K-PS3-1: How Sunlight Warms the Ground
Also called NGSS K-PS3-1 · Topic: Weather and Climate · Physical Science
The Official Wording
Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface.
Clarification statement: Examples of Earth’s surface could include sand, soil, rocks, and water.
Assessment boundary: Assessment of temperature is limited to relative measures such as warmer/cooler.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What K-PS3-1 Means in Plain English
Kindergartners observe what sunlight does to the ground around them. They put sand, soil, rocks and water in the sun and in the shade, feel each one, and find that sunlight makes things warmer.
Children compare temperatures by touch and words like warmer and cooler, not with thermometer readings or numbers. Next they design shade to keep a spot cooler (K-PS3-2), and in 4-PS3-2 they study how energy moves from place to place.
K-PS3-1 I Can Statements
- I can tell that sunlight makes things warmer.
- I can compare things in the sun and the shade.
- I can use the words warmer and cooler.
K-PS3-1 Worked Example
A sun and shade test a class can set up outside on a mild, sunny morning.
Does sunlight warm sand, soil, pebbles and water?
Set It Up: Eight pie tins, two each filled with sand, soil, pebbles and water, half set in the sun and half in the shade of the building.
- Feel all eight tins first thing and say how they feel.All feel about the same
- Set one tin of each in a sunny spot and its match in the shade.Four in sun, four in shade
- Wait one hour, then touch each pair with the back of your hand.The sun tin feels warmer every time
- Mark each pair on a chart with a red sun for warmer and a blue cloud for cooler.Red suns all along the sun row
- Talk about which sun tin warmed up the least.The water felt least warm
Every tin in the sun felt warmer than its match in the shade, and the water warmed up the least.
Why it works: Sunlight carries energy, and when it shines on sand, soil, rocks or water, that energy makes them warmer.
Common Mistakes with K-PS3-1
Nothing to compare against
Touching the sunny sand and calling it hot, with no shade tin to feel
Try this: Always feel the sun tin and the shade tin of the same material, one right after the other, then compare.
Thinking the sun only warms the air
“The sun makes it hot outside, but the ground stays the same.”
Try this: Feel a sidewalk in the sun and in the shade at recess. Sunlight warms the ground, not just the air.
Not waiting long enough
Checking the tins two minutes after setting them out
Try this: Give the sun time to work. Wait about an hour before feeling the tins, so the difference is easy to notice.
Where K-PS3-1 Fits
Practice K-PS3-1
Quick Check
- Two rocks sit outside, one in the sun and one in the shade. Which feels warmer?
- Why feel a sun tin and a shade tin of the same thing?
- Why is a shady sidewalk cooler on a sunny day?