I'm a teacher too.
All of these resources are simple and quick to download. They can be stored on a flashdrive, attached to a keyring and then they live in your pocket as easy and as ready to use as a hanky when a sneeze is coming on.
Try the Nonsense Rhymes Crosswords. If you like Dr Seuss, you'll love these (and so will your students). The World News Crossword is published every Sunday evening. It's prefect for prompting discussion about current events.
I'm a teacher too.
All of these resources are simple and quick to download. They can be stored on a flashdrive, attached to a keyring and then they live in your pocket as easy and as ready to use as a hanky when a sneeze is coming on.
Try the Nonsense Rhymes Crosswords. If you like Dr Seuss, you'll love these (and so will your students). The World News Crossword is published every Sunday evening. It's prefect for prompting discussion about current events.
The World News Crossword - November 4th, 2018
A one-page crossword based on the events of last week’s news stories.
A crossword about India which was in the news for air pollution that was 6 times greater than the acceptable limit, a man-eating tiger was shot, the world’s tallest statue was unveiled, and a curfew was imposed on people living in Jammu & Kashmir,
A crossword about Yemen where civil war fuelled by Saudi Arabia and Iran is causing catastrophic famine, and
A crossword about Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor and Europe’s longest-serving national leader.
So what happened in last week’s news?
A bus crashed off a bridge in China, a passenger plane crashed into the Java Sea, and a Russian fighter plane crashed in Egypt. Air pollution in and around Delhi reached levels 6 times greater than the acceptable limit and politicians blamed politicians. Turkey will not be exempt from US-imposed sanctions against Iran. The Secretary-General of the UN said the civil war in Yemen will cause catastrophic famine. Storms resulted in deaths in Italy. Palau announced it will ban sunscreen because of its toxic effect on coral. Estonian traffic police handed out fines to speeding drivers, and brochures relating to organ donation and Russia’s traffic police announced that 5 million traffic tickets were incorrectly issued because of ‘a technical glitch’.
The World News Crossword - October 28th, 2018
A 6-page PDF document that includes:
A crossword based the events of last week’s news,
A crossword about countries and their capital cities,
A crossword about capital cities and their countries, and
A crossword about Queen Victoria (from our recently published Women who Changed the World book).
So, what happened in the news last week?
There was an earthquake in the Ionian Sea. The 12 Thai boys rescued from the flooded cave went to Manchester to watch ManU play Everton. Israel’s Prime Minister visited Oman. Pakistan blocked all Indian television channels because India is damming rivers that flow into Pakistan. Croatia’s police found more than 100 illegal migrants in a truck and Mexico offered work and schooling to its illegal immigrants. A 45 year old man was arrested for trying to steal an original copy of the Magna Carta. (What is an original copy?)
The World News Crossword - March 4th, 2018 is a simple one page crossword based on the events in last week’s news. There are 3 more crosswords (on France, New Zealand, and Australia) included and there are solutions to all 4 puzzles.
Crosswords are an excellent resource for logical thinking, handwriting, and cooperative learning. The World News Crossword - March 4th, 2018 is excellent as a research and critical thinking activity as well. It’s less about what happened in the news last week, and more about why, how, where, and who was involved.
Why was there a cease-fire in Syria (and was it effective)? Why was there an earthquake in Papua New-Guinea and who was affected? Was were three deaths in Australia newsworthy? Why did Russia announce the development of new nuclear missiles?
The World News Crossword is created and published every week. Use the crossword in PSHE/home room, for homework, or as an in-class activity.
The World News Crossword - August 12th, 2018 is a 6-page PDF document made up of 4 puzzles based on the events of last week’s news.
It’s a quick and simple process to download the resource and it can be stored on a flash drive ready for printing.
The World. News Crossword puzzle usually takes a class about 30-45 minutes to complete, leaving some time for discussion on some of the more interesting news stories. The puzzle seems to work best when done in pairs or small groups, to generate discussion. The goal of course is to have students learning more about the world around them, and to prompt them to ask questions, especially ‘why…?’
