Second Grade Word Searches

Twelve columns is the change on this page. The list stays at ten words or fewer, but the board widens from a hundred letters to a hundred and forty-four, which is enough room that a word is no longer half in view the moment the sheet is turned over.

It is also where words begin to lean. Beside the straight across-and-down puzzles, many of the twelve-wide ones use a forward set that adds the two rightward diagonals, so a word can climb or fall as it goes. It is still spelled in the order you read it, letter after letter — nothing on this page is hidden in reverse.

By second grade the decoding is quick enough that the hunt itself is the hard part rather than the reading, and the subject matter widens to suit: history, science, the human body, jobs and careers all have twelve-wide sets here. Each prints on a single sheet with its own answer key page behind it, which makes a class set quick to put together.

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