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Sky Records from the Botanical Greenhouse

Use botanical greenhouse observations to graph shadow, day-and-night, and seasonal star data, then explain the patterns.

Grade 5ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to5-ESS1-2

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
15 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 5
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer, Drawing

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students graph daily shadow measurements and identify the pattern across one day.
Students graph daylight and nighttime data and compare seasonal changes.
Students graph seasonal star observations and support claims with data.

How to use

Read the greenhouse record together, then have students make the three-part graph before answering the evidence questions. Ask them to cite numbers in the final response.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

5-ESS1-2

Graph data to show daily patterns in shadows and day and night, and seasonal patterns in the stars we see.

Preview

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Name Date

Sky Records from the Botanical Greenhouse

Graph observations to find daily and seasonal sky patterns.

Read the greenhouse record

The botanical greenhouse team kept sky records from one fixed observation spot. Read the report and data table. Use the data to make your graph and answer the questions.

The Conservatory Sky Record

At the Fernway Botanical Greenhouse, Amara and Jun studied how the sky seemed to change. They placed a straight measuring pole in one sunny outdoor courtyard beside the greenhouse. The pole stayed in the same place. On one clear day, they measured the pole's shadow at five times. They used the same pole, ruler, and measuring method each time.

The team also copied sunrise and sunset times from the greenhouse's local sky calendar for four dates. Finally, for ten clear nights in each selected month, the team stood in the same courtyard at 9:00 p.m. They recorded whether two star patterns, A and B, could be seen. Clouds kept them from making a record on other nights, so the table shows counts from ten clear nights in each month.

The records do not describe everything that happens in the sky. They give a set of observations that can be graphed and compared. The team wants next year's visitors to use the records carefully rather than treat one observation as a rule for every day or night.

Fernway Botanical Greenhouse sky data
Daily shadow record — one clear day
Time | 8:00 a.m. | 10:00 a.m. | noon | 2:00 p.m. | 4:00 p.m.
Shadow length (cm) | 34 | 22 | 12 | 20 | 31

Daylight and nighttime record
Date | Daylight hours | Nighttime hours
March 20 | 12 | 12
June 21 | 15 | 9
September 22 | 12 | 12
December 21 | 9 | 15

Star-pattern record at 9:00 p.m. — clear nights out of 10
Month | January | April | July | October
Pattern A visible | 8 | 5 | 1 | 6
Pattern B visible | 2 | 6 | 9 | 4

Make one three-part display of the greenhouse data. Part 1: make a line graph of the five shadow lengths, with time on the horizontal axis and shadow length (cm) on the vertical axis. Part 2: make a paired bar graph for the four dates, with one bar for daylight and one for nighttime. Part 3: make a grouped bar graph for the four months, with one bar for Pattern A and one for Pattern B. Label each graph and include a key where needed.

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