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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 20 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 would you expect on December 21 next year?
  2. 2. What was kept the same for every measurement?
  3. 3. What pattern do the four measurements show?
  4. 4. What claim does this record support?
2.A graph of noon shadow length across a year goes down then up again. What does that show?
  • A.The stick is shrinking
  • B.A pattern that repeats every year
  • C.A one-off event
3.What else changes through the year in the same pattern as the noon shadow?
  • A.The number of hours of daylight
  • B.The color of the sky at noon
  • C.The length of the stick
4.The noon shadow was the same length in March and September. Why?
  • A.It was cloudy both times
  • B.The stick was moved
  • C.The sun was the same height in the sky at noon on those dates
5.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
6.In which month would you expect the shortest noon shadow next year?
  • A.June
  • B.Every month the same
  • C.December
7.In the northern half of the world, which way does a stick's noon shadow point?
  • A.East
  • B.South, toward the sun
  • C.North, away from the sun in the south

LessonPrint · 5-ESS1-2 · Set 20 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — One Stick, Measured All Year

Set 20. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. About 3.2 m again, because the pattern repeats each year. 2. The same place, the same stick and the same time of day. 3. The shadow is shortest in June, longest in December, and equal in March and September. 4. Shadow length changes through the year in a pattern that repeats.
  2. 2.A pattern that repeats every year
  3. 3.The number of hours of daylight
  4. 4.The sun was the same height in the sky at noon on those dates
  5. 5.The graph shows the pattern across the year at a glance
  6. 6.June
  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.