Make a Shadow Move
Interactive worksheet with auto-grading, instant feedback, and printable PDF.
- Format
- Interactive (Online), Printable (PDF)
- Grades
- 56
- Subjects
- science
- Standards
- NGSS.5-ESS1-2
What's included
About this worksheet
Make the Sun's daily shadow pattern hands-on with this scaffolded, print-ready science activity built for NGSS 5-ESS1-2. Using just a flashlight and a small object, students model the Sun moving across the sky — low at sunrise, high at noon, low again at sunset — and watch the shadow grow, shrink, and grow again.
Students trace and measure each shadow on a built-in grid, record length and direction in a data table, then answer guided questions that move them from doing to noticing the pattern to explaining why a flagpole's shadow is long in the morning and short at noon. The discovery that a low Sun makes a long shadow gives students a concrete picture to anchor the abstract data and graphs that follow.
What's included: a two-page activity with a materials list and step-by-step directions, a shadow-tracing grid, a data table, a supportive word bank, and a complete answer key.
Perfect as the hands-on lead-in to a shadows and Sun-patterns lesson, or for stations, homework, and review. Just print and teach.
Perfect for the way you teach
- Assign in one click
- Track progress per student
- Auto-graded results
- Practice at home
- Print or do on-screen
- Build skill mastery
- Standards-aligned
- Self-paced
- Ready-to-use today
