TELPAS Practice

What causes day and night?

Basic Understanding of a Variety of Texts · TELPAS Grade 3 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 2: find the main idea and key details, and follow what happens in stories and informational texts.

Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

Day and Night

Every morning, the sun seems to come up in the east. Every evening, it seems to go down in the west. But the sun is not really moving across the sky. It only looks that way because Earth is moving.

Earth is always spinning, like a top. It takes about one day to make one full turn.

As Earth spins, one side of it faces the sun. That side gets sunlight, so it is daytime there. The other side faces away from the sun. That side is dark, so it is nighttime there.

Each morning, the place where you live turns toward the sun again, and a new day begins.

The question

Choose the best answer.

What causes day and night?

  • Earth spins, so each side faces the sun in turn.Correct answer
  • The sun moves all the way around Earth every day.
  • Clouds cover up the sun every night.
  • The moon blocks the sun’s light each night.

Why “Earth spins, so each side faces the sun in turn.” is correct

This tests understanding the main point of a science passage. Paragraphs 2 and 3 explain that Earth spins, the side facing the sun has day, and the side facing away has night. The idea that the sun moves around Earth is a common mistake, and the passage says it is not true.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • The sun moves all the way around Earth every day. — The passage says the sun only seems to move.
  • Clouds cover up the sun every night. — Clouds are not mentioned in the passage.
  • The moon blocks the sun’s light each night. — The moon is not mentioned in the passage.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grade 3, or see the TELPAS practice test for 3rd grade.

This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.