The Moon's Orbit Reading Comprehension

Year 5 ScienceEarth and Space5 pages

About this worksheet

'The Moon's Cosmic Dance' is the passage at the centre of this Year 5 science reading comprehension. It gives the 27.3-day orbit, a speed of over 3,600 kilometres per hour, synchronous rotation, the far side first photographed in 1959 and the 29.5-day cycle of phases. Ten questions follow in three parts, headed Retrieve, Infer, and Evaluate and Respond. The sheet suits the Year 5 Earth and space unit of the England National Curriculum, and the answer page includes model answers for the longer questions.

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Page 1 of 5

The Moon's Orbit Reading Comprehension: Earth and Space - page 1
The Moon's Orbit Reading Comprehension: Earth and Space - page 2
The Moon's Orbit Reading Comprehension: Earth and Space - page 3
The Moon's Orbit Reading Comprehension: Earth and Space - page 4
The Moon's Orbit Reading Comprehension: Earth and Space - page 5

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Curriculum objectives covered

Earth and space

“Describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth”

Questions 1, 2, 7 and 8 deal with the orbit time, the Moon's speed, synchronous rotation and the length of the phase cycle.

Earth and space

“Describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies”

Partial. The passage calls the Moon a dusty, cratered sphere, but no question asks about shape.

What's inside this worksheet

Our Nearest Neighbour in Space

Pupils read five paragraphs about the Moon. They explain gravity as an invisible string, why the same side always faces Earth, and why the phase cycle is longer than one orbit.

Part 1: Retrieve

Questions 1 to 4 ask for the orbit time, the Moon's speed and the year of the far-side photographs. Pupils also copy one word from paragraph two that means 'lights up'.

Part 2: Infer

Pupils tick true or false for two statements and correct the false one with evidence. They explain the invisible string comparison, use the term synchronous rotation, and account for 29.5 days against 27.3.

Part 3: Evaluate and Respond

Question 9 asks whether 'dark side' is a good name for the far side. Question 10 asks which fact about the Moon's movement surprised pupils most.

Answers

Short answers for questions 1 to 4, including 'illuminates' for question 4, and model explanations for questions 5 to 10.

How teachers use it

Ball and chair

Before question 7, have one pupil walk a ball round a seated 'Earth' and keep the same face of the ball turned in. The class sees why only the near side is ever visible.

Guided reading

The passage also works as a guided reading text in English. Part 1 is pure retrieval, so a group can do it alone while you sit with another group.

Moon diary

Start a month-long Moon diary in the week you use this sheet. Pupils can check the 29.5 days from question 8 against their own drawings.

More Year 5 Science worksheets

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