Identifying and Locating the Seven Continents

My name is LaShonda Holloway, and I am a third grade teacher at North Augusta Elementary School located in Aiken County in the state of South Carolina.  I teach a group of 21 great students eager to learn more about the seven continents.  Are you ready to learn the seven continents and the major bodies of water that surround them!  Get ready to explore many different ways to describe the location of each continent!

To locate the continents, you would need to use a map or a globe.  There are several different ways to locate the continents using these references.  You can find the location by using prepositional phrases, cardinal directions, the location in relation to the hemispheres,, and using the distance scale.  On this site we will not go into detail about using a distance scale.  However, it is helpful to know that the distance between continents can be determined using this scale in miles or kilometers.  Refer to the following graph to determine the location of each continent in relation to the other continents.  Below, I have given a detailed description of the concepts dealing with finding a location a map.

Understanding a Map and a Globe
All seven continents have their own specific location on maps and globes.   Maps and globes are very useful tools that enable each of us to locate different places on Earth.  These two tools are very similar because they both show us Earth, but in two different ways.  They allow us to view our land on both a round surface and a flat surface.  There is an horizontal line located on a map and a globe that divides the Earth in half.  This line is called an equator.  It can not be seen from the air.  Everything that is above the equator is closer to the North Pole, and everything below the equator is closer to the South Pole.  The prime meridian is a line perpendicular to the equator.  It divides the earth in half vertically.

Understanding Cardinal Directions
A compass rose shows the four cardinal directions and the directions in between.  North, south, east, and west are the major directions.  Northwest, southwest, northeast, and southeast are the directions in between.  When you are facing north, east is the direction to your right, west is to your left, and south is behind you.

Understanding the Hemispheres
The hemispheres of the earth basically tell you what half of the earth different land masses (Ex. seven continents) are located.  The Northern Hemisphere is the half of the earth north of the equator, and the Southern Hemisphere is the half of the earth south of the hemisphere.  The Western Hemisphere is the left vertical half of the earth west of the prime meridian, and the Eastern Hemisphere is the right vertical half east.
 

Continents	Prepositional Phrases	Cardinal Directions	Hemispheres
North America	located above South America located beside Europe	located north of South America, west of Europe, and northwest of Africa	located in the northern and western hemispheres
South America	located under North America located beside Africa	located south of North America and southwest of Africa	located in the southern and western hemispheres
Africa	located under Europe located beside Asia	located southwest of North America, northeast of South America, south of Europe, southwest of Asia, and north of Africa	located in the northern and eastern hemispheres
Antarctica	located at the bottom center of the earth below all of the continents	located south of all of the continents	located in the southern and eastern hemispheres
Australia	located below Australia located above Antarctica	located northwest of Antarctica, southeast of Asia, east of the tip of Africa	located in the southern and eastern hemispheres
Asia	located beside Europe located above Australia	located east of Europe, northeast of Africa, northwest of Australia, and north of Antarctica	located in the northern and eastern hemispheres
Europe	located between North America and Asia located above Africa	located west of Asia, north of Africa, and east of North America	located in the northern and eastern hemispheres

Link to my Seven continents home page
Link to my Seven Continent's teacher's lesson page
Link to my Seven continents related links page