Science Worksheet · Grades 4–6
Weird Water Worksheet
A printable science worksheet for grades 4-6 on water’s unusual properties. Students read a one-page passage on why ice floats, water’s molecule structure, cohesion, adhesion, surface tension, and specific heat, then answer four multiple-choice questions, six true-or-false statements, and six fill-ins. A complete answer key is included.
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Subject
Science
Grades
Grades 4–6
Skill Focus
Weird Water, physical science
Lesson Length
40 minutes
Learning Objective
Students will explain several of water’s unusual physical properties and the everyday effects they cause.
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
This worksheet gathers several of water’s strangest everyday behaviors into one passage, starting with a genuinely unusual one: unlike almost every other liquid, water’s solid form is less dense than its liquid form, which is why ice floats instead of sinking — and why a frozen lake still has liquid water underneath for fish to survive in through the winter.
Cohesion and adhesion are worth pulling apart as two related but different ideas: cohesion is water sticking to itself, adhesion is water sticking to something else, and the two working together is what lets water climb up a straw or move from a plant’s roots to its leaves against gravity.
The paperclip demonstration in the passage — float a paperclip on water, then add a drop of dish soap and watch it sink — is a simple one to try in class. It makes surface tension visible in a way a definition alone doesn’t, and gives students a concrete answer for why the soap changes the outcome.
Page 2 asks sixteen questions in three forms; page 3 is a complete answer key.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the passage on page 1.
Answer the four multiple-choice questions in Section A.
Mark each Section B statement TRUE or FALSE, and be ready to say why.
Write the missing word in each Section C sentence.
Use the answer key on page 3 for self-check or grading.
Try the paperclip-and-soap demonstration as a class and discuss why the soap changes the result.
Printable Resource
A classroom-ready PDF with everything in one printable resource.
Free Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
Weird Water Worksheet
A printable science worksheet for grades 4-6 on water’s unusual properties. Students read a one-page passage on why ice floats, water’s molecule structure, cohesion, adhesion, surface tension, and specific heat, then answer four multiple-choice questions, six true-or-false statements, and six fill-ins. A complete answer key is included.
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