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Sundials: Telling Time with Shadows

Read an original science and history article about sundials, then answer questions about the main idea, key details, word meaning and causes.

Grade 3ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toRI.3.10

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 Common Core standard
Printable answer key
11 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 3
Subject: ELA
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students read and understand a grade 3 science and history article on their own.
Students use key details to explain how a sundial tells time.

How to use

Have students read the article on their own, then answer the questions. Point out that they can look back at the numbered paragraphs.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

RI.3.10

By the end of the year, read and understand informational texts in history, science, and technical subjects at the high end of grades 2-3, independently.

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Sundials: Telling Time with Shadows

Read an article about an old way to tell time.

Read the article

Sundials: Telling Time with Shadows

1Long ago, people did not have watches or phones. So how did they know what time it was? Many of them looked at the sun. People have used the sun to tell time for thousands of years. One tool they used was the sundial.

2A sundial has two main parts. The first part is a flat face with lines and numbers around its edge. The second part is a pointer that sticks up from the face. The pointer is called a gnomon (NOH-mon).

3Here is how a sundial works. When sunlight hits the gnomon, the gnomon casts a shadow on the face. All day long, the sun seems to move slowly across the sky. Really, it is Earth that is turning. As the sun's place in the sky changes, the shadow moves too. The line the shadow points to tells the hour.

4Shadows also change in length. In the early morning, the sun is low in the sky, so shadows are long. Around noon, the sun is high, so shadows are short. Late in the day, shadows grow long again.

5A sundial has one big problem. It needs sunlight to work! At night or on a cloudy day, there is no shadow to read. Clocks with gears can tell time day or night, rain or shine.

6You can make a simple shadow clock. Push a straight stick into the ground in a sunny spot. Every hour, put a pebble at the tip of the stick's shadow. By the end of the day, you will have a trail of pebbles that shows how the shadow moved.

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