Women Astronauts word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this women astronauts puzzle set for my 3rd and 4th graders during our space unit. The kids knew about Sally Ride and maybe Mae Jemison, but they had no idea about the history of women in space—from the very first woman to fly all the way to current astronauts. They kept asking questions like "Who went first?" and "Has a woman ever commanded a mission?" So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using key names and vocabulary: Sally Ride , Mae Jemison , Valentina Tereshkova , Eileen Collins , cosmonaut, astronaut, mission specialist, commander, orbit, space shuttle, and NASA.

The PDF is four pages. Three puzzles plus one answer key page. The word search works well for quiet time after recess, and the scramble gets them talking because they argue about how to spell "Valentina" or whether a cosmonaut and an astronaut are the same thing (they're from different countries' space programs—the kids always have opinions about it). The crossword I use for partners, and I usually have pictures of Sally Ride and Mae Jemison nearby for the kids who need a visual connection.

Works for 3rd through 5th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers pick one astronaut from the puzzles and write one fact about her on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.