Space Careers Astronaut Vocabulary word search, scramble and crossword

Space Careers Astronaut Vocabulary word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this space careers puzzle set for my 4th graders during our space unit and career exploration. The kids were fascinated by astronauts, but they had no idea about the other amazing space careers like engineers, mission control specialists, and astrophysicists. They also had no idea what words like "orbit," "propulsion," or "meteorite" meant when we talked about what space professionals actually do. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like astronaut, engineer, scientist, astronomer, astrophysicist, pilot, mission control, propulsion, meteorite, gravity, orbit, spacewalk, commander, payload, and alien . I also made sure to include "aerospace" and "cosmonaut" because they came up in our conversations about how other countries have space programs too .

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 spelling of "astronaut" or whether a cosmonaut and an astronaut are the same thing (cosmonauts are from Russia, astronauts are from the U.S.—the kids always have opinions about it). The crossword I use for partners or as a review after we've watched a few short career videos. I added a couple simple rocket, helmet, and astronaut drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 3rd through 5th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers pick one space career from the puzzles and write what they do on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.