All for just £2.
What’s in this week’s document?
(1) A crossword based on the events of last week’s news,
(2) A crossword about Burkina Faso because it was in the news last week because of a malaria/bed-net trial that appears to have reduced the infection rate of malaria by 12%,
(3) A crossword all about Climate Change, because it’s always in the news despite what Australia’s agriculture minister said,
(3) And a crossword about Julius Caesar that can be shared with an English teacher. It’s included because in last week’s news there was a bit of a performance in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
All for just £2.
So what happened last week?
Australia’s agriculture minister said that the drought affecting almost all of Australia has nothing to do with man-made climate change. Excessive monsoon rain caused deaths, wide-spread displacement, and property damage in Kerala. The Swiss government announced measures to help farmers affected by the drought which has been caused by the heatwave in Europe.
Two trucks crashed on the highway near Bologna in Italy, a plane crashed near Seattle, and another plane crashed in Indonesia - and a 12 year old boy survived. There was a magnitude 6.2 aftershock near Lombok Island, also in Indonesia.
Brazil closed its border to Venezuelans. Singapore trialled eye-scans at its border. And speaking of borders, it seems (based on surveys) that at least 100 constituencies in Britain that previously voted to leave the EU would now vote to remain in the EU.
A German man called the police because he was being chased by a baby squirrel. (Tyranny comes in many forms.) In France, crows were trained to collect cigarette butts and exchange them for food. And Christopher Robin was banned from China (the movie, not the boy) - something to do with Winnie the Pooh.
All that (and three bonus puzzles) for just £2.
The World News Crossword - May 13th, 2018 is a simple PDF document that contains:
A crossword based on the events of last week’s news,
A Search & Cloze puzzle that explains the plastic pollution problem,
A Search & Cloze puzzle that explains the Rohingya Crisis, and
A crossword about Climate Change.
(The answers are included.)
So what happened in last week’s news?
Rohingya refugees were killed by wild elephants in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. The US-imposed tariffs on imported Canadian newsprint has raised the cost of US newspapers’ newsprint. A Pakistan court ruled that a US diplomat who allegedly killed a motorcyclist while driving drunk does not have diplomatic immunity. Iraq and East Timor held elections. Moldova’s government ruled out reunification talks with Romania. Poland’s government cut its politicians’ salaries and Zimbabwe’s government raised the pensions and salaries of war veterans and government workers. Israel won the Eurovision song contest, the sea off San Diego glowed blue, and India’s prime minister opened a hydro-electric construction project in Nepal.
But it’s less about what happened and more about why. Why are a million Rohingya people living in squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh? Why did US air force planes intercept Russian bombers of the Alaskan coast and why did Chinese air force planes fly around Taiwan? Why is the US president meeting the North Korean leader? Why did Malaysia elect a 92 year old prime minister? Why are Africans still dying of hunger and Ebola?
These puzzles are a simple and effective teaching tool for research skills (finally, they can use their smart-phones for something useful), for collaborative learning (because these puzzles work really well when students work in pairs or small groups), for reasoning skills and handwriting skills… We’ve had positive feedback from teachers using the puzzles with ADHD students and with GATE students, in PSHE / homeroom lessons, in English, Economics, Geography, Business… (some teachers even say they make staff meetings bearable - cheeky, eh?)
A new World News Crossword resource is published every week.
The World News Crossword - March 25th, 2018 is a simple pdf document that can be downloaded in minutes, saved to a flash drive, ready to be used ‘in a flash!’
There are 4 crosswords in this resource. The main crossword is made from events in last week’s news. Facebook’s value fell by $58 million. No wait, $58 BILLION. Why? India put 11 vigilantes away from life. Why? Australia’s cricket captain cheated. Why? The US probably began a trade war with China. Israel admitted attacking a Syrian nuclear reactor as a warning to Iran. Turkey and the US both sent oil exploration ships to Cyprus.
