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Geography

The World in Your Hands

The World in Your Hands
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grade 3
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.62

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    hemisphere, measurement, meridian, prime, sphere, equator, axis, everyday, finding, however, below, poles, correct, lines, above, spin
     content words:    North Pole, South Pole

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The World in Your Hands
By Trista L. Pollard 		  
1     You see it everyday. It sits on the shelf or by the window in your classroom. Do you ever wonder why it's there? Well, the globe in your classroom let's you see our world more closely. It allows you to have our world in your hands.
 
2     Globes are a scale or smaller model of the Earth. They are more accurate or correct copies of our planet than paper maps. Why? Globes show the Earth as it would look from space. You get to see the curved or round surfaces. You also see that the Earth is tilted or slanted to one side. When you look at a globe, you may notice how it turns on its axis. With a globe, that axis is a thin pole that goes through the center of the globe. With our planet, the axis is an imaginary pole. Now let's return to the globe. Globes are able to spin. This helps you to see a model of how the Earth spins on its axis.
 
3     Speaking of the world, you should know the important features of a globe. Maps also have these same features. However, a globe is not flat like a map. It is a three-dimensional model. On a globe you can see two very important lines. They are the equator and the prime meridian. Remember, these two lines are not drawn on Earth. However, geographers and navigators know they are there because of their degrees. Degrees are units of measurement that are part of a circle. A complete circle has 360º (degrees). Since the Earth is a sphere or three-dimensional circle, you travel 360º if you go completely around the Earth. Geographers use the equator and the prime meridian as the starting points for finding locations on Earth. The equator measures 0 degrees and the prime meridian measures 0 degrees.

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