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Why Your Shadow Is Long at Breakfast Time

3rd grade nonfiction passage about shadow length through the day: 194 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

3rd grade nonfiction shadow length through the day 194 words

Why Your Shadow Is Long at Breakfast Time

Watch your own dark shape on the ground as the hours pass. At breakfast, it stretches out long and thin across the grass. At lunchtime, it shrinks to a short puddle near your feet. By late afternoon, it grows long once more.

Sunlight cannot pass through your body. Where it is blocked, a dark patch lands on the ground, away from the Sun. How long that patch is depends on where the Sun sits in the sky.

When the day begins, the Sun is low near the horizon. Its light comes in at a slant, so the patch is stretched far across the ground. Then the Sun climbs higher. Near the middle of the day it is high above you, and the light comes down steeply. Now the patch is short.

When the Sun sinks lower again, the patch lengthens. Of course, the Sun is not really moving across the sky. The Earth is turning, and that makes the Sun appear to rise and set.

A friend can help you test this. Stand in one spot in the morning and again at noon, and ask your friend to draw around your shadow with chalk.

Questions

  1. When is your shadow short? in the text

  2. What forms a shadow? in the text

  3. Where is the Sun in the early morning? in the text

  4. How does the light come in when the Sun is low? in the text

  5. What really makes the Sun appear to rise and set? think about it

  6. What could you use to trace a shadow? in the text

Words to know

shadow
a dark shape made when something blocks light
horizon
the line where the sky seems to meet the ground
slant
a slope, not straight up or flat
steeply
almost straight down
trace
to draw along the edge of something
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 150 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.8

Your shadow changes size during the day. Early in the morning, it is long and thin. At lunchtime, it is short. It is near your feet. Late in the day, it is long again.

A shadow forms when your body blocks sunlight. It falls on the ground away from the Sun. So its length depends on where the Sun is.

In the morning, the Sun is low. It is near the horizon. Its light comes in at a slant. The shadow stretches far. Later the Sun climbs high. At midday the light comes down steeply. Your shadow is short.

Then the Sun sinks low again. The shadow gets long. The Sun does not really move. The Earth turns. That makes the Sun seem to rise and set.

Try it with a friend. Stand in one spot in the morning and at noon. Your friend can trace your shadow with chalk.

▲ This passage · 194 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.6

Watch your own dark shape on the ground as the hours pass. At breakfast, it stretches out long and thin across the grass. At lunchtime, it shrinks to a short puddle near your feet. By late afternoon, it grows long once more.

Sunlight cannot pass through your body. Where it is blocked, a dark patch lands on the ground, away from the Sun. How long that patch is depends on where the Sun sits in the sky.

When the day begins, the Sun is low near the horizon. Its light comes in at a slant, so the patch is stretched far across the ground. Then the Sun climbs higher. Near the middle of the day it is high above you, and the light comes down steeply. Now the patch is short.

When the Sun sinks lower again, the patch lengthens. Of course, the Sun is not really moving across the sky. The Earth is turning, and that makes the Sun appear to rise and set.

A friend can help you test this. Stand in one spot in the morning and again at noon, and ask your friend to draw around your shadow with chalk.

■ Harder · 208 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.9

Have you ever noticed how dramatically your shadow changes size over the course of a day? Early in the morning, it stretches out long and thin across the grass. At lunchtime, it shrinks into a short puddle close to your feet. By late afternoon, it has grown long once again.

A shadow forms whenever your body blocks the sunlight, and it falls on the ground on the side away from the Sun. Consequently, its shape and length depend entirely on where the Sun sits in the sky.

In the morning, the Sun hangs low near the horizon, and its light arrives at a slant, which stretches the shadow far across the ground. As the day continues, the Sun climbs higher. Around the middle of the day it is almost overhead, and the light comes down steeply, leaving your shadow short.

When the Sun sinks lower again, the shadow lengthens. Of course, the Sun is not actually traveling across the sky. The Earth is turning, and that turning makes the Sun appear to rise and set.

You can test this idea with a friend. Stand in the same spot in the morning and again at noon, and ask your friend to trace the outline of your shadow with chalk.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put shadow, horizon, slant, steeply and trace on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Why Your Shadow Is Long at Breakfast Time"?

It was written for 3rd grade. It has 194 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 2.6. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 5 ask for something the text says directly and 1 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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