The puzzle is a simple way for students to learn about what happened in the world last week, but it’s even more valuable when it prompts them to discuss why these events occurred.
There are 3 more puzzles. One is about France, another is about Austria and the third is all about Egypt.
Crosswords are an excellent tool for supporting research skills, logical thinking and problem solving, and of course students have to write neatly.
Solutions for all the puzzles are included.
The World News Crossword - March 18th, 2018 is a 30-45 minute crossword activity based on last week’s news events. There are. 3 additional crosswords in the download (one each on France, New Zealand, and Australia).
The World News Crossword encourages accurate and neat handwriting, logic and problem-solving, and research skills.
Perhaps it’s less about the crossword and more about the discussion about the news events. Who is Robert Mugabe and why does he refer to a military coup in Zimbabwe? How could a plane drop 200 bars of gold on the runway as it was taking off? Why are only 400 Rohingya people allowed to return to their homes in Myanmar? Why would Saudi Arabia want nuclear weapons? Why would the president of USA tell lies to the prime minister of Canada? And why did the government of Bali block the internet on mobile phones for a whole day?
A 26-slide presentation that explains and demonstrates the effect of a subsidy on a market. Includes a slide that shows click-by-click the steps of analysis of the effect of a subsidy on the market for milk.
The presentation also includes slides showing the effect of a subsidy on consumer and producer surplus and therefore the social cost / deadweight loss of a subsidy.
Print the presentation as a handout, with 2 slides per page and have your students paste the pages into their workbooks, with their own handwritten notes attached.
Two crosswords based on the news events of 2016.
As a class activity, expect each of the se puzzles to take about 30-45 minutes. They work best with groups of 2-3 students working in teams. Let them use their smartphones and call it a collaborative research project.
Hurricane Matthew caused death and destruction on the Florida coast. Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Syrian war moved into its sixth year and last year alone about 4 million Syrians left their home country. Zimbabwe's economy deteriorated. Students in South Africa protested against tuition fees. And the Ethiopia-Djibouti electric railway line opened. India demonetised its 500 and 1000 rupee notes and the UK voted to leave the EU. Brazil hosted the Summer Olympics and the Paralympics and the Brazilian government impeached its president. Terrorists attacked in Berlin, Nice, Istanbul, and Brussels.
Of course, the real value of these crosswords is the discussion that results from the clues and answers. Why was Bob Dylan awarded a prize for literature when he's a song writer? Are songs literature? Why did India demonetise the 500 and 1000 rupee notes? Were there more big earthquakes in 2016 than normal? What causes earthquakes? What are gravitational waves and why was a rocket launched to explore Mars? Why was the Malaysian Airlines plane shot down as it flew over Ukraine? Why is the UK leaving the EU? What is a referendum and why don't governments use them more often? If South Africa's students want to attend university for free, why did they trash their universities? Why did China and USA finally sign the Paris climate change deal (or maybe we should ask, What took them so long?)
This is a simple crossword aiming to encourage students to ask about what happened in their world last week.
Download and then print this simple and easy to use PDF and save time preparing for the next English, Economics, Geography, Business, or PSHE lesson. The puzzles are excellent for a lively and informative homeroom period or even a substitution lesson when the absent colleague hasn't left enough work. You save your precious time and the students get to learn about last week's news events.
The puzzles seem to work best when students work in pairs or groups of three, so they discuss the clues and therefore the events of their world. They work even better if the teacher does the puzzle with the students.
It's less bout the puzzle's clues and answers and more about the questions and discussion that result from them. For example... What is match-fixing? Why would people protest against China building a port in Sri Lanka. Where is Ghana? Why kill the ducks in France? Why would Israel withhold money from its annual United Nations dues? Where is Fort Lauderdale? Where are Chad and Libya? What is the Turner Prize awarded for? Where is Cueta? Why is there a civil war in Syria? Where is Abuja? Why would parents allow their children to work in a brick kiln? What are bison? Could a palace in Sweden be haunted by a ghost? Really? Why replace workers with an AI system? What’s AI? Where is Guantánamo Bay? What does Germany have to do with Namibia?
