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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 3 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. What does this record not tell you?
  3. 3. What would you expect on December 21 next year?
  4. 4. What was kept the same for every measurement?
2.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
3.When the sun is high in the sky, what is the shadow like?
  • A.Long
  • B.Missing completely
  • C.Short
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.In which month would you expect the shortest noon shadow next year?
  • A.Every month the same
  • B.June
  • C.December
6.What else changes through the year in the same pattern as the noon shadow?
  • A.The number of hours of daylight
  • B.The length of the stick
  • C.The color of the sky at noon
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 3 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — One Stick, Measured All Year

Set 3. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The shadow is shortest in June, longest in December, and equal in March and September. 2. It does not tell you how the shadow changed during each day. 3. About 3.2 m again, because the pattern repeats each year. 4. The same place, the same stick and the same time of day.
  2. 2.Shorter, because it shrinks from December toward June
  3. 3.Short
  4. 4.The sun is much lower in the sky at noon in winter
  5. 5.June
  6. 6.The number of hours of daylight
  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.