Last Day of School Word Search Free Printable, Yearbooks to Summer

Press Print or save as PDF for an end-of-year word search on yearbooks, goodbyes and the summer ahead.

Name Date

Last Day of School Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 16 words found

FBEAGDBOCTTEDLZ

RMKNZBSSMYMBCNF

IHLHEAVACATIONC

EENRDRHCSMYTANL

NIPYEARBOOKOSTA

DLSCAMPUTDLYBYS

SPEOWGOSUANGKSS

UALCAOHOAYOHBLM

NRGPROUDDIPLOMA

STCBDDGCCAOCYUT

HYAESBSBJCSUMAE

IYOAJYFEPLGDTNC

NLOCKERLEUWIHNV

EFEHBRRLHLQLGEK

IABPPTLFTJTMUNT

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

LockerLOCKER
AwardsAWARDS
BellBELL
BusBUS
PartyPARTY
YearbookYEARBOOK
ClassmateCLASSMATE
FriendsFRIENDS
DiplomaDIPLOMA
GoodbyeGOODBYE
HugsHUGS
ProudPROUD
VacationVACATION
SunshineSUNSHINE
BeachBEACH
CampCAMP

16 of 24 words from the Last Day of School Favorites list.

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Word list

Large print Lower-case letters Name and date line on paper

The puzzle changes as you go. See the puzzle

Answer key: Last Day of School Word Search

FBEAGDBOCTTEDLZ

RMKNZBSSMYMBCNF

IHLHEAVACATIONC

EENRDRHCSMYTANL

NIPYEARBOOKOSTA

DLSCAMPUTDLYBYS

SPEOWGOSUANGKSS

UALCAOHOAYOHBLM

NRGPROUDDIPLOMA

STCBDDGCCAOCYUT

HYAESBSBJCSUMAE

IYOAJYFEPLGDTNC

NLOCKERLEUWIHNV

EFEHBRRLHLQLGEK

IABPPTLFTJTMUNT

LOCKER, AWARDS, BELL, BUS, PARTY, YEARBOOK, CLASSMATE, FRIENDS, DIPLOMA, GOODBYE, HUGS, PROUD, VACATION, SUNSHINE, BEACH, CAMP

Next step Build a puzzle from your pupils' first names Scramble the same end-of-year words

All 98 words

Last Week of School 20

Assembly The whole school gathered in one room, often for prizes and a slideshow.
Awards Prizes for attendance, reading, kindness or effort, handed out at the closing assembly.
Bell It rings to end every day. The one that ends the year gets a cheer.
Bus In many schools the staff line up outside and wave as each one pulls away for the summer.
Certificate A printed sheet with your name on it that says what you achieved.
Cleanup The job of emptying desks, wiping shelves and stacking chairs before the room is closed.
Countdown Counting backwards. Many classes keep one on the board for the last ten days.
Desk Where you sat all year. Old papers and lost erasers turn up inside it in the final week.
Final Last of all, like the closing bell in June.
Kickball A playground game with bases and a big rubber ball, a favorite for the closing week.
Library Every borrowed book goes back here before the doors close for summer.
Locker A metal cupboard in the hallway. Its door is left open once everything has gone home.
Movie A film shown in class as a treat once the work is done.

Show all 98 words (85 more)

Last Week of School, continued

Party A class celebration with snacks and games on one of the closing days.
Report The card of this name lists your final marks and a comment from your teacher.
Return To give back. Borrowed books and gym uniforms all need this before the final bell.
Slideshow Photos of the year shown one after another on the big screen.
Talent A show of this name lets pupils sing, juggle, dance or tell jokes on stage.
Textbook A class book that belongs to the school and has to be handed back before summer.
Wave To move a hand from side to side. Staff do it from the sidewalk as the buses leave.

