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Turning Once a Day is a free printable Grade 5 science worksheet on explaining day and night and the sun's daily path by Earth's spin, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 5-ESS1-2. It prints 8 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 10 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.

Turning Once a Day

5-ESS1-2

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.When it is noon on one side of Earth, what time is it on the opposite side?
  • A.Also noon
  • B.About midnight
  • C.Early morning everywhere
2.How long does Earth take to spin around once?
  • A.About a year
  • B.About a week
  • C.About 24 hours
3.If Earth spun around faster, what would happen to the length of each day and night?
  • A.They would be longer
  • B.Days and nights would be shorter
  • C.Nothing would change
4.Why are some star patterns seen only in winter?
  • A.Clouds hide them all summer
  • B.As Earth travels around the sun, its night side faces different stars
  • C.Those stars switch off in summer
5.Why is it night in Australia while it is day in Britain?
  • A.They are on opposite sides of the spinning Earth, so one faces the sun and one faces away
  • B.The sun switches off over Australia
  • C.Australia is further from the sun
6.In the evening, which way does a stick's shadow point?
  • A.Toward the west, at the sun
  • B.Toward the east, away from the setting sun
  • C.Straight up
7.Why does the sun seem to cross the sky from east to west each day?
  • A.Clouds push the sun along
  • B.Earth spins toward the east, once about every 24 hours
  • C.The sun travels around Earth each day
8.The stars seem to move across the sky during the night. Why?
  • A.The stars are blown by wind
  • B.The stars orbit Earth every night
  • C.Earth is turning, so the stars appear to move

LessonPrint · 5-ESS1-2 · Set 10 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Turning Once a Day

Set 10. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.About midnight
  2. 2.About 24 hours
  3. 3.Days and nights would be shorter
  4. 4.As Earth travels around the sun, its night side faces different stars
  5. 5.They are on opposite sides of the spinning Earth, so one faces the sun and one faces away
  6. 6.Toward the east, away from the setting sun
  7. 7.Earth spins toward the east, once about every 24 hours
  8. 8.Earth is turning, so the stars appear to move

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