5-ESS2-1: How Earth's Systems Interact
Also called NGSS 5-ESS2-1 · Topic: Earth's Systems · Earth and Space Science
The Official Wording
Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Clarification statement: Examples could include the influence of the ocean on ecosystems, landform shape, and climate; the influence of the atmosphere on landforms and ecosystems through weather and climate; and the influence of mountain ranges on winds and clouds in the atmosphere. The geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere are each a system.
Assessment boundary: Assessment is limited to the interactions of two systems at a time.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What 5-ESS2-1 Means in Plain English
Fifth graders learn Earth's four systems, the land (geosphere), water (hydrosphere), air (atmosphere), and living things (biosphere), and build a model of how two of them affect each other, like plant roots holding soil or mountains pushing wind up into clouds.
Each model looks at just two systems at a time, not all four together. The work builds on erosion in 4-ESS2-1 and leads to 5-ESS2-2 on Earth's water and MS-ESS2-6 on how air and ocean shape climate.
5-ESS2-1 I Can Statements
- I can name Earth's four systems and give an example of each.
- I can build a model showing two systems affecting each other.
- I can explain how living things can change the land.
5-ESS2-1 Worked Example
A hillside model with two pans of soil, one bare and one planted with grass.
Do plants change how much soil rain washes off a hillside?
Set It Up: Two foil roasting pans of garden soil, one topped with a piece of grass sod, propped on books at the same tilt, plus a watering can and two clear jars.
- Cut a small notch at the low end of each pan and set a jar under it.Both pans tilted the same
- Pour one liter of water slowly from the watering can over the top of each pan.Same rain on both hillsides
- Compare the water caught in each jar.Bare pan: brown and muddy. Grass pan: nearly clear
- Let the jars sit overnight and measure the mud layer at the bottom.Bare: about 1 cm. Grass: a thin film
- Draw a model with arrows between the biosphere and the geosphere.Roots hold soil, soil anchors roots
Far less soil washed out of the grassy pan, because the plants kept the land in place.
Why it works: Roots grip the soil and leaves soften the falling water, so the biosphere changes how fast the geosphere wears away.
Common Mistakes with 5-ESS2-1
Mixing up the system names
Calling the ocean part of the atmosphere
Try this: Tie each word to its root: geo means earth, hydro means water, atmo means vapor or air, bio means life.
Arrows that go only one way
Weather wears down the land, but nothing points back
Try this: Interactions run both ways. Mountains also change the air by pushing it upward into clouds. Add arrows in each direction.
Cramming every system into one model
A poster with arrows linking all four systems at once
Try this: Pick two systems and one clear interaction, like roots and soil. A focused model explains more than a tangle of arrows.
Where 5-ESS2-1 Fits
Practice 5-ESS2-1
Quick Check
- Which system is a forest part of?
- Give one way the ocean affects the air above it.
- Why did the grassy pan lose less soil?