Law and Justice Careers word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

Law and Justice Careers word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this law and justice careers puzzle set for my 4th graders during our career exploration and social studies unit. The kids could name a few jobs like police officer and judge, but they had no idea about the range of careers in law and justice—including paralegals, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and victim advocates—or what words like bailiff, court reporter, and forensic scientist meant. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like lawyer, judge, paralegal, police, detective, bailiff, court reporter, forensic scientist, prosecutor, and legal. I also made sure to include "advocate" and "justice" because they kept coming up in our conversations about the job of a lawyer and what the legal system is trying to achieve.

The PDF is four pages. Three puzzles plus one answer key page. The word search works well for quiet time after recess or independent practice. The scramble gets them talking because they argue about the difference between a lawyer and a paralegal or whether a forensic scientist is a scientist or a police officer. The crossword I use for partners or as a review after we've watched a few short career videos. I added a couple simple gavel, scales, and badge drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 4th through 6th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers pick one law and justice career from the puzzles and write what they do on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.