If you’re a teacher planning for your first week back to school or just want a quick and easy activity for your kids, you’re at the right place.
Here are free printable word searches to get your kid’s brains turned on and excited for back to school.
Grade levels are labeled above each free printable pdf.
ENJOY YOUR LAST DAYS OF SUMMER and your free and easy prints!
I won’t admit the amount of hours I’ve spent scrolling Pinterest for free printables at 4:00am before work. It sucks. I am happy to tell you these are ACTUALLY FREE and their links will lead you straight to the pdf for printing. 😉
Back To School Word Search
3rd grade level
Back To School Items Word Search
2nd-4th grade level
My Class Friends Word Search
1st-5th grade level
This one is so much fun! Especially for getting to know your new class mates in the first week back to school. Send this one to a teacher!
Back To School Teamwork Word Search
3rd-6th grade level.
School Word Search
2nd-4th grade level.
Have fun playing!
Need more free games and activities? Check out these posts…
Posts
Which One to Print
All five are labelled by grade above their download, but here is the short version if you are printing in a hurry:
- Back To School Word Search — 3rd grade
- Back To School Items Word Search — 2nd to 4th grade
- My Class Friends Word Search — 1st to 5th grade, and the only one you personalise
- Back To School Teamwork Word Search — 3rd to 6th grade
- School Word Search — 2nd to 4th grade
The grade ranges are about reading level and grid size rather than difficulty of the words. A strong 2nd grade reader will manage the 3rd grade sheet without much trouble.
How to Use These in the First Week
The first days back are mostly logistics — supply checks, seating, procedures — with awkward gaps in between. A word search fills a gap without needing instructions, which is the whole reason to have a stack of them printed before day one.
Morning work on day one
Put one on each desk before students arrive. It gives early arrivals something to do while you deal with the ones still finding the room, and it starts the year with the expectation that there is always something to begin.
Learning names faster
The My Class Friends sheet is the one worth spending time on. Filling in classmates’ names means students have to ask each other, which does more for a new class in ten minutes than a seating chart does in a week. It also gives you a written record of who talked to whom on day one.
Early finishers and substitute days
Keep the leftovers in a folder. Word searches are one of the few activities a substitute can hand out with no explanation and no materials, and they work equally well for the student who finishes a test fifteen minutes early.
What Kids Actually Get Out of a Word Search
Word searches are not a comprehension exercise and it is worth being honest about that. What they do build is visual scanning and letter-pattern recognition — a child has to hold a word in mind while their eye sweeps a grid, which is the same attention skill that helps with proofreading later on.
For back-to-school sheets specifically, there is a vocabulary angle too. Words like teamwork, respect and schedule get read several times while a child hunts for them, which is a quiet way to introduce the language you will be using all year.
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