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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 5 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.Why does the sun seem to cross the sky from east to west each day?
  • A.The sun travels around Earth each day
  • B.Earth spins toward the east, once about every 24 hours
  • C.Clouds push the sun along
2.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 ground moves under the stick
  • C.The stick bends in the heat
3.Why is it night in Australia while it is day in Britain?
  • A.The sun switches off over Australia
  • B.Australia is further from the sun
  • C.They are on opposite sides of the spinning Earth, so one faces the sun and one faces away
4.How long does Earth take to spin around once?
  • A.About a week
  • B.About a year
  • C.About 24 hours
5.Early in the morning, which way does a stick's shadow point?
  • A.Straight down
  • B.Toward the west, away from the rising sun
  • C.Toward the east, at 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 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

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

Answer key — Turning Once a Day

Set 5. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Earth spins toward the east, once about every 24 hours
  2. 2.The sun's position in the sky changes as Earth turns
  3. 3.They are on opposite sides of the spinning Earth, so one faces the sun and one faces away
  4. 4.About 24 hours
  5. 5.Toward the west, away from the rising sun
  6. 6.Earth is turning, so the stars appear to move
  7. 7.The sun is at its highest in the sky
  8. 8.As Earth travels around the sun, its night side faces different stars

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