Hot Potatoes Crossword

A teacher guide to help educators learn how to generate their own crossword puzzle learning objects.

1. Create a Crossword Puzzle activity

1. Open Hot Potatoes

2. Choose JCross




3. Type in a Quiz title






4. Choose a position on the crossword grid by clicking in a cell(square)

5. Type the text in each cell (use the arrow keys to move around the grid)

6. Click on the first letter of the term/word

7. Click on the Add Clues button



8. In the Add Clues pop up, type in the clue (see below)








Don’t type! All exercise
text is on the last page
of this document.

2. 9. Click on the red OK button, click on the green OK button.

The term and clue appear in a list



10. Repeat steps 4 to 9 until the crossword is complete.



















11. To customize the instructions, Click on the menu item Options


12. Click Configure output




13. In the tab, Titles/Instructions , Paste or type instructions.

3. 14. In the tab, Buttons, choose to hide or show screen elements such as the Hint button. In the
screen below, all of these elements are hidden.



15. In the tab, Appearance , alter the font face, font size and the colors as below.

4. 16. In the tab, Other , choose options depend on your desires.

17. Click OK

18. If everything is acceptable, you should save the JCross project file (.jcw format)

Save the project file

1. Click File, Save As

2. Type in a file name

3. Click on the Save button

• You must now publish the file in HTML format for students to use.

Publish the project for student use

1. Click File

2. Click Create Web Page

3. Click Standard Format

4. Type a file name

5. Note the file type is HTML

6. Click Save

5. 7. Choose View the exercise in my browser







8. Check for any issues

9. If the project is acceptable, locate the folder and copy it onto a USB drive or a server for
sharing.

6. Adding images

1. Place all of the project images into a folder

2. In the Title section,
3. Click to the right of the title text (to set an insertion point for the image)






4. On the menu bar, Click on Insert

5. Click Picture

6. Click Picture from Local File

7. Locate the picture/image on your hard drive



8. Select the image

9. Click Open

7. 10. Alter the size (smaller)

11. Change the alignment to Centre for best
results

12. Click OK

13. HTML code appears (don’t worry)








14. Click the Save icon
15. Click the Export to Web icon

16. Click Save

17. Click Yes

18. Preview the exercise

8. Exercise text
Fossil Collecting
Fossil
The remains of a prehistoric organism.
Mud
____rocks , composed of at least 50% silt and clay.
Quartz
Sandstones with at least 90% quartz grains.
Iron
A chemical sedimentary rock.
Coal
An organic sedimentary rock.
Breccia
A clastic sedimentary rock.
Sedimentary
Rock that has formed from sediment deposited by water or air.

Complete the crossword, then click on "Check" to check your answer. If you are stuck, you can click
on "Hint" to get a free letter. Click on a number in the grid to see the clue or clues for that number.