Worksheet

A World of Water at the Park Pond

Create a water-distribution graph for a city park display, compare salt water and fresh water, and interpret freshwater storage data.

Grade 5ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to5-ESS2-2

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 5
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer, Drawing

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students graph the estimated amounts of salt water and fresh water on Earth.
Students compare water amounts using data with clearly identified totals.
Students support claims about Earth's water distribution with numerical evidence.

How to use

Read the park passage together. Have students build a graph from the first data table, then use both tables to evaluate ideas for the display.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

5-ESS2-2

Graph the amounts of salt water and fresh water on Earth to show how water is distributed.

Preview

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Name Date

A World of Water at the Park Pond

Build and evaluate a display about Earth's water.

Plan the Pond Display

Read the passage and Water Table A. Use the data to make a graph and answer the questions.

A Water Trail for the City Park

At a city park, a walking trail curves around a freshwater pond. Visitors watch ducks, cross a footbridge, and stop beside a small information board. The park staff wants to add a display called “Where Is Earth's Water?” A fifth-grade class has been invited to design the display. Their job is to help visitors think beyond the pond they can see.

The class gathers estimates about water across the whole planet. Salt water contains much more dissolved salt than fresh water. Oceans hold nearly all of Earth's salt water. Fresh water occurs in several places, including glaciers, underground spaces, lakes, and rivers. Fresh water does not always mean water that is safe to drink. Water quality is a different question from where water is stored.

Water Table A uses 100 equal water units to represent all the water on Earth. A unit is one equal share of the total, not a bucket or a pond. Each unit in this model stands for 1 percent of Earth's water. The numbers are rounded estimates. A model helps visitors compare amounts that would be impossible to gather in one place.

Water Table B takes a closer look at fresh water. For this table, imagine setting the salt water aside and dividing only the fresh water into 100 equal units. These units are not the same size as the units in Table A. Table B groups freshwater storage into three broad categories. Its last category includes lakes, rivers, and other small freshwater stores.

The class must decide how to turn the data into a clear display. Visitors should be able to tell what each graph represents and compare amounts fairly. Before the display is printed, student reviewers will check the labels, the units, and the claims. The park staff also asks them to explain how a picture of one pond differs from a model of the whole planet.

Water Table A: All Water on Earth
Rounded estimates out of 100 equal units of Earth's water:
Salt water — 97 units
Fresh water — 3 units

Make a bar graph of Water Table A. Add a title and label both kinds of water. Label the amount axis “Units out of 100.” Start it at 0 and mark equal steps of 10 through 100. Draw the bars as closely as you can to the correct heights. Write the exact amount above each bar.

Which comparison should a visitor see in a correct graph of Table A?

A. The two bars are almost the same height.
B. The salt water bar is much taller.
C. The fresh water bar is much taller.
D. The salt water bar is about twice as tall.

How many more units represent salt water than fresh water in Table A? units

A draft uses Table A's numbers but has the title “Water in Our Park Pond.” Which change fixes the title?

A. Change it to “Fresh Water in Our Park.”
B. Change it to “Water in Earth's Lakes.”
C. Change it to “All Water on Earth.”
D. Change it to “Salt Water in Each Ocean.”

Select all the choices that make the bar heights in a graph of Table A fair to compare.

Use the same amount scale for both bars.Make both bars reach the top of the graph.Start both bars at the same zero line.Give equal amounts equal spaces on the amount axis.Use smaller units only for the fresh water bar.

Take a Closer Look

Use Water Table B and the passage. Remember that the two tables divide different totals into 100 units.

Water Table B: Only Earth's Fresh Water
Rounded estimates out of 100 equal units of Earth's fresh water:
Ice caps and glaciers — 69 units
Underground fresh water — 30 units
Lakes, rivers, and other fresh water — 1 unit

Together, how many of Table B's 100 freshwater units are stored in ice caps, glaciers, and underground? units

Which statement best summarizes Table B?

A. Fresh water is split almost equally among the three groups.
B. Most fresh water is stored in lakes and rivers.
C. Underground stores hold more fresh water than ice does.
D. Ice caps and glaciers hold the largest freshwater share.

Each statement uses one table's units. Sort it by the total that was divided into 100 equal units.

The 30-unit underground freshwater amountThe 97-unit salt water amountThe 3-unit fresh water amountThe 69-unit ice cap and glacier amount

All Earth's water	Only Earth's fresh water

A reviewer says, “Ice caps and glaciers hold 69 out of every 100 units of ALL Earth's water.” What is the error?

A. The reviewer should have used 30, the underground amount.
B. The reviewer counted frozen water as salt water.
C. The reviewer used a freshwater share as a whole-Earth share.
D. The reviewer should have added 69 and 97 together.

Review the Final Display

Use the data to check new models and claims. For the last question, explain your claim with numbers.

10.

The class enlarges the whole-Earth model from 100 equal counters to 1,000 equal counters. Which set keeps Table A's water shares the same?

A. 970 salt water counters and 30 fresh water counters
B. 97 salt water counters and 903 fresh water counters
C. 700 salt water counters and 300 fresh water counters
D. 997 salt water counters and 3 fresh water counters

11.

Select the two claims supported by the passage and tables.

Every freshwater store contains water that is safe to drink.Earth's salt water amount is more than ten times its fresh water amount.Lakes and rivers hold most of Earth's fresh water.Frozen stores hold more than half of Earth's fresh water.Each table's water unit represents the same amount of water.

12.

Another source gives a slightly different rounded estimate: 97.5% salt water and 2.5% fresh water. Which main conclusion stays the same with either estimate?

A. Fresh water makes up about one-fourth of Earth's water.
B. Salt water makes up nearly all of Earth's water.
C. Salt water and fresh water occur in nearly equal amounts.
D. Fresh water makes up more than half of Earth's water.

13.

Write a short message for the park display. Explain how much of Earth's water is fresh compared with salty, and where most fresh water is stored. Support your message with numbers from BOTH tables. Make clear what each set of numbers describes.