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

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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. What formed under the plastic wrap at midday?
  2. 2. What claim does this record support?
  3. 3. Where did the drops under the plastic wrap come from?
  4. 4. How much water was in the cup by the evening?
2.Why do salt makers spread sea water in wide shallow ponds?
  • A.So the water stays cold
  • B.So fish can swim in them
  • C.The sun and wind can evaporate the water faster
3.What gives sea water the energy to evaporate?
  • A.The fish in it
  • B.Heat from the sun
  • C.The salt in it
4.Sea water is left in a shallow pan in the sun for a week. What is left?
  • A.Nothing at all
  • B.Fresh water
  • C.Salt crystals, after the water has evaporated
5.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
6.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
7.Sea water is salty, but rain from clouds over the sea is fresh. Why?
  • A.The rain is from rivers
  • B.Only the water evaporates; the salt stays in the sea
  • C.Clouds clean the salt out

LessonPrint · 5-ESS2-1 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Where the Sun Sends the Water

Set 16. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Water drops. 2. The sun's warmth sends water from salty water into the air, and the salt is left behind. 3. Water from the salty water went up into the air and turned back into drops on the plastic wrap. 4. 15 ml of water.
  2. 2.The sun and wind can evaporate the water faster
  3. 3.Heat from the sun
  4. 4.Salt crystals, after the water has evaporated
  5. 5.The water and the air
  6. 6.It condenses into tiny droplets that form clouds
  7. 7.Only the water evaporates; the salt stays in the sea

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