Here is an example of how to teach latitude and longitude. I had students start by drawing three longitude lines around the "globe." Then, we drew an equator. After that, we drew two latitudes above and below the equator. Everyone had a few different color permanent markers to switch colors as we talked about different vocabulary terms. Students could draw any continents they wanted. A few chose to draw the real shapes of the seven continents. Our world map was available for reference if needed.
Last, I cut a clementine to open it, shown above. To do this, cut three lines like an x on the top and bottom of the clementine. Then, I could peel it, but keep the skin in tact. This demonstrates how difficult it is to make an accurate map of a sphere on a flat piece of paper. The Mercator Projection is one solution to this problem, however it stretches out sections of the map.
We had a great time getting dirty with markers and learned a great deal. Latitude and longitude is a detail that gives great foundation for learning history. These words come up in the oddest places and we can reference this activity to remember what they actually mean.
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