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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.

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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 was kept the same for every measurement?
  2. 2. What does this record not tell you?
  3. 3. Why is the noon shadow shortest in June?
  4. 4. What pattern do the four measurements show?
2.Why are the noon shadow measurements more useful as a graph than as a list?
  • A.The graph shows the pattern across the year at a glance
  • B.Graphs make shadows longer
  • C.Lists cannot hold numbers
3.Why measure the shadow at noon every time?
  • A.Because shadows only happen at noon
  • B.So only the date changes, not the time of day
  • C.So the stick stays dry
4.In the northern half of the world, which way does a stick's noon shadow point?
  • A.South, toward the sun
  • B.North, away from the sun in the south
  • C.East
5.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
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 which month would you expect the shortest noon shadow next year?
  • A.June
  • B.December
  • C.Every month the same

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

Answer key — One Stick, Measured All Year

Set 5. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The same place, the same stick and the same time of day. 2. It does not tell you how the shadow changed during each day. 3. The sun is highest in the sky then, so the shadow is short. 4. The shadow is shortest in June, longest in December, and equal in March and September.
  2. 2.The graph shows the pattern across the year at a glance
  3. 3.So only the date changes, not the time of day
  4. 4.North, away from the sun in the south
  5. 5.The sun is much lower in the sky at noon in winter
  6. 6.The number of hours of daylight
  7. 7.June

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