Post on 24-Dec-2015
Learning About the Earth
Go on.
Look for the CONTINUE icon on each page.
Click it to go on.
Go on.
If the cursor arrow disappears, just move around the mouse, and it will reappear!
We have a globe similar to this one in our classroom. It represents the Earth and shows us the land and
water regions of the world.
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Although 6 of these pictures represent a continent of the world,
it doesn’t make much sense to study them in a row like this since that’s not how they are found on
the Earth.
North America
South America Africa Europe Australia Asia
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Most of the time we see a map of the world like this.There are 7 continents and 5 OCEANS.
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The Earth can be shown in many different ways on a map, though. This is a physical map showing the land features such as
mountains and glaciers.
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This terrain map is similar to a physical map. It shows lakes, rivers, mountains, deserts, and icy regions.
Rivers in Africa
Ice over Greenland
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This is an image of the Earth’s weather.
Australia
Hurricanes form over water, and meteorologists (people who study the weather) can see how the temperatures are swirling around…
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This is a political map. It shows boundary lines between countries. One way to help show boundary lines is by
giving each country a different color than the other countries around it.
Canada
United States
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This is a contour map. It shows the elevation of the surface of the Earth’s land
and the depth of the Earth’s oceans. Elevation is how high above sea level the
land is.
North America
South America
Atlantic Ocean
Pacific Ocean
See the different colors of blue in the Pacific Ocean? That means there are different depths under all that water! Go on.
The continents and oceans share the Earth and have their own
absolute location.
Equator
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Prim
e Merid
ian
Northern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Earth is divided into 4 hemispheres. The Northern and Southern Hemispheres you saw on the last page. Here you will see the Western and
Eastern Hemispheres.
Equator
Prim
e Merid
ian
Eastern
Hemisphere
Western
Hemisphere
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North America is in both the Northern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere.
Africa is in ALL 4 Hemispheres!
Australia is in the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres.
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All the lines on the map are imaginary! This means you can’t really see them on the land. We use them to
help us understand where places are located.
Tropic of Cancer
Line of Latitude
Tropic of Capricorn
Line of Latitude
Equator
Line of Latitude
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This is an outline map showing North and South America. It has
grid lines on it.
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These grid lines on the image of this globe show longitude and latitude.
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The taller lines drawn vertically (or up and down) are the lines of longitude.
Lines of
Latitude
Lines of
Longitude
The horizontal lines are latitude. They are parallel (like train tracks) to the Equator.
These grid lines also show longitude and latitude.
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Click on the continents and oceans to learn more about them.
North America
South America
Africa
Europe
Asia
Australia
Antarctica
Indian Ocean
Atlantic O
ceanPacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Arctic Ocean
Southern OceanI’ve checked out all the continents and oceans.
Africa
Africa is made up of many countries. Each orange line divides one country from another.
The Prime Meridian and the Equator both run through Africa!
More on Africa
Return to World Map
Countries of AfricaReturn to
World MapMore About
Africa
Antarctica
No one lives on Antarctica because it is TOO cold!
People research the land there to find out about animals and plants that could survive there. And, to see what may have once lived there!Antarctica is
located at the South Pole.
The Antarctic Circle is another line of latitude.
Return to World MapGo on.
Australia, Asia, and Europe
Australia is an island country and continent!
Asia is a large continent! There are many different countries in Asia. China is one of its largest countries.
Europe is a small continent that is attached to Asia, but it has many, many important countries in it like France, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, and Greece.
MORE ABOUT EUROPE!
MORE ABOUT ASIA
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Countries of Europe Return to World Map
Return to Asia and Australia
MORE ABOUT EUROPE
More About EuropeGreat Britain, also known as England, is where the British were from. It’s a little island country in Europe – part of the United Kingdom.
Return to Asia and Australia
Return to World Map
MORE ABOUT EUROPE!
Countries of AsiaReturn to
World MapReturn to Asia and Australia
North America
North America is the continent we live on!
North America is surrounded by 3 of the 5 Oceans! The Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans.
Go on.
Return to World Map
Countries in North America
We live about right here!Return to
World Map
South AmericaThe Amazon Rain Forest grows in South America because it’s such a tropical region. The Equator runs through South America.
The Andes Mountain range runs along the coast of South America.
South America is an interesting continent. It’s northern region is very hot because it lies on the Equator. But, it’s southern tip is very near Antarctica’s cold region!
Return to World Map
More About
South America Go on.
Countries in South America
Brazil is the largest country on the continent of South America.
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More About
South America
Atlantic OceanThe state of Georgia boarders the Atlantic Ocean.
The British traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to find freedom in the Americas!
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Go on.
Arctic OceanThe Arctic Ocean is at the North Pole.
Notice North America is near the Arctic Ocean.
Here’s Alaska!
Greenland is so close to the North Pole, it’s frozen!!
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Go on.
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean gets its name from the country of India located on the continent of Asia.
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Notice this group of islands is called Indonesia. They get their name from the Indian Ocean since they are found in these waters!Go on.
Pacific ocean
The Pacific Ocean usually looks like 2 oceans on other maps, but it’s really just one large body of water! Notice California which is on the North American continent boarders the Pacific Ocean.
Asia’s continent is just over here!
Return to World Map
Go on.
The Southern Ocean is simply the ocean that
boarders Antarctica!
Return to World Map
Game PageClick on one of the game links below
to go to a game page.
Mixture of Map Games
More Map Games
Hangman
Battleship
Listen and Learn the Names of Continents
Find the Continent
Drag the Continent
Whoops – I didn’t look at all the continents and ocean!!
Map Trivia
See if you can answer these trivia questions about maps. Click on
Map Trivia.
Return to Game Page
Return to World Map
Click Here!
Map Games
Click on the link below
to take you to
4 different map games.
Return to World Map
Return to Game Page
Click Here!
More Map Games
Click the link below for more map games.
Return to World Map
Return to Game Page
Click Here!
Hangman
Click the link below to play hangman. The phrases you will be guessing relate to map
skills.
Return to World Map
Return to Game Page
Click Here!
Battleship
Try to sink the computer’s ships by solving problems related to maps.
Return to World Map
Return to Game Page
Click Here!
Listen to the computer read each continent to you. Learn the location
of each continent.
Listen and Learn Continent Locations
Return to World Map
Return to Game Page
Click Here!
Click on the link below to see if you can locate each continent.
Locate the Continents
Return to World Map
Return to Game Page
Click Here!
Click the link below to see if you can drag and drop the continents
into their correct location.
Match the Location - Drag and Drop
Return to World Map
Return to Game Page
Click Here!