Worksheets for Teachers
Did someone say printable worksheets? From year 1 maths worksheets to reading comprehension worksheets to printables for kindergarten and beyond, our collection of teacher-created teaching tools is ready to make learning fun and engaging for your students in all subject areas and on all primary year levels.
Explore printable activities, free worksheets, homework sheets and more — all aligned to the Australian curriculum and all created by teachers, for teachers just like you!
Teach Starter worksheets undergo a careful review process by our expert teacher team to ensure they're ready for your lesson plans ... and your students! Best of all, you know each printable is designed with the goal of turning on that lightbulb over your students' heads and producing more of those 'aha!' moments in the classroom!
Curious about how to make worksheets more engaging? Or maybe you're just wondering how worksheets became a tool used in schools? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
Why Do Teachers Use Worksheets?
Worksheets are an important part of any teacher's toolkit — and yes, we say part because we believe in the importance of hands-on learning too (explore our full collection for plenty of student-led activities!) — but do you ever wonder how they ended up being so ubiquitous?
It was back in the mid-20th century that worksheets started to take hold in education.
The concept of individualised instruction was gaining traction, and educators recognised the need to tailor learning experiences to students' unique abilities, interests and learning styles.
Worksheets started to emerge because they were a means to provide students with both individualised practice and reinforcement of skills. Psychologists like Jean Piaget (you may know him best for his theories on children's cognitive development?) played a role here. The Swiss psychologist suggested teachers should be providing their students with materials that would advance their thinking, and worksheets offer a means for students to assess their own learning.
The real win for worksheets, however, was the invention of the photocopy machine! It made it easy for this supplemental tool to spread like wildfire!
How Do You Make Worksheets Engaging?
You already know educational printables are a beneficial learning tool. They enable students to work independently, practising and applying the concepts they've been learning in your classroom.
So how do you keep them from putting your students in boxes?
At Teach Starter, our worksheets aren't 'just worksheets.' Our expert teacher team works every day to create the tools you need to create impactful classroom experiences. That means our teacher team creates our school worksheets specifically to engage students with eye-catching graphics and creative formats. Here are some of their tips to ensure worksheets are used effectively in the classroom — and truly help engage your students!
- Use worksheets as just part of your toolbox. These are great tools to support classroom instruction and provide independent practise, and they should be balanced with a mix of other teaching tools!
- Mix up your worksheet types. Teach Starter's cut-and-paste worksheets, for example, add an interactive element to help hold students' attention.
- Encourage students to doodle. Doodle notes have taken education by storm in recent years as the visual note-taking method has been proven to improve students' focus and memory. Apply those benefits to your worksheets, and you may be surprised by how it pulls kids' attention to the page!
- Add plastic sleeves. Slipping worksheets into plastic sleeves and allow students to use wipe-away pens on the sleeves is a good way to extend the life of a worksheet — and it adds and element of fun for kids who love the chance to use pens!
- Use digital worksheets. Allow students to fill out their worksheets on classroom tablets as a means to add an extra level of engagement.
It's Not Just a Worksheet
The key to effective worksheets comes down to how you use them — a balanced approach to education combines worksheets with other instructional strategies — from hands-on activities to group work to project-based learning.
So what can you get from worksheets?
Consider this — early years students can work on their fine motor skills with our mini books, cut-and-paste worksheets and more while their upper years peers get pulled into the fun of vocabulary fun with word searches and crossword puzzle worksheets. Printable puzzles that engage students in the form of a brain game and colour by worksheets that bring art elements into maths and reading.
Worksheets also provide the opportunity for formative assessment and give your students a chance to practice problem-solving while they work independently.
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Year 5 Reading Worksheets - The Business of Bees
Read and learn about bees, pollination and honey production with a reading comprehension passage and worksheet pack.
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Addition Within 100 Bar Model Worksheet
Explore using the bar model to add numbers within 100 with this simple worksheet for your Year 2 students.
