Tracking the Sun: How to Build and Observe a Classroom Sundial
For thousands of years, people tracked the passage of daylight without digital displays or mechanical gears. By observing how the sun's position creates shifting shadows, early civilizations developed the sundial. While modern clocks divide every day into uniform, identical seconds, a simple outdoor shadow-tracker connects you directly to Earth's rotation. With basic classroom supplies, you can construct an observation sundial to record the sun's apparent motion across the sky.
Necessary Materials
Before beginning, gather these items:
- One sheet of heavy white cardstock or sturdy corrugated cardboard (at least 8.5 by 11 inches)
- One standard, unsharpened wooden pencil or straight wooden craft dowel (about 6 to 7 inches long)
- Modeling clay or non-drying putty
- A metric ruler
- A fine-point permanent marker or dark pencil
- Masking tape or four heavy, smooth stones (to weigh down your base outdoors)
- A standard classroom clock or wristwatch
- A flat, safe outdoor surface exposed to full sunlight throughout the school day
Construction and Setup
- Prepare the Base Board: Place your cardboard flat on your workspace. Use the ruler to find the approximate center of the card. Mark this central point with a small dot.
- gnomon:
- The upright rod or object on a sundial that casts a shadow used to tell time.
- apparent motion:
- The way an object seems to move across the sky because of the observer's own motion on Earth.
- rotation:
- The spinning of Earth around its own central axis.
- elevation:
- The height or angle of a celestial body, such as the sun, above the horizon.
- longitude:
- Geographic distance measured in degrees east or west of a prime meridian.
- local solar time:
- A measurement of time based specifically on the position of the sun in the sky at a particular location.
- tilted axis:
- The slanted imaginary line around which a planet spins, causing seasonal changes.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What is the purpose of using a ruler to check the gnomon's position during setup?
- 2Why must the base of the sundial be securely anchored with tape or stones?
About this how-to / procedural passage for 6th Grade
“Tracking the Sun: How to Build and Observe a Classroom Sundial” is a how-to / procedural reading passage about Building an Observation Sundial, written for 6th Grade. It takes about 6 minutes to read (939 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.