US State Mottos word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

US State Mottos word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this US state mottos puzzle set for my 3rd and 4th graders during our geography unit. The kids could name a few state mottos like "Live Free or Die" and "Eureka," but they kept mixing up which state had which motto, and they had no idea what words like "Audemus" or "Esse quam videri" meant when we talked about Latin phrases. I also wanted to show them that state mottos come from different languages—not just English and Latin, but also Spanish ("Oro y Plata"), French ("L'Étoile du Nord"), Greek ("Eureka"), and even Hawaiian ("Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono") and Chinook Jargon ("Al-ki"). They kept asking questions like "Why do some states have mottos in other languages?" or "Do all states have a motto?" So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using some of the most well-known state mottos like New Hampshire's "Live Free or Die," New York's "Excelsior," California's "Eureka," Kansas's "Ad Astra per Aspera," and Texas's "Friendship." I also threw in the "Motto" vocabulary word itself, "Latin" because it's the language of so many mottos, and "Progress" because it shows up in a bunch of them, like Alaska's "North to the Future" and Wisconsin's "Forward."

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 "Excelsior" or whether "Friendship" is a motto for a state with the word "Texas" (which comes from the Caddo word "taysha" meaning "friends"). The crossword I use for partners or as a review after we've looked at a map of state seals. I added a couple simple star, scroll, and state outline drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 3rd through 5th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers pick one state motto from the puzzles and write what it means or what language it's in on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.