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Kindergarten · Science · Unit 5 of 8

Sun & Shade

The sun warms things up. Shade keeps them cool.

What your child practices

Practices noticing that sunlight warms the ground, water, sand and objects, and choosing ways to make shade to keep a place cooler.

Alaska content standards learning standard: K-PS3-1; K-PS3-2 · sunlight warms Earth's surface, and shade can reduce that warming

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Sunlight warms the ground, water and sand.
  2. Shade blocks the sun and keeps things cooler.
  3. Hats, umbrellas and trees make shade.

Example: A rock sits in the sun all day. Does it get warmer or cooler? The sun warms things it shines on. Answer: warmer

Sun & Shade in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 5 of 8 in Kindergarten Science, after Care for Our Earth and before Stormy Weather.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Why do we sit under trees on hot days?

    • The shade is cooler
    • Trees are hot
    • Trees make it rain
    • Trees make sunlight

  2. Question 2

    Which part of a playground gets hottest?

    • A bench under a tree
    • A metal slide in the sun
    • Grass in the shade
    • Sand under a roof

  3. Question 3

    You test two cups of water. One is in the sun. It is…

    • colder
    • empty
    • warmer
    • frozen

  4. Question 4

    Ice is left in the sun. What happens?

    • It gets colder
    • It melts
    • It turns into a rock
    • It grows

  5. Question 5

    How can you keep a sandbox cool?

    • Put a roof over it
    • Paint it black
    • Take away the trees
    • Move it into the sun

  6. Question 6

    Sand at the beach is hot. Wet sand by the water is…

    • frozen solid
    • hotter
    • cooler
    • on fire

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