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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 8 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 claim does this record support?
  2. 2. What formed under the plastic wrap at midday?
  3. 3. How is the bowl like the sea and the sky?
  4. 4. How much water was in the cup by the evening?
2.Where does most of the water vapor in the air come from?
  • A.Water evaporating from the oceans
  • B.Ponds in parks
  • C.Breathing animals
3.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
4.Water vapor rises and cools. What happens to it?
  • A.It turns into salt
  • B.It condenses into tiny droplets that form clouds
  • C.It disappears
5.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
6.Rain falls far inland that began as sea water. What carried it there?
  • A.Moving air, as wind carrying clouds
  • B.Birds
  • C.Underground rivers
7.Rivers pour into the sea all the time. Why does the sea not overflow?
  • A.Water evaporates from its surface all the time
  • B.Rivers stop at night
  • C.The sea floor drinks it

LessonPrint · 5-ESS2-1 · Set 8 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Where the Sun Sends the Water

Set 8. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The sun's warmth sends water from salty water into the air, and the salt is left behind. 2. Water drops. 3. The salty water is like the sea, and the plastic wrap is like the cool air where water vapor turns back into drops. 4. 15 ml of water.
  2. 2.Water evaporating from the oceans
  3. 3.The sun and wind can evaporate the water faster
  4. 4.It condenses into tiny droplets that form clouds
  5. 5.The sun's heat makes the water evaporate faster
  6. 6.Moving air, as wind carrying clouds
  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.