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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. Where did the drops under the plastic wrap come from?
  3. 3. What claim does this record support?
  4. 4. What would happen on a hotter, sunnier day?
2.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
3.Why do puddles dry faster on a sunny day than a cloudy one?
  • A.Puddles drain faster in sunlight
  • B.The sun's heat makes the water evaporate faster
  • C.Clouds add water to puddles
4.What gives sea water the energy to evaporate?
  • A.Heat from the sun
  • B.The fish in it
  • C.The salt in it
5.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
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.Where does most of the water vapor in the air come from?
  • A.Breathing animals
  • B.Water evaporating from the oceans
  • C.Ponds in parks

LessonPrint · 5-ESS2-1 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Where the Sun Sends the Water

Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Only the water left the bowl; the salt stayed behind as a crust. 2. Water from the salty water went up into the air and turned back into drops on the plastic wrap. 3. The sun's warmth sends water from salty water into the air, and the salt is left behind. 4. More drops would form under the plastic wrap and more water would collect in the cup.
  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.Water evaporates from its surface all the time
  6. 6.The water and the air
  7. 7.Water evaporating from the oceans

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