Reading Comprehension Teaching Resources
Explore printable reading comprehension worksheets, digital activities and more to teach reading comprehension strategies in your primary classroom. Created by teachers, for teachers, the teaching resources in this collection are aligned with the Australian curriculum and have undergone a careful review by a member of our expert teaching team.
You'll find editable versions to easily differentiate your instruction for individual students, plus various options to make your lesson planning easier this school year!
New to teaching this portion of the English curriculum or just looking for fresh and engaging ways to teach reading comprehension strategies? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a simple definition of reading comprehension, a look at different strategies students can use and more!
What Is Reading Comprehension?
We'll start at the beginning! Reading comprehension is a skill that's hard to overestimate in terms of its importance for early years students to develop.
Defined as the ability to understand and interpret written language, reading comprehension involves the process of decoding text, extracting meaning from it, and then integrating that meaning with prior knowledge and understanding.
Not only does comprehension comprise the ability to recognise and understand individual words, but it also involves the ability to recognise patterns and relationships within sentences and paragraphs, as well as the ability to make inferences and draw conclusions based on the information presented.
This isn't just important for reading, of course.
Comprehension is all about making meaning, and it includes various levels of understanding, including:
- Literal
- Inferential
- Evaluative
- Critical
If you think about it, we rely on these skills on a daily basis — when we notice the stooped shoulders of a partner as they walk in the door or when we listen to the weather report and observe how heavily laden the sky is with grey clouds.
To develop those same skills in a reading context, our students need to build a variety of language skills, such as vocabulary knowledge, grammar and syntax, as well as cognitive processes, such as attention, memory and critical thinking.
So how do they get there? Let's talk strategies!
What Are Reading Comprehension Strategies?
As you well know, students don't start off being able to comprehend every single thing they read. But teaching them strategies to understand better and retain information will allow them to go from recognising individual words to understanding a range of texts.
Some common reading comprehension strategies include:
- Previewing — This is the process of skimming the text before reading it in detail to get an overall sense of what it is about.
- Activating Prior Knowledge — Students can draw on existing knowledge and experience to help them understand new information, such as a new text.
- Making Connections — This strategy focuses on teaching students to make connections between a text and their own experiences and understandings. Research into the science of reading has shown enhanced comprehension when students are able to connect new information to information they already know.
- Questioning — In this comprehension strategy, students ask and answer questions to clarify the meaning of the text and deepen their understanding. When you centre questioning activities around the familiar open-ended prompts of who, what, when, where, how, why, and which, students assert their understanding and identify any gaps in their comprehension of the text. Questions can be posed by a teacher, by their peers, or by the students themselves.
- Visualising — Visualisation provides both teachers and students with another means to extend their exploration of a text and deepen understanding. This reading comprehension strategy asks students to create and describe an image in their mind, centered around a place, situation, or character in the text. Visualising has been proven in research to improve student recall! Using the five senses is a great way to scaffold student comprehension through visualising.
- Summarising — Summarising is a reading comprehension strategy that asks students to reflect on the text and communicate their understanding of it. A well-formed summary is made up of the main idea of the text and the key details that support the main idea, showing that the student has understood what they’ve read well enough to write a summary that’s not merely a repetition of the text.
- When summarising, students may complete one or more of the following:
- Recount the text in their own words
- Identify the main idea, topic or purpose
- List key words or phrases
- Identify structural elements of the genre
- Using the SWBST process can help students with this reading comprehension strategy. The steps in the SWBST process are:
- Somebody
- Wanted
- But
- So
- Then
- When summarising, students may complete one or more of the following:
- Inferring — The process of drawing conclusions based on clues or evidence presented in the text is called inferring, and it involves readers using what they know and pairing it with what they read in the text to make a conclusion. You may also call this 'reading between lines!'
- Monitoring Comprehension — When monitoring comprehension, students reflect on and assess their understanding as they progress through the text. In this metacognitive process, students may ask themselves questions like 'Is this making sense?' or 'Do I need to read this again?'
- Some comprehension strategies that may be effective may include going back to reread a section of a text, slowing down or speeding up your reading rate, and using text features to help understand difficult parts of a passage. All of these are active reading strategies that students can do to help them better understand what they are reading, while they are reading!
- While monitoring asks students to identify hurdles and barriers, students also benefit from connecting this reading comprehension strategy with explicit strategies to help them pass their hurdles.
All of these comprehension strategies can be taught and practised explicitly.
- Plus Plan
Let's Get Ready to Rock! – Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Read and discover the three types of rock with a set of Year 3 Reading Comprehension Worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Properties of Matter Reading Comprehension Pack (Year 3)
Read and discover the properties of matter with a set of Year 3 Reading Comprehension Worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Polar Bear Adaptations Reading Comprehension Pack
Discover polar bear structural adaptations with a set of printable reading comprehension worksheets for Year 3.
