface all the time

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