Maggie’s
Activity Pack
Name __________________________
Date ___________________________
Lots of Salty Water!
Look at a globe. What color do you see? Likely you answered blue. That’s
because our planet is covered with lots of ocean water. All this water seems to circle our
world. One ocean becomes another ocean. There are no gates to pass through when
you go from one ocean to the next. But, countries have decided to divide all of this salt
water into five oceans. They are the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, the Indian
Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. Sometimes people call the
Southern Ocean the Antarctic Ocean. Because these boundaries are fluid, it can be
difficult to get exact numbers about each ocean’s area and depth. But the charts below
will give you an idea of how the ocean’s compare in size.
Square Miles of World’s Oceans
Name of Ocean
Area in Square Miles
Atlantic Ocean
41,105,000 square miles
Arctic Ocean
5,427,000 square miles
Indian Ocean
26,469,900 square miles
Pacific Ocean
63,784,077 square miles
Southern Ocean
7,848,300 square miles
1. Write the area of the Indian Ocean using words.
______________________________________________________________________
2. Write the area of the Atlantic Ocean using words.
______________________________________________________________________
3. What is the smallest ocean in area?
______________________________________________________________________
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2013. www.missmaggie.org Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
Average Depth of World’s Oceans
Name of Ocean
Average Depth in Feet
Atlantic Ocean
12,880 feet
Arctic Ocean
3953 feet
Indian Ocean
13,002 feet
Pacific Ocean
13,215 feet
Southern Ocean
16,400 feet
4. Put the oceans in order of depth starting
with the deepest ocean.
__________________________
5. Circle the digit in the hundreds place in
each number above.
6. Round the average depth of the Pacific
Ocean to the nearest hundred.
__________________________
____________________________
__________________________
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7. Round the average depth of the Atlantic
Ocean to the nearest hundred.
__________________________
____________________________
Deepest Point of the Ocean
Name of Ocean
Deepest Point in Feet
Atlantic Ocean
28,374 feet
Arctic Ocean
17,881 feet
Indian Ocean
26,401 feet
Pacific Ocean
36,198 feet
Southern Ocean
23,737 feet
Deepest Point Rounded
to the Nearest Hundred
8. Round each number to the nearest hundredth and put your answer in the third
column.
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2013. www.missmaggie.org Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
Dear Maggie Colleague,
This activity allows for practice of many key mathematical concepts within the
realm of understanding oceans. The design of this WAP allows you to first assess
whether children are able to appropriately read large numbers. The task of translating
digits to the written word gives you insight into a child’s understanding of number. In
both the primary and intermediate versions of the activity, a few questions deal with
place value, including identifying the digit in a specific place. The intermediate level
asks students to put numbers in sequential order. Primary teachers may offer this type
of question as an extension. As you know these are pre-requisite skills for the important
concept of rounding. What better way to check for understanding of these key concepts
than to use the context of the world’s oceans!
A perfect way to extend the activity is to encourage children to identify the
oceans on a globe. Fill a jar with the names of various cities. Children can choose a
paper and then tell which ocean they would be looking at if they were in that city. This
could become a center activity. Prepare by placing Velcro strips on selected cities on
the map. Write city names along with placing additional Velcro on craft sticks. Have
children place the sticks at appropriate places on the world map. When completed, ask
them to show which ocean can be seen from the city using a center “exit ticket” that you
have constructed like this:
City:
Sydney
Ocean:
Honolulu
Reykjavík
You decide if you will add the country, depending on the needs and background
knowledge of your class.
Happy teaching,
Dr. Kathy
Answer Key:
1. twenty-six million, four hundred sixty-nine thousand, nine hundred
2. forty-one million, one hundred five thousand
3. Arctic Ocean
4. Southern Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean
5. The following digits should be circled in each name: 8, 9, 0, 2, 4
6. 13,200
7. 12,900
8. 28,400; 17,900; 26,400; 36,200; 23,700
Goals:
Children are presented with mathematical facts about ocean area and depth. They write
these numbers using standard form, identify the place value of selected digits, and
round the numbers. A center follow-up activity, which is integrated with social
studies/geography, is described in the Dear Colleague letter. This activity is available on
the emergent, primary, and intermediate levels and correlates with the Numbers and
Operations Strand of NCTM’s standards and the Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
Standard of Common Core.
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2013. www.missmaggie.org Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.