Reading maps, especially when it comes to the earth as a spherical body, requires some knowledge of longitude and latitude. With these, you can find locations which becomes important, especially when you travel a lot so you know where you’re going. For students, they can learn more about longitudes and latitudes by practicing on latitude and longitude worksheets so they can practice writing the estimated coordinates of each location or shape.
Latitude and Longitude Worksheets
What are latitude and longitude?
The lines that run across a grid are the lines of latitude. The best example for this is the Earth’s equator, the line that splits the planet into two hemispheres – the Southern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere. The equator is normally designated as the 0 point of latitude. The lines of latitude north of the equator are the northern latitudes and those south of the equator are the southern latitudes.
The lines of longitude, which are also known as meridians, are those that run down and up the grid. The counterpart of the Equator with regards to the longitude is the Prime Meridian. This line passes through England, Greenwich, and like the Equator, it also divides the globe into two hemispheres – the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere. Like the Equator, the Prime Meridian is the 0 point of longitude. The lines east of the Prime Meridian are the Eastern Meridians and those to the west are the Western Meridians.
Some interesting facts about latitude and longitude
Latitudes and longitudes are one aspect of the geographic coordinate system and you can use them to map out any point and every on the globe. The latitudes represent the coordinates that go around the world horizontally while the longitudes represent the coordinates running vertically from pole to pole.
You can make your own latitude and longitude worksheets or download free longitude and latitude worksheets online. Aside from teaching your students how to find locations on these worksheets, you can also share these interesting facts:
- Latitude is an invisible line that runs horizontally around the globe from west to east. It begins with the Equator where the coordinates are 0°.
- The Equator splits the globe into the Southern and Northern Hemispheres.
- The lines of latitude run parallel to the Equator in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. These lines start at 0° and count to 90° South and 90° North.
- The North Pole has a latitude coordinate of 90° North while the South Pole has a latitude coordinate of 90° South.
- Longitude is the vertical line that runs around the globe from south to north. The Prime Meridian is where the coordinates are 0°.
- Longitudes divide the Earth into the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere along the Prime Meridian.
- You write latitude and longitude coordinates with decimals up to 4-decimal places to ensure accuracy. You can teach this to your students when they work on latitude and longitude worksheets.
- Combining latitude and longitude coordinates allows you to plot any point on the globe.
Teaching latitude and longitude to students
Here is a simple and easy way to teach your students about latitude and longitude. If you can make models or illustrations for each of these steps, you can help your students understand this concept much better:
- Use an overhead map or a large map hanging on one of the walls in your classroom.
- Create a latitude and longitude chart on the board.
- Give your students blank charts and free longitude and latitude worksheets for students to analyze while you teach.
- Select 3 to 4 locations to use for your demonstration.
- To find the latitude, start by locating the equator. Determine if the location is in the south or north of the equator.
- Find the two lines of latitude where the location lies in between.
- Demonstrate how to find the midpoint by dividing the difference between the two lines.
- Determine if the location is either closer to the midpoint or to one of the lines.
- Come up with an estimation of the latitude then write the answer on your chart. Ask your students to do the same on their blank charts or latitude and longitude worksheets.
- To find the longitude, start by locating the prime meridian. Determine if the location is to the west or east of the prime meridian.
- Find the two lines of longitude where the location lies in between.
- Determine the midpoint by calculating the difference between the two lines.
- Determine if the location is either closer to the midpoint or to one of the lines.
- Come up with an estimation of the longitude then write the answer on your chart. Ask your students to do the same on their blank charts or free latitude and longitude worksheets.
- Emphasize that you only use latitude to measure the south and north while you only use longitude to measure the west and east.
Other activities for teaching latitude and longitude
You can further help your students understand the concept of latitudes and longitudes by allowing them to practice with latitude and longitude worksheets. One good exercise is to apply the concept to the state and city of your students. First, find the latitude and longitude coordinates for the place where they’re from.
Following the steps in the previous section, guide your students as they complete the free latitude and longitude worksheets. This helps them find the location of the given coordinates, They should find their own hometown on the map. Then you can give them more activities to expand their knowledge:
Create latitude and longitude cards
- On each of these cards, write the coordinates of a random location somewhere in the globe.
- Give one card to each of your students and have them search for and identify the location on a map.
Create a latitude and longitude BINGO game
- Make a list of 24 random countries and their coordinates.
- Let the students write the names of all the 24 countries in the blocks on their game cards.
- Call out the coordinates of one country. Your students should place an “X” on the name of the country that matches the coordinates.
- The first player to get 5 “X’s” in a row will win the game.