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

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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 pattern do the four measurements show?
  2. 2. How long was the shadow on June 21?
  3. 3. What would you expect on December 21 next year?
  4. 4. Why is the noon shadow shortest in June?
2.When the sun is high in the sky, what is the shadow like?
  • A.Missing completely
  • B.Long
  • C.Short
3.The class measures again in February. Will the noon shadow be longer or shorter than in December?
  • A.Exactly the same as December
  • B.Shorter, because it shrinks from December toward June
  • C.Longer, because February is colder
4.What else changes through the year in the same pattern as the noon shadow?
  • A.The length of the stick
  • B.The color of the sky at noon
  • C.The number of hours of daylight
5.In which month would you expect the shortest noon shadow next year?
  • A.December
  • B.Every month the same
  • C.June
6.In the northern half of the world, which way does a stick's noon shadow point?
  • A.South, toward the sun
  • B.East
  • C.North, away from the sun in the south
7.A graph of noon shadow length across a year goes down then up again. What does that show?
  • A.A pattern that repeats every year
  • B.A one-off event
  • C.The stick is shrinking

LessonPrint · 5-ESS1-2 · Set 15 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — One Stick, Measured All Year

Set 15. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The shadow is shortest in June, longest in December, and equal in March and September. 2. 0.5 m. 3. About 3.2 m again, because the pattern repeats each year. 4. The sun is highest in the sky then, so the shadow is short.
  2. 2.Short
  3. 3.Shorter, because it shrinks from December toward June
  4. 4.The number of hours of daylight
  5. 5.June
  6. 6.North, away from the sun in the south
  7. 7.A pattern that repeats every year

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