Earth and Space Science · California Grade 6

MS-ESS2-4

Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

Clarification statement: Emphasis is on the ways water changes its state as it moves through the multiple pathways of the hydrologic cycle. Examples of models can be conceptual or physical.

Assessment boundary: A quantitative understanding of the latent heats of vaporization and fusion is not assessed.

Source: California Department of Education, NGSS Preferred Integrated Course Model, Grade 6 (accessed 2026-10-18)

Chapters

Chapter 7: Global Cycles of Mattersupports

The water cycle in this lesson is a Grade 6 performance expectation in the California integrated sequence (MS-ESS2-4), where it is taught in full with energy from the sun and the force of gravity. Here it is reviewed as one of three matter cycles and used as the easiest example of a reservoir-and-process model; it is not assessed.

Chapter 10: Energy in Earth's Systemssupports

This is a Grade 6 PE in the California sequence. The atmosphere section traces water evaporating, rising in warm air, condensing into clouds and falling under gravity; the chapter uses it as an example of energy and matter crossing between systems and leaves the full water cycle to Lesson 18.

Chapter 18: The Water Cycleassesses

This is a California Grade 6 performance expectation in the Preferred Integrated model, so seventh graders are revisiting it; the textbook places it here. Students develop conceptual models (W4, the W10 synthesis, Lab 3) and work with a physical model and field evidence (Lab 1, Lab 2) of water changing state and moving through Earth's systems, and explain which moves the Sun powers and which gravity powers. Quantitative latent heat is not assessed.

Chapter 19: Earth's Natural Resourcessupports

Groundwater recharge is the water cycle seen from below: rain and snowmelt soak through soil into porous rock. This is a Grade 6 PE in the California sequence; this chapter uses it as background for recharge versus pumping and does not reteach or assess the whole cycle.

Chapter 26: Mass Wasting, Tsunamis, and Floodssupports

This is a Grade 6 PE in the California sequence, so students should arrive knowing the water cycle. Here it is background only: atmospheric rivers carry water evaporated from the ocean inland, mountains force the moist air up to make rain and snow, and runoff is the share that does not soak in. No new water-cycle model is assessed.

Worksheets (11)

Chapter	Worksheet	Role	How it connects
Ch. 7	W2 · Reservoirs, Routes and Rules: Sorting the Language of Cycles Vocabulary in action	supports	Water-cycle terms (evaporation, condensation, precipitation) appear in the sort. MS-ESS2-4 is a Grade 6 PE in the California integrated sequence; here the water cycle is background that students met last year, not a target of this chapter.
Ch. 18	W1 · Three Meters of Snow, Then Dust: Where Did the Mountain's Water Go? Phenomenon exploration	practice	MS-ESS2-4 is placed in Grade 6 in California's integrated sequence; this seventh-grade lesson revisits it. Students begin building the model of water cycling driven by the sun and gravity by proposing where a vanished snowpack went, which is the first draft of the model the PE asks for.
Ch. 18	W2 · Who Powers It? Sorting the Water Cycle's Words by Energy and Gravity Vocabulary in action	practice	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited here. Sorting each process by its driver (the sun's energy, cooling, or gravity) and its change of state is the vocabulary backbone of the model the PE asks students to develop.
Ch. 18	W3 · From Snowflake to Faucet: How California Drinks Its Mountains Reading with evidence	practice	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited in this seventh-grade lesson. The passage traces one real pathway of the water cycle, the Sierra snowpack to the Central Valley, and the questions ask students to identify which steps the sun powers and which gravity powers, building the reasoning they need for the model.
Ch. 18	W4 · Reading One Loop, Drawing the Whole Web: Modeling the Water Cycle Diagrams and models	assesses	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited here. Part B asks students to develop their own model of water cycling with the sun and gravity labeled as drivers and changes of state marked, which is direct evidence toward the PE as written. The latent-heat assessment boundary is respected: energy is described qualitatively.
Ch. 18	W5 · Snowpack Down, Creek Up: Two Datasets on Energy and Moving Water Data and graphing	practice	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited here. Analyzing how snowmelt (sun-driven) becomes streamflow (gravity-driven) with a lag, and how evaporation rate rises with temperature, gives students quantitative reasons for the sun and gravity drivers in the model the PE asks for.
Ch. 18	W6 · Is the Dam Leaking? A Claim-Evidence-Reasoning Case About a Shrinking Lake Claim, evidence, reasoning	practice	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited here. Students reason about evaporation (sun-driven), inflow and outflow (gravity-driven) as parts of one system to explain a lake's water loss, which exercises the energy-and-gravity reasoning behind the water cycle model without asking them to draw the model.
Ch. 18	W7 · Fixing Mateo's Poster: Nine Claims About How Water Moves Error analysis	practice	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited here. Diagnosing and correcting errors about evaporation, condensation, the sun's role and gravity's role is how students sharpen the model of water cycling the PE asks them to develop.
Ch. 18	W8 · Twelve Places, One Cycle: An Evidence Jigsaw on Sun, Cooling and Gravity Collaborative investigation	practice	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited here. Groups assemble observations from twelve locations into a driver chart and traced routes, which is the evidence-gathering and model-organizing work behind the PE; the individual section checks that each student can explain the drivers alone.
Ch. 18	W9 · Design Challenge: A Solar Still That Runs on the Water Cycle Transfer and design	supports	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited in this lesson. The still is a miniature water cycle: the sun's energy drives evaporation below boiling, cooling at the cover drives condensation, and gravity drains the drops. Explaining the device with those drivers applies the model; it does not produce a model of Earth's water cycling.
Ch. 18	W10 · Water Cycle Check-Up: Twelve Items and a Snow-to-Streets Synthesis Retrieval and mastery check	assesses	MS-ESS2-4 is a California Grade 6 PE revisited in this lesson. The mixed items check the elements of the model (processes, drivers, state changes, no fixed order), and the synthesis asks for a written model of water cycling through a season driven by the sun and gravity; the latent-heat boundary is respected (qualitative energy only).

Labs (4)

Chapter	Lab	Role	How it connects
Ch. 18	Lab 1 · Build, Test, Improve: a Solar Distiller That Runs on Sunlight and Gravity Engineering design challenge	practice	The still is a physical model of evaporation, condensation and gravity-driven collection; students label those steps and the energy transfers, which supports the model-development PE that W4 and Lab 3 assess more fully. This PE is a California Grade 6 expectation revisited here.
Ch. 18	Lab 2 · Reading the Schoolyard: Evaporation and Transpiration in Sun and Shade Classroom field investigation	practice	The sun-versus-shade comparison gives students first-hand data that sunlight speeds the liquid-to-vapor half of the cycle and that plants are part of it; the data feed the models students develop in W4 and Lab 3, which carry the assessment. This PE is a California Grade 6 expectation revisited in this seventh-grade lesson.
Ch. 18	Lab 3 · Roll the Dice: Where Does a Water Molecule Go, and How Long Does It Stay? Collaborative systems modeling	assesses	Students use the model to generate route data, explain each move as Sun-driven, gravity-driven or cooling, draw their route as a network, evaluate the model against real reservoirs and modify its rules; the route record, class analysis and proposed revision are evidence toward this PE. It is a California Grade 6 expectation that this seventh-grade textbook revisits.
Ch. 19	Lab 3 · Dry Creek Decides: Aquifer Cups and a Twenty-Year Water Plan Data-driven decision	supports	Recharge is rain, snowmelt and creek water soaking into porous ground, the water cycle seen from below. This is a Grade 6 PE in the California sequence; the lab uses it as background and does not assess the whole cycle.