Ranking the Continents by Size Look at a globe. On most globes, water is blue and land is green, yellow, or brown. If your globe uses different colors, write them here: Water _______ Land ________________ The earth has several big pieces of land. The big pieces are called continents. It is good to know their names and where they are. The earth also has thousands ofsmall pieces of land. These small pieces are called islands. It‛s impossible to learn all of their names. This simple map shows most of the continents. It does not show many of the islands. (One continent, called Antarctica, is also hard to show on a simple map like this. It is very cold and has very few people. You will learn more about it later.) Note: Some people E say that Europe (E) 4 is a true continent. 1 Others say it is just part of Eurasia (4). 3 What do you think? 2 5 Which continent is the biggest one? Write its number here: ____ Which continent is the smallest one? Write its number here: ____ Which two continents are about the same size? Write their numbers here: ____ ____ Here is a data table. It shows the names and sizes of the continents. Number Continent Name Million square miles 1 North America 8 2 South America 7 3 Africa 11 4 Eurasia 21 5 Australia 3 Were your answers correct? _____ Write the names of the continents on the map. Circle how many Australias could fit inside of Africa: only 1 about 3 more than 6 Note: some mapmakers show the western part of Eurasia as a separate continent: Europe. Europe is slightly larger than Australia. How many Europes could fit into North America? ©2012 P Gersmehl Teachers may copy for use in their classrooms. Contact [email protected] regarding permission for any other use. .