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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 16 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. How long was it on December 21?
  2. 2. What would you expect on December 21 next year?
  3. 3. How long was the shadow on June 21?
  4. 4. What does this record not tell you?
2.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.The stick is shrinking
  • C.A one-off event
3.Why are the noon shadow measurements more useful as a graph than as a list?
  • A.Graphs make shadows longer
  • B.The graph shows the pattern across the year at a glance
  • C.Lists cannot hold numbers
4.When the sun is high in the sky, what is the shadow like?
  • A.Missing completely
  • B.Short
  • C.Long
5.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
6.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
7.In which month would you expect the shortest noon shadow next year?
  • A.Every month the same
  • B.June
  • C.December

LessonPrint · 5-ESS1-2 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — One Stick, Measured All Year

Set 16. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. 3.2 m. 2. About 3.2 m again, because the pattern repeats each year. 3. 0.5 m. 4. It does not tell you how the shadow changed during each day.
  2. 2.A pattern that repeats every year
  3. 3.The graph shows the pattern across the year at a glance
  4. 4.Short
  5. 5.North, away from the sun in the south
  6. 6.Shorter, because it shrinks from December toward June
  7. 7.June

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