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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 25 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 does this record not tell you?
  2. 2. What claim does this record support?
  3. 3. How long was the shadow on June 21?
  4. 4. Why is the noon shadow shortest in June?
2.Why is the noon shadow much longer in December than in June?
  • A.The stick is taller in winter
  • B.The sun is much lower in the sky at noon in winter
  • C.The sun is further away in December
3.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 one-off event
  • C.A pattern that repeats every year
4.When the sun is high in the sky, what is the shadow like?
  • A.Short
  • B.Missing completely
  • C.Long
5.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
6.In which month would you expect the shortest noon shadow next year?
  • A.December
  • B.Every month the same
  • C.June
7.What else changes through the year in the same pattern as the noon shadow?
  • A.The color of the sky at noon
  • B.The number of hours of daylight
  • C.The length of the stick

LessonPrint · 5-ESS1-2 · Set 25 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — One Stick, Measured All Year

Set 25. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It does not tell you how the shadow changed during each day. 2. Shadow length changes through the year in a pattern that repeats. 3. 0.5 m. 4. The sun is highest in the sky then, so the shadow is short.
  2. 2.The sun is much lower in the sky at noon in winter
  3. 3.A pattern that repeats every year
  4. 4.Short
  5. 5.North, away from the sun in the south
  6. 6.June
  7. 7.The number of hours of daylight

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