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Converting Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers Worksheet Set
Assign this converting improper fractions and mixed numbers worksheet set to your students to give them practise converting between amounts of more than one.
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States of Matter Maze Worksheets
Practise identifying examples of solids, liquids, and gases with a set of printable States of Matter Maze Worksheets.
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Sequence an Information Report – Cut and Paste Worksheets
Use these information report examples to teach your students about sequencing facts in a logical order.
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Measuring Length - Year 1 Maths Assessment
Assess your students’ skills with measuring length using a printable Year 1 Measuring Length Test.
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Past, Present and Future Tense Worksheets
Provide students with additional verb tense practise with worksheets focusing on changing verbs into past, present and future tense.
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Multiplying with Decimals – Differentiated Worksheets
Strengthen computation skills with this set of decimal multiplication worksheets.
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Using Persuasive Devices Worksheet
Use this persuasive devices worksheet to help your students create persuasive device examples based on a specific topic.
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Getting to Know You Worksheet for Upper Years
Use our printable getting to know you worksheet to learn more about your new upper year students on the first day of school.
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Making Inferences With Pictures Worksheet
Guide your students to use pictures to make inferences with this reading worksheet.
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Perimeter Practice Problems With Visuals – Worksheet
Download these perimeter practice problems to use when exploring measurement concepts in your maths lessons.
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Data Collection Worksheet Set
Use this set of differentiated graphs worksheets to assess your students’ understanding of how data is collected, organised and presented.
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Area and Perimeter Haunted House - Year 5 Halloween Maths
Design your own haunted house and practise finding the perimeter and area of rectangular figures with an exciting Halloween mathss Activity!
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Line and Rotational Symmetry Sorting Activity
Have your students determine whether each object has line symmetry, rotational symmetry, or no symmetry, with this fun cut and paste worksheet.
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Mean Median Mode Worksheet
Use this double-sided worksheet to check students’ ability to find the mean, median and mode of given data sets.
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A World Without Right Angles – Worksheet
Help your students explore the vital role that right angles play in our environment with this differentiated maths worksheet.
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Dot Day Art - Roll a Kandinsky Circle Art Project
Introduce your students to the circle art style of Wassily Kandinsky with a fun Roll-a-Kandinsky Dot Day Art Activity.
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Find Someone Who Icebreaker
Build a classroom community and help your students get to know each other with a fun getting-to-know-you activity.
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Basic Subtraction Word Problems - Worksheet
Solve subtraction word problems by drawing picture models with a printable subtraction worksheet.
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Responsibilities of Australian Local Governments - Cloze Worksheet
Explore the roles and responsibilities of local governments around Australia with this differentiated cloze passage worksheet.
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Create Your Own Map - Worksheet
Create simple maps of familiar places with this set of map templates and accompanying comprehension questions.
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Identifying Descriptive and Figurative Language Worksheets
Help your students identify descriptive and figurative language in narrative texts with this set of colour-coding worksheets.
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Grammar and Punctuation Assessment Tool – Year 3
A set of 5 grammar and punctuation assessment tools suited to Year 3 students.
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CVC Word Chain Ladders - Worksheets
Build word chains with CVC words using this set of printable phonics worksheets.
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Volume of Irregular Prisms – Worksheet
Calculate the volume of irregular prisms and solve real-world problems with this worksheet.
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How to Decorate a Christmas Tree Worksheet
Complete this cute Christmas worksheet all about how to decorate a Christmas tree.
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Phoneme Segmentation Worksheets - CVC Words
Use this worksheet pack to give students practice at segmenting words into phonemes.
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The Enigma of AX29 - Narrative Plot Worksheet
Explore the features of narrative plot structure with this gripping science fiction story.
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Linking Addition and Subtraction Worksheet
Explore the relationship between addition and subtraction with a fact family worksheet.
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Forces Assessment
Assess students' understanding of contact and non-contact forces with this forces assessment for Year 4 students.
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Crazy Boxes – 1 to 12 Times Tables
A fun multiplication worksheet where students create a colour pattern using 1 to 12 times tables.