Globes Worksheet

A globe is a small model of Earth that a child can hold, turn, and study, and learning its parts is where third-grade geography really begins. Before students can compare continents, follow a route, or read a world map, they need the vocabulary that describes the shape of our world: the equator, the North Pole and South Pole, the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere, and the lines of longitude that run from the top of the globe to the bottom. This globes worksheet gives students a clear, labeled model to work from so those words stop being abstract terms in a textbook and start being places they can point to.

The sheet opens with a large diagram of a globe with five numbered pointers, each one landing exactly on the part it names. Students use the word bank to write the correct term on the answer line that matches each number, so the activity builds the vocabulary and the visual at the same time. Next comes a short set of fill-in-the-bubble questions that ask students to apply what they just labeled, and the page closes with a written explanation question. Because this 3rd grade globe worksheet moves from labeling to reasoning to writing, it works just as well as a guided lesson, an independent center, a review before a unit test, or a quick homework page.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 1 labeled globe diagram with 5 numbered parts to identify
• A word bank, 3 multiple-choice questions, and 1 written-response question

There are three reasons this resource helps children learn the parts of a globe. First, every term in the word bank is anchored to a picture, and picture-plus-word practice is what makes new geography vocabulary stick. Second, the multiple-choice questions are situations rather than definitions, so a student has to reason about where a person is standing instead of repeating a memorized phrase. Third, the closing question asks for a written explanation, which is exactly the kind of short constructed response third graders meet on classroom and state assessments. Together, the three parts of this globes worksheet move students from recognizing a word to using it.

Teachers and parents can stretch the lesson well past the page. Keep a real desk globe nearby and have students find each labeled part with a finger before they write. Wrap a strip of yarn around the middle of a ball to show why the equator divides Earth into two halves, then have students name which half they live in. Play a quick round of “north or south” where you call out a place and students point up or down. Ask children to trace a line of longitude from pole to pole with a dry-erase marker on a laminated map. For a fun finish, let students draw and label their own globe on a paper plate and hang the plates on a classroom world wall.

Related Resources

• Finding Places on a Globe Worksheet
• Find the Parts of a Map Worksheet
• Coloring Continents Worksheet
• 50 States Song by Have Fun Teaching