Science worksheet · Day and night
How Long Is the Day?
Write the sunrise and sunset times once a week for six weeks, work out the hours of daylight and explain the change.
- Grade level
- Grades 3–5
- Time
- About 15 minutes
- Topic
- Day and night
- Answer key
- Not needed: answers vary
- Kids practice
- Day and night, Earth’s rotation, Nocturnal animals
What kids do
Printed on the sheet:
- How to do it: once a week, look up today’s sunrise and sunset times in a weather app or newspaper.
- Subtract to find the hours of daylight. Example: sunrise 7:00 a.m., sunset 5:00 p.m. = 10 hours.
- Are the days getting longer or shorter? What season is coming next?
Words on this sheet
SunriseSunsetLongest dayShortest day
Teacher tip
Use the same website or newspaper for sunrise and sunset times every week.
How to use it
- Spin a globe in front of a lamp to show day and night.
- Turn the lights off and ask which animals would be awake now.
- Start with a two-minute “I notice, I wonder” talk about the picture on the sheet.
Watch for
The sun doesn’t move around Earth. Earth spins.
Talk about it
- Why is it night on the other side of the world?
- How could we find out if that is true?
Take it further
Track sunset times on the class calendar for a month.
US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.
More day and night worksheets
Grades 2–4
Earth Spins: Day and Night
Label the sun, Earth, day and night on the diagram, then fill in five sentences about Earth’s spin.
Grades 1–3
Nocturnal or Diurnal?
Sort ten animals into the ones awake at night and the ones awake in the day.
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