Help Grade 5 NGSS science students master latitude and longitude—the prime meridian, Greenwich, the tropics, the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, hemispheres, absolute location, minutes and seconds, and the International Date Line with this print-and-go crossword pack. Three differentiated versions (V1, V2, and V3) make it simple to adapt for review, practice, or enrichment, and a complete teacher answer key follows each puzzle.

What students practice

• V1 (10 answers, with word bank): prime, greenwich, location, northern, tropic, cancer, arctic, circle, pole, and zero
• V2 (10 answers, with word bank): capricorn, antarctic, southern, eastern, western, absolute, relative, date line, minute, and second
• V3 (12 answers, no word bank): international, horizontal, imaginary, intersect, vertical, baseline, network, address, locate, ninety, sixty, and zone

Students read Across and Down clues and write one letter in each box (spaces are omitted in multi-word grid answers).

What’s included (6 pages)

• V1 crossword + answer key (10 answers) — grid, Across/Down clues, and a word bank on the student page; the answer key is the next page
• V2 crossword + answer key (10 answers) — grid, Across/Down clues, and a word bank on the student page; the answer key is the next page
• V3 crossword + answer key (12 answers) — grid and Across/Down clues on the student page (no word bank); the answer key is the next page
• Name, date, and class lines on every student page
• 6-page printable PDF (US Letter, 8.5 × 11 inches) — print and go, no prep

How to use it in class

• Science warm-ups and centers
• Differentiated independent practice, early finishers, or homework
• Vocabulary review or a quick formative check before a lab or investigation
• Sub plans — print and go

This pack supports Grade 5 NGSS Earth and Space Science as students learn how a coordinate grid is used to describe places on Earth. It is a supporting alignment to 5-ESS2-1 (Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact), because latitude and longitude help students locate Earth's systems on a map or globe. The closest NGSS performance expectation that directly names maps is 4-ESS2-2 (Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features), so this lesson also works as Grade 5 review of that map-reading skill. This crossword is vocabulary practice, not a complete 5-ESS2-1 modeling task.

At a glance

• Grade: 5
• Subject: Science
• Pages: 6 (US Letter printable PDF)
• Standards: NGSS-aligned (supporting fit to 5-ESS2-1; Grade 5 review of 4-ESS2-2)
• Format: Instant digital download after purchase