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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 23 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 formed under the plastic wrap at midday?
  2. 2. How much water was in the cup by the evening?
  3. 3. How did the bowl in the sun compare with the bowl in the shade?
  4. 4. What claim does this record support?
2.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
3.Rivers pour into the sea all the time. Why does the sea not overflow?
  • A.The sea floor drinks it
  • B.Water evaporates from its surface all the time
  • C.Rivers stop at night
4.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
5.Sea water is salty, but rain from clouds over the sea is fresh. Why?
  • A.Clouds clean the salt out
  • B.The rain is from rivers
  • C.Only the water evaporates; the salt stays in the sea
6.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
7.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

LessonPrint · 5-ESS2-1 · Set 23 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Where the Sun Sends the Water

Set 23. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Water drops. 2. 15 ml of water. 3. The bowl in the sun made far more drops; the bowl in the shade had only a few and its cup stayed empty. 4. The sun's warmth sends water from salty water into the air, and the salt is left behind.
  2. 2.Water evaporating from the oceans
  3. 3.Water evaporates from its surface all the time
  4. 4.Salt crystals, after the water has evaporated
  5. 5.Only the water evaporates; the salt stays in the sea
  6. 6.The sun and wind can evaporate the water faster
  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.