- Plus Plan
Inference Comics - Worksheet
Use this set of comic strips when teaching your students how to infer information from everyday situations.
- Plus Plan
The Water Cycle – Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Enhance your students’ comprehension and science vocabulary skills with this water cycle worksheet.
- Free Plan
Story Beginning, Middle and End Graphic Organiser
Help your students write and draw about the beginning, middle and end of stories with this set of differentiated graphic organisers.
- Plus Plan
Procedural Writing Sequencing Worksheet – How to Wash Your Dog
Use this procedural writing worksheet to teach your students about the importance of sequence in procedure texts.
- Plus Plan
Australian Conservationists: The Irwins – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about the Irwin family and their conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.
- Plus Plan
Writing a Simile Poem - Worksheet
Experiment with similes by writing a simile poem about a special person.
- Plus Plan
The Gingerbread Man - Comprehension Worksheet
Develop your students' reading comprehension skills with a well-known fairy tale.
- Plus Plan
Beginning, Middle End Worksheets
Explore the main structure and story elements in a short story with these beginning, middle and end worksheets.
- Free Plan
Narrative Elements Graphic Organisers – Portrait
Encourage your students to write and draw about various story elements with this set of differentiated graphic organisers.
- Free Plan
Hansel and Gretel – Comprehension Worksheet
Develop your students' reading comprehension skills with a well-known fairy tale.
- Plus Plan
Inference Pictures – Digital Question Pack
Download this set of captivating pictures and thought-provoking questions designed to challenge students’ inference-making abilities.
- Plus Plan
Poetry Analysis Template
A 1 page template for students to use when analysing a poem.
- Plus Plan
Similes Matching Game
Use this similes game to introduce your students to some of the most common similes used in the English language.
- Plus Plan
Analysing Persuasive Devices Worksheets
Get students analysing persuasive techniques and their effects on audiences with this set of three texts with accompanying questions.
- Plus Plan
Arctic Fox Adaptations - Free Comprehension Worksheets
Read and learn about Arctic fox adaptations with a set of free Reading Comprehension Worksheets for Years 2 and 3.
- Plus Plan
Simile and Metaphor Self-Portrait Worksheet
Teach students about similes and metaphors by asking them to describe... themselves!
- Plus Plan
Decodable Text Worksheets – Common Consonant Digraphs (Set 2)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
- Free Plan
Comprehension - Should Smart Phones Be Allowed in Classrooms?
Decide if cellphones should be allowed in class and boost comprehension skills with a reading passage and comprehension test.
- Plus Plan
Let's Research! Reindeer Facts for Kids PowerPoint
Use this instructional Google Slide or PowerPoint to guide your students through a reindeer research project!
- Plus Plan
Sequencing Activity - Dogs Make the Best Pets (Persuasive Text) - Simplified Version
A sequencing task using a simple persuasive text.
- Plus Plan
Exploring Narrative Texts PowerPoint
Teach your students about the key elements of narrative texts with this comprehensive teaching presentation.
- Free Plan
Our Solar System Cloze Worksheet
Our Solar System cloze worksheet for your students to complete.
- Plus Plan
Australian Endangered Species Snapshots – Comprehension Worksheet
Explore some Australian endangered species with your students using this set of reading passages with comprehension questions.
- Plus Plan
Christmas Finger Puppets Template
Craft a fun set of Christmas finger puppets for your students to have fun with during dramatic play.
- Plus Plan
Figurative Language PowerPoint
Explore figurative language with your students using this comprehensive teaching presentation.
- Plus Plan
The Three Little Pigs – Comprehension Worksheet
Develop your students' reading comprehension skills with a well-known fairy tale.
- Plus Plan
Mars vs. Earth - Differentiated Paired Passage Worksheets
Learn about the planets with differentiated compare and contrast passages, activities and writing opportunities.
- Plus Plan
Remembrance Day Comprehension Worksheet
Explain Remembrance Day history and traditions to your students with a printable cloze reading passage and comprehension questions.
- Plus Plan
Elements of Poetry Worksheet - Figurative Language
A worksheet to help students understand figurative language in poetry.
- Reading Comprehension Worksheets
- Reading Comprehension Templates
- Reading Comprehension Posters
- Reading Comprehension Teaching Presentations
- Reading Comprehension Games
- Reading Comprehension for Foundation Year
- Reading Comprehension for Year 1
- Reading Comprehension for Year 2
- Reading Comprehension for Year 3
- Reading Comprehension for Year 4
- Reading Comprehension for Year 5
- Reading Comprehension for Year 6
- Reading Comprehension for Year 7