Berliner Mauer Kreuzworträtsel

 

I seem to be on a crossword puzzle roll lately.  I created a Berlin Wall crossword puzzle for my good friend to use with her German 2 students.  It's German to German but uses relatively simple language, so it should be accessible to strong German 2 students or German 3 students who have studied a bit about the Wall.

Click on the link if you'd like a copy: Berliner Mauer Kreuzworträtsel

Kreuzworträtsel / Crossword Puzzles

I liked to use crossword puzzles in my classes as a way to sneak in some vocabulary drill in a way that was slightly more enjoyable to students.  It also has the perk of being self-correcting, so no need to spend a lot of time grading/going over it.  Win-win!

The tool I have always used is the Criss-Cross Puzzlemaker from Discovery Education.  It's not fancy, but it gets the job done.

I take the puzzle that is generated by Puzzlemaker and paste it into a PowerPoint template so that I can save it and use a format that is similar to other paper assignments.  This certainly isn't necessary, but I think it's a nice touch.

I recently made a puzzle to be used as a review for the beginning of the year for incoming German 2 students.  It reviews typical German 1 vocabulary, such as school, numbers, colors, family, and food.  I made two versions.  One is easier and has the clues as the English definitions.  Students fill in the German word.  The other version is more difficult.  The clues are in (very simple) German, and the answers are German as well.  I feel like this is attainable for strong German 2 students and might even be challenging to German 3 students who are working on using the target language only.  Both versions are included in the same file, which is available here: Willkommen Deutsch 2 Kreuzworträtsel.  Here is the list of words for a key and for easy modification to tailor the puzzle to your own students without needing the retype the whole list: Willkommen Deutsch 2 Kreuzworträtsel word list.

Math Puzzles for my German Students

Because why not?

I love logic puzzles and think they are great for students to promote playful, logical thinking and problem solving.

The amazing Sarah Carter of Math = Love very generously shares puzzles that she uses in her classroom on her blog, and I've found time to print out two so far and put them in my room for students when they have a spare minute or two.

The first one is the A+ puzzle, which can be really tricky unless you approach it in the right way.

Then I added in the 1-4-5 Square Challenge.

Of course, I put it right by my Deutsch macht Spaß sign!

I think it's about time to rotate out the A+ puzzle and bring in a new one - as soon as I find the time!