C Curriculum Explorer
Science·Earth's Systems·conceptual

Salt Water vs Fresh Water

Describe and graph the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth

Suggested ages 10–11

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Learning journey

Your child is learning about Earth as a connected system, exploring how water is distributed across our planet and how the land, water, air, and living things all interact with each other.

Evidence of understanding

  • State that about 97% of Earth's water is salt water in the oceans
  • Describe where fresh water is found: glaciers/ice caps, groundwater, rivers, lakes
  • Create or interpret a graph showing the relative amounts of salt water vs fresh water

Assessment prompt

Can Salt Water vs Fresh Water explain that most of Earth's water is salty ocean water, and only a tiny fraction is the fresh water we drink, and show this on a graph?

Standards alignment

5-ESS2-2US · ngss-k5

5-ESS2-2

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) K-5