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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 13 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. Why did the drop from the cup leave no white mark on the tile?
  2. 2. How much water was in the cup by the evening?
  3. 3. What would happen on a hotter, sunnier day?
  4. 4. How is the bowl like the sea and the sky?
2.Water vapor rises and cools. What happens to it?
  • A.It condenses into tiny droplets that form clouds
  • B.It turns into salt
  • C.It disappears
3.In a model, a bowl of salty water stands for the sea. What could stand for the cool air where clouds form?
  • A.Plastic wrap stretched over the top
  • B.The table
  • C.The salt
4.Why do salt makers spread sea water in wide shallow ponds?
  • A.The sun and wind can evaporate the water faster
  • B.So the water stays cold
  • C.So fish can swim in them
5.Rivers pour into the sea all the time. Why does the sea not overflow?
  • A.Rivers stop at night
  • B.Water evaporates from its surface all the time
  • C.The sea floor drinks it
6.What gives sea water the energy to evaporate?
  • A.Heat from the sun
  • B.The fish in it
  • C.The salt in it
7.Why do puddles dry faster on a sunny day than a cloudy one?
  • A.Clouds add water to puddles
  • B.The sun's heat makes the water evaporate faster
  • C.Puddles drain faster in sunlight

LessonPrint · 5-ESS2-1 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Where the Sun Sends the Water

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Only the water left the bowl; the salt stayed behind as a crust. 2. 15 ml of water. 3. More drops would form under the plastic wrap and more water would collect in the cup. 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.It condenses into tiny droplets that form clouds
  3. 3.Plastic wrap stretched over the top
  4. 4.The sun and wind can evaporate the water faster
  5. 5.Water evaporates from its surface all the time
  6. 6.Heat from the sun
  7. 7.The sun's heat makes the water evaporate faster

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