Subscribe

5th grade · Science · Unit 12 of 12

Earth's Systems & Water

Land, water, air and life work together.

What your child practices

Practices how Earth's land, water, air and living things interact, how much of Earth's water is salty, fresh or frozen, and how communities protect Earth's resources, using New York's Great Lakes, Hudson River and Catskill reservoirs as examples.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 5-ESS2-1; 5-ESS2-2; 5-ESS3-1 · Earth's systems interact, where Earth's water is, and how communities protect Earth's resources

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The biosphere is living things. The atmosphere is air. The hydrosphere is water. The geosphere is rock.
  2. Most of Earth's water is salt water in the oceans.
  3. Most fresh water is frozen in ice caps and glaciers.
  4. The Great Lakes hold a large share of the world's fresh surface water.

Example: Where is most of Earth's fresh water? Oceans are salt water. Of the fresh water, most is frozen. Answer: in ice caps and glaciers

Earth's Systems & Water in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 12 of 12 in 5th grade Science, after Sun, Stars & Shadows.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Plant roots break rock apart. Which systems interact?

    • Hydrosphere only
    • Atmosphere and hydrosphere
    • None
    • Biosphere and geosphere

  2. Question 2

    Removing old dams on the Elwha River helped…

    • salmon return upstream
    • create a desert
    • make the river saltier
    • stop all floods forever

  3. Question 3

    The biosphere is Earth's…

    • rocks
    • living things
    • air only
    • ice only

  4. Question 4

    If all of Earth's water fit in 100 cups, about how many cups would be salty?

    • 50
    • 3
    • 10
    • 97

  5. Question 5

    The Great Lakes hold a large share of the world's…

    • fresh surface water
    • salt water
    • sand
    • glacier ice

  6. Question 6

    Most of Earth's fresh water is…

    • frozen in ice and glaciers
    • in rivers
    • in the air
    • in puddles

More 5th grade