Yearbook and Memories 20

Advice Helpful suggestions. This year's class can leave some for next year's.
Annual Once a year. It is also another name for the book of class pictures.
Autograph A name written in your own hand. The word comes from Greek for writing done by oneself.
Classmate Someone who shared your room and teacher this year.
Favorite The one you liked best: a book, a subject, a game at recess.
Friends People you chose to sit with at lunch all year.
Journal A notebook for writing about your days.
Keepsake A small thing saved because of what it reminds you of.
Letter A good closing-week task: write one to the pupil who will sit at your desk next year.
Memories Things you keep in your mind from the year, such as a field trip or a funny lunch.
Message A few kind words written to a classmate, often ending with Have a great summer.
Moments Short pieces of time. The best of the year get listed in the closing week.
Pages A few are left blank at the back of the class book for messages.
Photos Pictures taken with a camera. Class ones fill the pages of the annual.
Scrapbook Blank pages filled with glued-in photos, tickets and notes. New England schools kept them in the late 1600s.
Signature Your name written your own way. Classmates collect them on the blank pages at the back.
Silhouette A solid dark outline of a face seen from the side. The 1806 Yale class book used them, as cameras did not exist.
Teacher The adult who led your class and wrote your report card.
Timeline Events set out in order along a line, from the first week to the last.
Yearbook A printed record of one school year. The first formal one came from a Yale College class in 1806.

Moving Up 18

Applause Clapping from the audience.
Cap The flat square hat worn with a gown. One name for it is a mortarboard.
Diploma The document a school gives to show that you completed it.
Effort Hard trying. Many closing assemblies give a prize for it.
Elementary The school for the youngest grades, which pupils leave for middle school.
Gown The long loose robe worn over clothes at a graduation.
Grade The year of school you are in. In fall the number goes up by one.
Graduate To finish a school and move on, or a person who has done so.
Growth Getting bigger or better. A folder of September and June writing shows it.
Handshake What the principal offers as you take your certificate.
Kindergarten The first year of school. Many hold a small graduation of their own.
Milestone An important point on a journey. Finishing elementary school is one.
Mortarboard The square cap, named after the flat board a bricklayer uses to hold mortar.
Older What every pupil is by the end of the year.
Promotion Moving up to the next grade. Some schools hold a ceremony with this name for the oldest class.
Stage The raised floor you cross when your name is called.
Taller What most pupils are in June compared with September.
Tassel The bunch of threads that hangs from the middle of a square cap. It first appeared in the 1700s.

Saying Goodbye 14

Bittersweet Happy and sad at once, which is how the closing day feels to many.
Card Folded paper with a drawing on the front and a thank-you inside.
Cheer A happy shout, loudest at the closing bell.
Farewell A parting wish. Valedictorian, the pupil who gives the closing speech, comes from the Latin for saying it.
Glad Pleased. It is also normal to feel this when summer starts.
Goodbye What you say when you part. It began as a short form of God be with ye.
Hugs Arms around a friend. There are plenty at the classroom door in June.
Laughter The sound of a room enjoying a joke together.
Miss To feel sad that someone is not around.
Proud Pleased with what you have done this year.
Sad Unhappy. It is normal to feel a little of this when a good year ends.
Smiles Happy faces in every class photo.
Tears Drops from the eyes. Some teachers shed a few on the closing afternoon.
Thanks What a pupil owes the bus driver, the cook, the custodian and the teacher in June.

Summer Ahead 26

August The eighth month, when many American schools open again.
Barefoot With no shoes or socks on.
Beach Sand, waves and a towel.
Bike Two wheels, two pedals and a helmet.
Books American public libraries have run summer programs for reading these since the 1890s.
Camp Days or weeks of crafts, games and cabins away from home.
Farm A common story says the long break let children work on one. It is a myth: crops go in in spring and come out in fall.
Fireflies Beetles that glow on warm evenings.
Heat One real reason for the long break. School buildings of the 1800s were hard to cool.
Italy Schools here close from early June to early September, about three months.
Japan Here the summer break lasts about six weeks and falls inside the school year, which runs from April to March.
June The sixth month, 30 days long and named for the Roman goddess Juno. Many schools close during it.
Lemonade A cold drink of lemon juice, water and sugar, often sold from a stand on the sidewalk.
Picnic A meal eaten outdoors, a common way to end the school year.
Pool A place to swim that smells of chlorine.
Reading The one school habit worth keeping up every day of the break.
Sleep What you can do a little later into the morning when there is no bus to catch.
Solstice The day that has the longest daylight of the year. North of the equator it falls between June 20 and 22.
Sprinkler It sprays the lawn, and children run through it.
Summer The warmest season. For most American schools the break runs from late May or June to August or September.
Sunglasses Dark lenses that shade the eyes.
Sunscreen Lotion that protects skin from burning.
Sunshine Bright light from the sky on a clear day.
Swim To move through water using arms and legs.
Vacation Time off from school or work. In the United States the summer one lasts two to three months.
Watermelon A big green fruit, red and juicy inside, with black seeds.

