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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Apostrophe Review Worksheet
Practise using apostrophes with contractions and possessive nouns in this double-sided worksheet.
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Daily Spiral Maths Worksheet (3-4)
Review a variety of place value and number sense standards with a daily spiral maths review worksheet.
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Months and Seasons Worksheet - Matching Activity
Order the months of the year and match them with their corresponding seasons with a cut-and-paste activity.
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Telling Time in 24 Hour Format Worksheet
Practise converting between 12 and 24-hour clock times with a printable Year 5 time worksheet.
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Rounding to the Nearest 10 Worksheet
Teach your students to round to the nearest 10 with this printable maths worksheet designed for year 1 and 2 students.
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How About This Weather? - Worksheet
Explore different types of weather and subsequent observable changes with this 5-page worksheet pack.
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Level 3 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 3 decodable readers
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Number Lines - Worksheet
Fill in the missing numbers with this number line worksheet.
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Multiplication and Division Speed Drill Worksheets – Facts of 9
A set of worksheets to help students develop fast and accurate recall of the nine times tables.
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Year 4 States of Matter - Nonfiction Reading Comprehension
Teach science and reading skills with a set of printable Year 4 Reading Worksheets about the three states of matter.
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Flip, Slide and Turn – Grid Mystery Pictures
A worksheet to practise flips, slides and turns.
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Decodable Text Worksheets - Single Graphemes (Set 1)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
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Auslan Fingerspellathon
A worksheet and participation certificate to use when learning how to use the Auslan Fingerspelling Alphabet.
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Introduction to Hardware and Software Sorting Activity
Guide students in understanding the difference between hardware and software with this cut and sort activity.
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CVC Beginning and Ending Letters Worksheet Pack
Practise identifying missing beginning and ending sounds and letters in this set of 10 CVC worksheets.
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Improving Persuasive Texts Worksheets
3 pieces of text for students to rewrite in order to make them more persuasive.
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Number and Place Value Worksheets - Foundation
10 number and place value worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Plate Tectonics Cloze Activity
A cloze activity to use when learning about the layers of the Earth and plate tectonics.
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Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion - Comprehension Task
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
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Daily Maths Word Problems - Year 2 (Worksheets)
A set of 20 problem-solving questions suited to Year 2 students.
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Using Linking Devices in Narrative Paragraphs Worksheets
3 worksheets teaching students how to link ideas when writing narrative paragraphs.
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Handwriting Sheets - Theme Pages 1
Ten themed handwriting sheets with your choice of fonts.
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Big Problem or Little Problem? – Sorting Activity
Use our Big Problem vs. Little Problem activity cards and worksheets to help your students learn to manage peer relationships in the classroom.
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Onset and Rime Phonics Search Pack
Practise searching for and decoding onset and rime words with this set of search and find worksheets.
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Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators Worksheet Pack
Download this set of adding fractions with unlike denominators worksheets to help your students practise this important maths skill.
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Free 5 Senses Worksheet
Identify the body parts used to sense things with a free 5 Senses Cut and Paste Worksheet.
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12/24 Hour Time Conversions - Practice Sheets
Review how to convert between 12 and 24-hour times with a set of printable Year 5 Maths worksheets.
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Cursive Handwriting Worksheets - Days, Months, Colours, and Numbers
Trace and write days of the week, months of the year, number words, and colour words in cursive.
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Animals in Winter - Year 1 Reading Worksheets
Blend Year 1 Science and Reading with a printable pack of Animals in Winter reading comprehension worksheets.
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Colour-Coding Summarising Fiction Text Worksheets
Practise summarising small fiction texts with this fun colour-coding set of worksheets.
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Statement, Question, Command, Exclamation Cut and Paste Worksheet
Identify statement, command, question, and exclamation sentences with a Types of Sentences Cut and Paste worksheet for Year 2.
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Paired Passage Worksheets-Mammals vs. Reptiles
Compare mammals vs. reptiles and add to your reading instruction with leveled nonfiction, compare and contrast passages, and worksheets.