Reading Passages Teaching Resources
Explore reading passages ready to be used in your primary classroom to assess your students' comprehension skills and build their confidence as readers!
Created by teachers for teachers, each reading passage in this extensive collection has been designed to enhance student comprehension skills and build understanding. This collection of Australian English curriculum-aligned comprehension passages was created by the teachers on the Teach Starter team, and each has undergone a review by an expert on our team to ensure it’s ready for your classroom.
Not sure where to begin? Here’s a quick primer from our teacher team to help you get the most out of this teacher tool!
What Are Reading Passages?
Reading passages are a set of written texts that are typically used for reading comprehension exercises and assessments. They can come in various forms, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama. They are used to provide a text for students to read and analyse and are often accompanied by questions or tasks to assess comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and other language skills.
How to Use Reading Passages in the Classroom
This collection of short reading passages can be used for a variety of needs, including:
- Practising reading fluency
- Provide students with practise in reading comprehension and critical thinking skills
- Measuring students’ reading level
- Exposing students to different genres, authors and writing styles
Best of all? Teach Starter's reading passages have been developed so they can be used for individual or group activities.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Worksheets - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Read to learn about the Great Pacific Garbage patch with a printable reading comprehension worksheet pack.
- Plus Plan
Life Without Tacos – Comprehension Task
A comprehension passage and accompanying worksheet about cultural diffusion.
- Plus Plan
Decodable Text Worksheets – Single Graphemes (Set 2)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
- Plus Plan
Year 3 Magazine – "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 3) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with Issue 3 of Teach Starter’s Year 3 magazine.
- Plus Plan
Human Histories: World Explorers – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article about some world explorers and their achievements.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension - Tia's Tantrum
A comprehension activity using a narrative text.
- Plus Plan
Printable Early Reader Books - Ocean Animals
Learn about sea life with a printable ocean book for year 1 students.
- Plus Plan
Year 5 Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 2)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 5 students.
- Plus Plan
Year 4 Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 1)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 4 students.
- Plus Plan
Producer, Consumer, Decomposer - Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the role of producers, consumers and decomposers within ecosystems with this comprehension task.
- Plus Plan
Earth, Sun and Moon – Comprehension Worksheet
Read about and compare physical characteristics of the Eath, sun and moon with this reading comprehension sheet.
- Plus Plan
Year 6 Magazine – "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 3) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with Issue 3 of Teach Starter's Year 6 magazine.
- Plus Plan
My Dog Max – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a narrative from the Foundation magazine (Issue 1).
- Free Plan
Extreme Environments: Lands of Ice and Sand – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for an information report from the Year 4 magazine (Issue 3).
- Plus Plan
Healthy Mind, Healthy Body: The Value of Vegetables – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a comic from the Year 5 magazine (Issue 2).
- Plus Plan
Species Snapshot Worksheet - Honey Bees
A comprehension worksheet for a species snapshot magazine article about honey bees.
- Plus Plan
Blast Off with Space Rex 2000 – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a fake advertisement from the Year 5 magazine (Issue 2).
- Free Plan
Art Attack! Line – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Year 1 magazine (Issue 3).
- Plus Plan
Year 1 Magazine - "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 1) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with Issue 1 of Teach Starter's Year 1 magazine.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards - Compare And Contrast
A set of comprehension task cards to help students compare and contrast when reading.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards - Making Predictions
A set of comprehension task cards to help students make predictions when reading.
- Plus Plan
NAPLAN Reading Magazine – Year 3 - PowerPoint
5 reading texts with multiple choice questions for NAPLAN Reading Year 3 on PowerPoint.
- Plus Plan
Compare and Contrast - Comprehension Task
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
- Plus Plan
Australian Conservationists: Ian Kiernan – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about Ian Kiernan and his conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.
- Plus Plan
Year 6 Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 2)
Issue 2 of our beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 6 students.
- Plus Plan
Year 5 Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 5 students.
- Plus Plan
Year 3 Magazine – What’s Buzzing? (Issue 2)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 3 students.
- Plus Plan
Year 1 Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 22-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 1 students.
- Plus Plan
Australian Inventions — The Black Box Comprehension Worksheets
Discover amazing Australian inventions like the Black Box In-Flight data recorder with a printable reading comprehension activity.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension – History of Flight Reading Worksheets
Read and learn about innovations in aviation with a printable reading comprehension activity.
- Plus Plan
The History of Australia's Parliamentary System - Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the ins and outs of Australia’s parliamentary history with this reading comprehension activity.
- Plus Plan
Finding The Main Idea - Comprehension Task (Turtles)
Explore the wonderful world of turtles with this comprehension task focusing on the main idea.