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5th grade · Science · Unit 13 of 15

Spinning Earth, Moving Shadows

Earth's spin makes day and night and moves shadows across the ground.

What your child practices

Practices that Earth rotates on its axis about once every 24 hours, which causes day and night and makes the Sun appear to move across the sky, so shadows change length and direction during the day.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 5.9 · Earth's rotation, day and night, the Sun's apparent motion and changing shadows

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Earth spins once about every 24 hours, giving day and night.
  2. Earth orbits the sun about once a year.
  3. The sun seems to rise in the east and set in the west. Shadows are shortest around noon.
  4. Some stars are bigger than the sun but look tiny because they are very far away.

Example: How long does Earth take to spin once? One spin gives one day and one night. Answer: about 24 hours

Spinning Earth, Moving Shadows in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 13 of 15 in 5th grade Science, after Protecting Resources and before Deltas, Canyons & Dunes.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    The Sun seems to rise in the east because Earth spins…

    • toward the west
    • up and down
    • toward the east
    • only at noon

  2. Question 2

    The sun looks brighter than other stars because…

    • it is much closer to Earth
    • it is the biggest star
    • other stars are dim
    • it is a planet

  3. Question 3

    In summer, the noon sun is higher, so noon shadows are…

    • shorter
    • gone at night only
    • longer
    • the same

  4. Question 4

    Which is closest to Earth?

    • Betelgeuse
    • The sun
    • Sirius
    • The North Star

  5. Question 5

    The sun seems to set in the…

    • west
    • east
    • north
    • south

  6. Question 6

    The North Star seems to stay still because…

    • it doesn't shine
    • it is almost straight above Earth's axis
    • it is a planet
    • it is the closest star

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