As a bonus, there are three more puzzles... European capitals, Asian capitals, and African capitals. Because it might be good if they know where these countries and their capital cities are. It's a bit of fun, and educational of course, but watch closely and you'll see how crosswords can help students improve their handwriting.
There's a new puzzle created every week, so don't forget to come back every Monday morning for another simple and easy and very useful learning activity.
What happened in our world? September 18th, 2016 is a crossword based on last week's news events (and there are THREE MORE very useful puzzles attached). The answers are included.
This resource is a pdf document so it's quick to download and quick to print.
(Note... when the resource is uploaded on Sunday it's priced at £2:00, but from Monday, it's discounted to £1:50. This is because of the site's minimum price and sale/discount feature. So wait until Monday morning before buying it.)
In this week's puzzle… The Global Fund raised almost 13 million dollars to eradicate AIDS, malaria and Tb while Pakistan began fortifying basic foods to combat malnutrition and Florida expanded its 'Zika zone'. David Cameron announced his resignation from politics, riots erupted in the DRC - protesting for early presidential elections, Nigeria's president admitted copying some of Barack Obama's speeches, and he also announced that his government would swap Boko Haram prisoners for the Chibok girls.
And... a man in Indiana posted dead skunks and raccoons to another man (it was something to do with basketball or football).
This crossword is fairly simple because it's not about solving the puzzle - it's about getting students to think about and discuss the news events and the people affected by these events. Students could use their smartphones to look at the news and so they'll learn that phones are more than just social media gadgets. They'll hopefully ask about the news too, like why is Norway planning to cull 2 million wolves? Why did Indian Kashmir police shoot and kill a twelve year old boy. And why were there violent protests in Bengaluru?
This week there are THREE bonus puzzles about countries, cities, and famous people.
All of these puzzles can be used with a wide range of students, from middle to secondary school, and in a wide range of subjects. They're good for PSHE and homeroom situations, for Social Studies or English classes, for students with ADHD or handwriting issues, for students in a time-out situation, for homework... and for use with classes that substitute / supply teachers are supervising. Print them and have them ready for the emergency situations.
What happened in our world? November 28th, 2016 is a crossword based on last week's news events.
Download and then print this simple and easy to use PDF and save time preparing for the next Economics or Geography or Business lesson, PSHE lesson, home room period, substitution lesson... You save your precious time and the students get to learn about last week's news events. The puzzles seem to work best when students work in pairs or groups of three, so they discuss the clues and therefore the events of their world. They work even better if the teacher does the puzzle with the students. Crosswords are effective practice activity for helping students with problematic handwriting.
In this week's puzzle… The Ugandan police arrested a king, Egyptian archaeologists discovered a 5000 year old city and the Moroccan state television advised women on how to hide the effects of domestic violence with make up. The Indian minster of women's affairs said the news of rape and sexual violence is overstated by the media and is harming tourism. There is a drought in Madagascar and snow in Tokyo. Putin gave Steven Seagal a Russian passport.
This is a simple crossword aiming to encourage students to ask about what's happening in their world. Why would a Chinese firm pay over a billion Euros for a website that compares the price of air tickets? Was Fidel Castro a great leader or a tyrant and a dictator? Was the earthquake off Costa Rica related to the New Zealand earthquake? Why would someone steal a baby monkey from a Sydney zoo? Is Formula One car racing a sport?
As a bonus, there's another crossword that asks students to name the capital city of the countries that were referred to in last week's news.
This is a simple crossword aiming to encourage students to ask about what's happening in their world.
Download and then print this simple and easy to use PDF and save time preparing for the next Economics, Geography, Business, or PSHE lesson. The puzzles are excellent for a lively and informative home room period or even a substitution lesson when the absent colleague hasn't left enough work. You save your precious time and the students get to learn about last week's news events.
