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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Ten More and Ten Less - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Practise adding and subtracting 10 from given numbers within 100 in this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Using Suffixes - Grammar Worksheet
Review concepts related to suffixes with a printable grammar worksheet.
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Number Patterns – More and Less Worksheets
Use place value skills to mentally add and subtract 10 or 100 to a given number with this set of worksheets.
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The ABCs of Why I Love You Mini-Book
Show someone special how much they mean by creating this lovely mini-book.
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Negative and Positive Number Line - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Practise identifying positive and negative numbers on a number line with a cut-and-paste matching activity.
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Addition Strategies: Make a Ten Worksheet
A 2-page worksheet that uses ten frames to model the “making ten” addition strategy.
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Day and Night – Worksheet
Encourage your students to illustrate the day and night cycle with this free worksheet.
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Level 6 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 6 decodable readers.
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Silent Letters Fluency Passages - Worksheet Pack
Practise identifying the silent letters in words with this comprehensive collection of reading fluency passages.
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Addition Strategies: Base-Ten Blocks Worksheet
Practice using the strategy of using base-10 blocks and regrouping to find the sum.
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Measuring My Body – Length Worksheet
Explore linear measurement with an engaging collaborative activity where students measure different body parts and compare them.
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Jump Strategy: Subtraction on a Number LIne – Worksheets
Practice subtracting two-digit numbers with regrouping using a number line and the jump strategy with a pack of differentiated worksheets.
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Colour by Number - 5 x Multiplication Facts
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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Colour by Number - 4 x Multiplication Facts
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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Crabbing at Night - Sequencing Worksheet
Identify the story beginning, series of events and ending with this narrative text sequencing activity.
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Complex Dot-to-dot – Square Numbers (Skateboarder) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students order square numbers.
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Novel Study – Character Map Worksheet
Explore and analyse the characters in your class novel with this set of three worksheets.
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Crazy Boxes – 2 Times Tables
A fun multiplication worksheet where students create a colour pattern using 2 times tables.
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Types of Forces Worksheet
Teach your Year 4 students about the types of contact forces with this simple one-page worksheet.
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A Fistful of Flavours Alliteration Activity
Make alliteration fun with a printable worksheet that challenges students to create flavours of ice cream.
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Finish the Drawings – Worksheets
20 drawings that have been started, but still need to be finished!
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Roll and Colour Worksheet - One More, One Less
An interactive worksheet to practise finding the number that is 1 more and 1 less than a given number.
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Sequencing Activity - Stop Polluting The Ocean (Persuasive Text) - Simplified Version
A sequencing task using a simple persuasive text.
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Bumping-Up Procedure Texts Worksheet
Download these procedural writing worksheets to get your students bumping-up some simple procedure texts.
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Dot-to-Dot Drawing - Numbers by 2 - Dinosaur
Join the dots and numbers to make a picture.
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Self Portrait Worksheet
A worksheet to use as a Harmony Day resource for all grades.
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Story Sequencing - Template
A worksheet to use when teaching students how to sequence important events when reading.
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Butterfly Life Cycle - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Identify the different phases of an insect’s life cycle through interactive slides or as a cut and paste butterfly life cycle worksheet.
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Natural and Built Environments Sort Activity
A natural and built environments sort activity.
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The Moon Landing - Historical Recount Structure Sorting Task
A sorting task to help students learn about the structure of a historical recount.
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More and Less Worksheet
Practise adding and subtracting 10 and 100 to a three-digit number.
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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.