Skip to content
LessonPrint

One Stick, Measured All Year is a free printable Grade 5 science worksheet on using a year of noon shadows to reveal the seasonal pattern in the sky, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 5-ESS1-2. It prints 7 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 14 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next set

One paper per student

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

One Stick, Measured All Year

5-ESS1-2

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

One Stick, Measured All Year

Shadow lengths of a one-meter stick, measured at noon on four dates. SHADOW OF A ONE-METER STICK AT NOON December 21 ...... 3.2 m March 21 ......... 1.3 m June 21 .......... 0.5 m September 21 ..... 1.3 m Measured in the same place, at the same time of day.

  1. 1. What was kept the same for every measurement?
  2. 2. How long was it on December 21?
  3. 3. What pattern do the four measurements show?
  4. 4. How long was the shadow on June 21?
2.The class measures again in February. Will the noon shadow be longer or shorter than in December?
  • A.Longer, because February is colder
  • B.Exactly the same as December
  • C.Shorter, because it shrinks from December toward June
3.A graph of noon shadow length across a year goes down then up again. What does that show?
  • A.A one-off event
  • B.The stick is shrinking
  • C.A pattern that repeats every year
4.Why is the noon shadow much longer in December than in June?
  • A.The sun is further away in December
  • B.The sun is much lower in the sky at noon in winter
  • C.The stick is taller in winter
5.Why measure the shadow at noon every time?
  • A.Because shadows only happen at noon
  • B.So only the date changes, not the time of day
  • C.So the stick stays dry
6.Why are the noon shadow measurements more useful as a graph than as a list?
  • A.Lists cannot hold numbers
  • B.The graph shows the pattern across the year at a glance
  • C.Graphs make shadows longer
7.In the northern half of the world, which way does a stick's noon shadow point?
  • A.North, away from the sun in the south
  • B.East
  • C.South, toward the sun

LessonPrint · 5-ESS1-2 · Set 14 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — One Stick, Measured All Year

Set 14. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The same place, the same stick and the same time of day. 2. 3.2 m. 3. The shadow is shortest in June, longest in December, and equal in March and September. 4. 0.5 m.
  2. 2.Shorter, because it shrinks from December toward June
  3. 3.A pattern that repeats every year
  4. 4.The sun is much lower in the sky at noon in winter
  5. 5.So only the date changes, not the time of day
  6. 6.The graph shows the pattern across the year at a glance
  7. 7.North, away from the sun in the south

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 5-ESS1-2 of the Next Generation Science Standards.