In this week's puzzle... protest marches in Venezuela against economic failure and all around the world in support of science. No blue lights on cars in India, no food stalls on Bangkok streets and no dogs and cats to be eaten in Taiwan. Presidential elections in France and an early election in Britain. A national strike in French Guiana and a murder in the Maldives and very disrespectful behaviour at the tennis. And North Korea created a lot of news last week too. It was an interesting week.
The puzzles seem to work best when students work in pairs or groups of three, so they discuss the clues and therefore the events of their world. They work even better if the teacher does the puzzle with the students.
There are 2 BONUS puzzles: one is about Asia's countries and capitals and the other is about Africa.
This is a simple crossword activity aiming to encourage students to ask about what's happening in our world.
Download and then print this easy to use PDF and save time preparing for the next Economics, Geography, Business, or PSHE lesson. The puzzles are excellent for a lively and informative home room period or even a substitution lesson when the absent colleague hasn't left enough work. You save your precious time and the students get to learn about last week's news events. (You might even give them colleagues to keep them happy during staff meetings - but don't let the bosses catch you!)
In this week's puzzle... Obamacare survived. Somali pirates released a Sri Lankan ship and crew. An avalanche in Japan and a cyclone in Queensland. New Zealanders submitted a petition to protest against water being sold to China, India, and the Middle East. Britain was attacked by a lone terrorist. And Vladimir told Marine that Russia won't meddle in France's presidential election.
Of course the real value of this crossword is the discussion it'll generate... Why did these things happen? Why, of all the things that happened in the world, were these the events reported in the news? The wording of these news events is interesting too; is there any bias in the wording?
The puzzles seem to work best when students work in pairs or groups of three, so they discuss the clues and therefore the events of their world. They work even better if the teacher does the puzzle with the students.
There are two BONUS puzzles that focus on the United Kingdom's history and geography. Good for KS3 as well as older classes.
What happened in our world? January 31st, 2016 is THREE crosswords based on last week's news events.
In this week's puzzles… A vulture from an Israeli nature reserve was captured and detained in Lebanon on suspicion of spying, but was later found not guilty and released. According to the World Health Organisation, there are now 41 million obese children aged under five. McDonald’s announced that it will add french fries smothered in chocolate sauce to its menu in Japan. UNICEF warned that about 25,000 North Korean children need immediate treatment for malnutrition. And at long last… negotiations aiming to find a solution to the Syrian civil war began in Geneva.
These are simple crosswords aiming to make our students talk about what's happening in their world, why it's happening, where, and to whom.
Use them in in your home room class, in for subject lessons, in substitution lessons, in lunchtime or after school clubs, in the time-out room, or even in the staffroom.
What happened in our world? November 29th, 2015 is TWO crosswords based on last week's news events. The document is a simple PDF so it is quick to download and print for your class (and the solution is included). This activity is suitable for middle and high school students and will encourage students to discuss and learn about their world's current events.
In this week's puzzles… Where was Pope Francis last week? What did Belgians do during their capital city's lockdown? Why did seven men sew their mouths shut? More than a year's worth of what fell in Qatar in just a few hours? Why did the Zagreb goal keeper not play against Arsenal? What was the story with the gigantic gingerbread house in San Francisco? And that red panda that escaped from the California zoo… eureka! It was found.
This crossword is ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. It can be completed individually or in small groups or as a week-long homework activity, or even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so now we can make good use of that. Maybe you could start up a lunchtime news and current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics.
Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant class discussion.
Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' puzzle - ready and waiting for Monday morning.
What happened in our world? November 1st, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple PDF document so it is quick to download and print for your class. (The solution is included.)
This activity sheet is suitable for middle and high school students and will encourage students to discuss and learn about their world's current events. In this week's puzzle… Who won the Rugby World Cup? What did Rome's city councillors do? What did six people in NIgeria tried to sell? Where was the earthquake last week? Australia's Labour Party promised to what to the voting age? And more.
