Happy Spring, Friends!
It will be official in just a few more days. I’m sure, like me, you can hardly wait!
In celebration of warmer weather I have a new spring word search to share with you.
This would be a great way to review all your spring-themed words in Grades 1 and 2.
Do you ever wonder if there’s value in word searches?
Here’s what I think:
1. Word searches help to reinforce vocabulary, especially if you spend some time discussing the words, reading them together, and talking about the various meanings.
2. Word searches help with spelling. While students are working on a word search they’re going back and forth between the list word and the letter grid, which helps to reinforce how a word looks and how it’s spelled. They also become familiar with vowel combinations and consonant clusters.
3. Word searches can provide hours of entertainment. Even though they can be relaxing, they’re also stimulating your brain. Would you rather have your child watching TV, scrolling through a phone, or doing word puzzles? I know what my answer is.
4. Word searches teach patience, concentration and persistence. Solving a word search can be difficult but if you persist then there’s a great feeling of accomplishment once the puzzle is solved. “Hard work pays off” is a life skill everyone needs to learn.
5. They encourage strategic thinking. For example, in the puzzle below if you were looking for the word “sunny”, you might start out looking for the letter “s”. But you would quickly discover there are a LOT of them! But “sunny” also has a double “n” and it ends in a “y”, either of which are going to be easier to find. The more experience kids have with word searches, the more they train their brains to think strategically.
6. Word searches can be a way to socialize and collaborate. When I was teaching Grade 1 I encouraged my students to help each other when they got stuck. It was fun to see the kids working together in twos and threes and then hearing their triumphant shouts when they finally found the word they were looking for.
DOWNLOAD: FREE SPRING WORD SEARCH
I have more free word searches here.
Looking for some puppet fun?
The Easter bunny and Easter chick are my newest ones. Click the image to see them in my shop.
Thanks for stopping by!
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