How this list was compiled: 98 last day of school words chosen and defined for this site, in five themed lists (the last week of school, the yearbook and memories, moving up, saying goodbye, the summer ahead) plus three cross-cutting lists: 24 favorites that open the page, the 33 short words of 3 to 5 letters and the 37 long words of 8 to 12 letters. Every entry is a single word of 3 to 12 letters with no spaces, hyphens or apostrophes. No clue contains its own word, because the clue replaces the word in clue mode. The list is about the end of the year, not the start: school-supply and subject words belong to the back to school page, and only a dozen words (Locker, Desk, Bus, Bell, Teacher, Friends, Classmate, Library, Reading, Grade, August, Kindergarten) appear on both. No brand, team, character or product name is included; Yale College is named in two clues as the source of the first formal yearbook. Definitions are our own wording for readers of about 6 to 12. Facts with a date, a place or a number in them were checked on 2026-09-19 against: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_vacation (in the United States about two to three months, from late May or early June to mid or late August or early September; the farming explanation is a myth because most crops were planted in spring and harvested in fall; 19th-century calendar reform, school buildings hard to cool; Japan about six weeks inside an April to March school year; Italy from the first half of June to the first half of September, about three months), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yearbook (also called an annual; scrapbook proto-yearbooks in New England schools late in the 1600s; the first formal modern yearbook, in 1806, was Profiles of Part of the Class Graduated at Yale College, with silhouettes because printed photography did not exist; blank pages for messages; books handed out at the end of the year for signing), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valedictorian (from Latin vale dicere, to say farewell; the closing speaker at commencement), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_academic_cap (called a mortarboard for its likeness to the board bricklayers use to hold mortar; tassels appeared in the 18th century), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma (a document awarded by a school certifying that the recipient has graduated), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June (30 days; named for Juno; the June solstice falls between June 20 and 22 and is the longest day north of the equator), https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/autograph (from Ancient Greek for a writing in one's own hand) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goodbye (a contraction of God be with ye) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_reading_program (run by public libraries; in the United States no later than the 1890s). Left out because the pages read did not confirm them: moving the tassel from right to left, the origin of tossing caps in the air, and a Greek root for the word for the graduation document. Licence: own work

How it works

By June every class knows these 16 words: Yearbook, Locker and Vacation are in the first grid of this last day of school word search free printable. The bank of 98 runs from desk cleanup to summer.

Read the full guide

Moving up, goodbyes and the summer ahead

Moving Up has 18 words, Gown to Milestone, and Saying Goodbye has 14, so one puzzle holds all 14. Pick either under Start from a list. For kindergarten, Easy Last Day of School keeps the 33 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Bell, Hugs and Pool. Hard Last Day of School has 37 of 8 to 12, Kindergarten the longest.

The farm story is a myth

Pupils often hear that summer break let children work the fields. Most crops went in during spring and came out in fall, so it does not hold up. Reformers in the 1800s gave town and country schools one calendar, and July classrooms were hard to cool. The back to school word search repeats only 12 of these words.

At a moving-up ceremony, the Mortarboard clue explains the square cap: it is named after a bricklayer's board.
Pencils packed? Put the puzzle on the board: pupils drag along a word or tap both of its ends.

Questions and answers

Is the end of school word search printable free, and can I send it home as a PDF?

Yes, with no cap on copies. Print or save as PDF makes 2 pages, the puzzle and then its key. Choose Save as PDF in the print dialog for a file. Summer Ahead, 26 words from Lemonade to Fireflies, suits the final newsletter.

How long is summer vacation in other countries?

In the United States it lasts two to three months, from late May or June to August or early September. Italian schools close for about three months from early June. Japan's break is about six weeks, in a school year running April to March.

When was the first school yearbook?

The first formal one came from a Yale College class in 1806. Cameras did not exist, so it used silhouettes, solid dark outlines of a face seen from the side. Yearbook, Silhouette and Autograph are in the Yearbook and Memories list.

All 98 words

Last Week of School 20

Last Week of School, continued

Yearbook and Memories 20

Moving Up 18

Saying Goodbye 14

Summer Ahead 26

How it works

Moving up, goodbyes and the summer ahead

The farm story is a myth

Questions and answers

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