This crossword is ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. It can be completed individually or in small groups or as a week-long homework activity, or even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so we teachers don't stand a chance! Here though is something more educational than Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja for the students to use their smartphones for.
Maybe you could start up a lunchtime current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics.
Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant class discussion.
This week's BONUS puzzle reworks the same clues with a different grid and different answers. Have the students do the bonus puzzle later in the week as a 'what did you remember?' activity.
Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' puzzle - ready and waiting for Monday morning.
What happened in our world? November 8th, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple PDF so it is quick and easy to download and print. (The solutions are included, of course.)
These activities are suitable for middle and high school students and will encourage students to discuss and learn about their world's current events. In this week's puzzle… Russia condemned Charlie Hebdo. Planes crashed in South Sudan and Sinai. The US unemployment rate fell and Candy Crush's parent company sold for $US5.9 billion (which is crazy).
This crossword is ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. It can be completed individually or in small groups or as a week-long homework activity, or even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so we teachers don't stand a chance! Here though is something more educational than Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja (and Candy Crush) for the students to use their smartphones for.
Maybe you could start up a lunchtime current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics.
Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant (that's good-noisy) class discussion.
This week there are TWO bonus puzzles. The first simply reworks the same clues with a different grid and different answers. Have the students do this puzzle later in the week as a 'what did you remember?' activity. The second bonus puzzle asks questions about the news items, for example, Where is Burundi?, What is Charlie Hebdo?, and What competes for the Melbourne Cup? These can be given as a follow-up activity to either of the main news crosswords.
Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' puzzle - ready and waiting for Monday morning.
Please feel free to post feedback about the puzzles. How did you use them with your students? What discussions followed?
What happened in our world? November 15th, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple PDF so it is quick and easy to download and print. (The solutions are included, of course.)
These activities are suitable for middle and high school students and will encourage students to discuss and learn about their world's current events. So many things happened last week that there are THREE different puzzles in this week's download. The Russian athletics drug problem. The New Zealand schoolboy's end of year speech. Pakistan's 'ghost' schools. And the Paris tragedy.
These crosswords are ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. They can be completed individually or in small groups or as a week-long homework activity, or even as a time-out activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so let's have our students use their smartphones for a positive learning activity.
Maybe you could start up a lunchtime current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics.
Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant (that's good-noisy) class discussion.
Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's 'What happened in our world?' puzzle, ready and waiting for Monday morning.
Please feel free to post feedback about the puzzles. How did you use them with your students? What discussions followed?
What happened in our world? November 22nd, 2015 is a crossword based on last week's news events. It is a simple PDF so it is quick and easy to download and print. (The solutions are included, of course.) This week though, there are TWO crosswords with different clues.
So where was the biggest diamond found - Botswana or Canada? What did the boy in Australia sing the national Anthem with and why did Youtube go silly about it? A volunteer firefighter from Mississippi got a new what? And the Swiss cherry orchardist picked up 4000 of what? (You just know it wasn't cherries, right?) New Zealanders began voting for a new what? And the United Nations issued a strongly worded condemnation about what?
These crosswords are ideal as a research, writing and reading activity. Better than that, these crosswords will stimulate very interesting discussions. The puzzles can be completed individually or in small groups or as a week-long homework activity. Samsung and Apple spend a fortune convincing our students to use smartphones so let's have our students use their smartphones for a positive learning activity. Maybe you could start a lunchtime current events club and use these puzzles as starters for conversation topics. Or maybe you can hand them out to colleagues and have a ready, get set, go! competition to see who's the smartest in the staffroom.
This week there's a BONUS crossword called, 'Which Sport?'
Don't you HATE substituting for an absent colleague when the kids have nothing or not enough to do? Print some of these puzzles and have them in your classroom or in your bag ready for a vibrant (that's good-noisy) lesson.
Don't forget to come back next Sunday evening for next week's puzzle, ready and waiting for Monday morning.
Please feel free to post feedback about the puzzles. How did you use them with your students? What discussions followed? Who was the smartest teacher in your staffroom?