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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 18 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.If Earth spun around faster, what would happen to the length of each day and night?
  • A.Days and nights would be shorter
  • B.They would be longer
  • C.Nothing would change
2.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
3.Why are some star patterns seen only in winter?
  • A.As Earth travels around the sun, its night side faces different stars
  • B.Clouds hide them all summer
  • C.Those stars switch off in summer
4.Why does the sun seem to cross the sky from east to west each day?
  • A.Earth spins toward the east, once about every 24 hours
  • B.Clouds push the sun along
  • C.The sun travels around Earth each day
5.The sun rises earlier in a town far to the east than in a town far to the west. Why?
  • A.Earth turns toward the east, so eastern places turn into sunlight first
  • B.The sun rises twice
  • C.The eastern town is closer to the sun
6.The stars seem to move across the sky during the night. Why?
  • A.The stars are blown by wind
  • B.Earth is turning, so the stars appear to move
  • C.The stars orbit Earth every night
7.Why is a shadow shortest around the middle of the day?
  • A.The sun is smallest then
  • B.The sun is furthest away
  • C.The sun is at its highest in the sky
8.Why does a stick's shadow swing around during the day?
  • A.The sun's position in the sky changes as Earth turns
  • B.The stick bends in the heat
  • C.The ground moves under the stick

LessonPrint · 5-ESS1-2 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Turning Once a Day

Set 18. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Days and nights would be shorter
  2. 2.They are on opposite sides of the spinning Earth, so one faces the sun and one faces away
  3. 3.As Earth travels around the sun, its night side faces different stars
  4. 4.Earth spins toward the east, once about every 24 hours
  5. 5.Earth turns toward the east, so eastern places turn into sunlight first
  6. 6.Earth is turning, so the stars appear to move
  7. 7.The sun is at its highest in the sky
  8. 8.The sun's position in the sky changes as Earth turns

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