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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Subtraction Across Zero - Colour By Number Worksheet
Practise subtraction across zeros with a fun colour-by-number worksheet.
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Animal Adaptations - Worksheet Pack
Use these animal adaptation worksheets when teaching students about the structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations of animals.
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Subtraction Strategies – Assessment
Assess your students’ knowledge of subtraction strategies with a subtraction assessment.
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Real-World 3D Objects - Colouring Worksheet
Explore three-dimensional objects in the real world with this colouring worksheet.
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Un- and Dis- Prefixes Worksheet
Build vocabulary skills with a prefix worksheet featuring the prefixes Un- and Dis-.
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Humpty Dumpty Off the Wall – Comprehension Worksheet
Integrate nursery rhymes and early reading comprehension skills with a Humpty Dumpty reading passage and comprehension questions.
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Community Giant Colouring Page and Map Skills Worksheet
An activity to practise map skills using a giant map of a community.
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Map of Australia - Labelling Activity
Discover and label Australia's states, capital cities and key landmarks on this blank map.
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Formation of Earth - Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Combine reading and science content with a reading comprehension worksheet that focuses on the formation of Earth.
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Halves and Quarters – Cut and Paste Worksheet
Practise sorting objects to consolidate students’ understanding of halves and quarters.
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Fractions of Shapes – Basic Fraction Worksheets
Identify equal parts and practise dividing shapes with these fraction worksheets designed for year 2 students.
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Level 1 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 1 decodable readers.
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Greek and Latin Roots Worksheet Set
Practise using vocabulary containing Greek roots and Latin roots with these weekly root word worksheets.
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Colour by Factor – Worksheet
Solve missing factor equations and colour a picture according to a colour-by-number guide.
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Addition Worm – Worksheet
Build your students' addition skills with this fun set of differentiated worksheets.
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My Dog Max – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a narrative from the Foundation magazine (Issue 1).
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Colour by Number - Mixed 1 - 12 Multiplication
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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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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Angry Outbursts – Comprehension Worksheet
Explore emotional awareness and healthy calming strategies with this comic-style comprehension passage and accompanying questions.
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How to Make a Milkshake – Procedural Writing Worksheet
Explore how to make a milkshake while your students fine-tune their procedural writing skills.
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Multiplication and Division Speed Drill Worksheets – Facts of 10
A set of worksheets to help students develop fast and accurate recall of the ten times tables.
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Book Character Profile - Stage and Curtains
A fun book character profile worksheet set on a stage.
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Advertisement Worksheet – Milton Mentor
A comprehension worksheet for a persuasive magazine advertisement about a digital personal assistant.
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Advertisement Worksheet – K-9ine the Robot Dog
A comprehension worksheet for a persuasive magazine advertisement about a robotic dog.
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Colour by Parts of Speech Worksheet – Chameleon
Practise your parts of speech lesson by colouring nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions and pronouns on the chameleon.
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Grammar and Punctuation Assessment Tool - Year 6
A set of 5 grammar and punctuation assessment tools suited to Year 6 students.
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Number Pattern Worksheets - 1 to 20
An professor themed place value worksheet to use in the classroom when completing number patterns.
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Transport Then and Now - Worksheet
A set of 2 worksheets for students to identify how transport has changed over time.
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Fiction or Non-Fiction? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this fiction and non-fiction worksheet when teaching your students about the differences between fiction and non-fiction texts.
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The Park - Comprehension
A comprehension activity using poetry.
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Number and Place Value Worksheets - Year 4
14 number and place value worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Comprehension - Tia's Tantrum
A comprehension activity using a narrative text.