Quiz & test questions Grade 5 Science
Silver Creek Reservoir: Earth's Systems and Water Distribution Quiz
A grade 5 science quiz on how the hydrosphere interacts with Earth's other systems at a reservoir, plus a counters model of ocean, ice, and fresh water.
Objectives
- Students will identify which two of Earth's systems interact in a given example from a reservoir setting.
- Students will use a 100-counter model to represent the real proportions of ocean water, ice, and accessible fresh water on Earth.
- Students will interpret a proportional model to explain why accessible fresh water is a small share of Earth's total water.
Vocabulary
- Watershed
- A watershed is all the land where rain that falls will drain to the same stream, river, or lake. Everyone lives in a watershed, no matter how far from the water they live.
Also: hydrosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, biosphere
Teacher overview
This 35-minute quiz (25 points total) checks whether students can name specific two-system interactions at a reservoir and use a simple counters model to represent how Earth's water is actually distributed. It mixes three multiple-choice items, three short-answer items, and two computation items, all set at the fictional Silver Creek Reservoir, which sits at the bottom of a small watershed of hills, streams, and a pond.
Silver Creek Reservoir is a stand-in for any real reservoir a class might study locally. Students first identify which of Earth's four systems, the geosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, interact in specific examples from the reservoir and its watershed. Then they build a 100-counter model, using the real proportions of Earth's ocean water, ice, and accessible fresh water, to see why fresh water available to reservoirs like Silver Creek's is such a small share of the planet's total.
Assessment
(2 points) Rain falls on the hillside above Silver Creek Reservoir. It picks up loose soil and carries the soil down into the reservoir. Now the water looks cloudy. Which two systems are interacting in this example?
- A) atmosphere and biosphere
- B) hydrosphere and geosphere
- C) biosphere and hydrosphere
- D) atmosphere and geosphere
(2 points) Cattails and other plants grow at the reservoir's edge. A cattail's roots pull water up from the reservoir into its stem and leaves. Which two systems are interacting in this example?
- A) hydrosphere and geosphere
- B) hydrosphere and biosphere
- C) geosphere and biosphere
- D) atmosphere and geosphere
(3 points) Short answer: Describe one way the sun's heat affects the reservoir's water. Then describe how that water later comes back from the atmosphere to the reservoir. Use the words evaporation and precipitation in your answer.
(4 points) Ms. Ortiz's class uses 100 counters to stand for all of the water on Earth. About 97 out of 100 counters stand for salty ocean water. About 2 out of 100 counters stand for fresh water frozen in ice caps and glaciers. The rest stand for the fresh water in lakes, rivers, and groundwater that people and animals can actually use. How many counters stand for each of the three groups?
(3 points) Look at your answer from item 4. In one or two sentences, explain why so few counters were left for fresh water that people and animals can use.
(3 points) Which statement is best supported by the counters model in item 4?
- A) Most of Earth's fresh water is easy for people to reach.
- B) Nearly all of Earth's water is salty ocean water, so the fresh water that reservoirs like Silver Creek's depend on is a small share of the planet's total.
- C) The atmosphere holds more water than the ocean does.
- D) Ice caps and glaciers hold more water than the ocean does.
(4 points) The class draws a bar graph of the item 4 counters. On the class's grid, each full square stands for 5 counters. How many full squares tall is the ocean-water bar? Round down to the nearest whole square. How many full squares tall is the accessible-fresh-water bar?
(4 points) Short answer: Hills surround Silver Creek Reservoir. The hills force moving air upward. This cools the air and can wring extra rain out of it. Which two of Earth's systems are interacting in this example? How does that interaction affect the reservoir below?
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
Answer: B) hydrosphere and geosphere. The moving water (hydrosphere) is carrying soil from the land (geosphere) into the reservoir, a direct interaction between those two systems.
Answer: B) hydrosphere and biosphere. The cattail is a living thing (biosphere) whose roots pull water (hydrosphere) directly from the reservoir.
Answer: Accept any answer that names both directions of the interaction: the sun's heat causes evaporation, turning reservoir water into water vapor that rises into the air, and later that water vapor cools, condenses, and falls back as precipitation, refilling the reservoir.
Answer: 1 counter represents accessible fresh water (97 counters represent ocean water and 2 counters represent ice caps and glaciers). 100 − 97 − 2 = 1, so only 1 out of 100 counters is left for every lake, river, and underground water supply that people and animals can use.
Answer: Accept any explanation that connects the small leftover count to the fact that almost all of Earth's water is locked up as salty ocean water or frozen ice, leaving only a tiny share as fresh water people and animals can reach and use, which is why communities have to manage that share carefully.
Answer: B) Nearly all of Earth's water is salty ocean water, so the fresh water reservoirs like Silver Creek's depend on is a small share of the planet's total. The counters model in item 4 shows 97 of 100 counters as ocean water, directly supporting this statement and ruling out the other three choices.
Answer: 19 squares tall for the ocean-water bar, and 0 squares tall (less than one full square) for the accessible-fresh-water bar. 97 ÷ 5 = 19.4, which rounds down to 19 full squares; 1 ÷ 5 = 0.2, which rounds down to 0 full squares, showing that accessible fresh water barely appears on a graph drawn at this scale.
Answer: The geosphere (the hills) and the atmosphere (the moving air) are interacting. As the hills force air upward, the air cools and drops extra rain on the reservoir's side of the hills, which means the shape of the land is helping determine how much water actually reaches Silver Creek Reservoir.
Differentiation
Support (below grade level)
For items 1 and 2, provide a simple key listing the four systems with one-word reminders (geosphere = land/rock, atmosphere = air, biosphere = living things, hydrosphere = water) that students can reference throughout the quiz. For item 4, provide a pre-drawn row of 100 blank boxes in groups of ten so students can shade 97, then 2, then count what remains rather than subtracting from 100 mentally.
Extension (above grade level)
After item 7, ask students to explain why a bar graph drawn at this scale makes accessible fresh water look like it barely exists, even though it still adds up to a meaningful amount of water once measured in real units like gallons or cubic miles rather than counters. Have them suggest a way to redraw the graph (such as a separate, zoomed-in graph of just the non-ocean, non-ice water) that would let a reader see differences within that small remaining share.
ELL supports
Pair the words evaporation and precipitation in item 3 with a simple two-arrow diagram (water rising from the reservoir, then falling back down) before students answer. For item 4, allow students to represent their answer with an actual set of 100 small counters or beans, sorting them into three piles, rather than writing the numbers from memory.