Plant native to Central America and the West Indies. It has the combined flavor of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, giving it its name.
The front of a ship or boat.
Conceived a plan to sail WEST in order to reach the EAST.
One of the oldest recorded spices, it was in use in 3000 B.C. Mesopotamia. It is the inner bark of an evergreen tree, which is stripped and the dried in the sun. It is used as a seasoning, perfume, preservative.
Flower of a tree picked before it opens and dried in the sun. It had medicinal value because it can numb skin and be used for tooth aches. It was used to make an air freshener, known as a pomander.
Chocolate. Columbus knew the natives used the bean as money. It was not until Cortez brought back sacks from the Aztec civilization that the Spanish learned how to make chocolate.
Originally from Ethiopia, Africa, these beans are fermented, dried, and roasted. The beverage was created by people on the Arabian Peninsula.
American crop that would become very important in feeding farm animals back in Europe.
Indicates magnetic north.
To be the first to find out, or see something.
The imaginary line running east/west around the world midway between the North and South Poles. The equator divides the earth into the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.
To travel in a region that was previously unknown or little known in order to learn about its natural features and inhabitants.
Popular trading item in the Americas.
This plant root has a hot (spicy) sensation. We see it fresh in markets but explorers shipped it dried or crystallized. It is the underground stem of a plant originally from China.
The northern or southern half of the earth as divided by the equator or the eastern or western half as divided by a meridian.
The distance north or south of the equator, expressed in degrees (0-90). On a map or globe, latitude lines are drawn running east and west.
The distance east or west of the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England, expressed in degrees (0-180). On a map or globe, longitude lines are drawn running north and south.
The art of guiding a vessel from place to place safely.
An imaginary line connecting the North and South Poles which runs through Greenwich, England.
Originally from Mali, was used to draw moisture out of meat to preserve the food in times before refrigeration.
Crossword puzzles have been published in newspapers and other publications since 1873. They consist of a grid of squares where the player aims to write words both horizontally and vertically.
Next to the crossword will be a series of questions or clues, which relate to the various rows or lines of boxes in the crossword. The player reads the question or clue, and tries to find a word that answers the question in the same amount of letters as there are boxes in the related crossword row or line.
Some of the words will share letters, so will need to match up with each other. The words can vary in length and complexity, as can the clues.
The fantastic thing about crosswords is, they are completely flexible for whatever age or reading level you need. You can use many words to create a complex crossword for adults, or just a couple of words for younger children.
Crosswords can use any word you like, big or small, so there are literally countless combinations that you can create for templates. It is easy to customise the template to the age or learning level of your students.
For the easiest crossword templates, WordMint is the way to go!
For a quick and easy pre-made template, simply search through WordMint’s existing 500,000+ templates. With so many to choose from, you’re bound to find the right one for you!
Once you’ve picked a theme, choose clues that match your students current difficulty level. For younger children, this may be as simple as a question of “What color is the sky?” with an answer of “blue”.
Crosswords are a great exercise for students' problem solving and cognitive abilities. Not only do they need to solve a clue and think of the correct answer, but they also have to consider all of the other words in the crossword to make sure the words fit together.
If this is your first time using a crossword with your students, you could create a crossword FAQ template for them to give them the basic instructions.
All of our templates can be exported into Microsoft Word to easily print, or you can save your work as a PDF to print for the entire class. Your puzzles get saved into your account for easy access and printing in the future, so you don’t need to worry about saving them at work or at home!
Crosswords are a fantastic resource for students learning a foreign language as they test their reading, comprehension and writing all at the same time. When learning a new language, this type of test using multiple different skills is great to solidify students' learning.
We have full support for crossword templates in languages such as Spanish, French and Japanese with diacritics including over 100,000 images, so you can create an entire crossword in your target language including all of the titles, and clues.