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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Elapsed Time Worksheet
Determine how much time has passed with this collection of elapsed time word problems.
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Equal Groups Bracelet Designs – Multiplication Worksheets
Challenge your students to design bracelets by using the equal groups multiplication strategy with this set of maths worksheets.
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Creating Line Plots (With Whole Numbers, Fractions and Decimals) Worksheets
Help your students master data representation with this series of leveled worksheets for creating line plots.
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Roll and Expand Numbers Worksheet Pack
Explore place value with you rstudents using this set of levelled expanding numbers worksheets.
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End of Year STEM Activity- Carnival Planning Project
Integrate STEM activities into your end-of-year lessons by inviting young entrepreneurs to plan, design, and advertise their carnival!
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Electricity and Circuits Guided Notes for Year 6
Use this set of guided notes when teaching your students about electricity and circuits.
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My Feelings Volcano Worksheet
Prevent students from being overcome by strong emotions with this volcano-themed coping skills worksheet.
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Spell the Homophone Worksheets
Get your students spelling homophones correctly with this set of differentiated worksheets for your vocabulary lessons.
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My Alphabet Book - Printable Alphabet Worksheets
Learn the letters of the alphabet and their sounds with printable ABC worksheets
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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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Fire Safety for Kids - Kitchen Safety Worksheets
Identify the hidden fire hazards and dangers in the kitchen with printable kitchen safety worksheets.
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Comprehension - What Are Coding Systems?
Discover the history of technologies and coding systems with a reading comprehension activity.
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Skip Counting Worksheets (Fill in the Blanks)
Excerpt: Use this set of skip counting worksheets to check student understanding of skip counting in increasing intervals of 5, 10 and 100.
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Interview a Classmate - First Day of School Activity
Help your students learn more about their new classmates with this fun speaking and listening activity!
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Picture Graphs Worksheet
Use this double-sided worksheet to help your students practise reading and evaluating a simple picture graph.
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Plant Growth Chart Worksheet
Record the growth and changes in a plant over time with one of our differentiated plant growth charts.
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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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Think Addition - Fact Family Worksheets
Use addition to solve subtraction problems with this worksheet.
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Colour by Number - Subtraction Task Cards
Practice subtracting single and double-digit numbers with a set of subtraction color by number task cards.
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Colour By Suffix Worksheet
Reveal the hidden picture and practise using the inflectional endings -s, -es, -ies, and -ves with a colour-by-code worksheet.
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The New Seven Wonders of the World — Mini-Book
Teach about the new Seven Wonders of the World with this informative mini-book for year 5 and year 6 students.
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Save the Planet - Kids Mini Book
Teach your students to reduce, reuse, and recycle with a printable Save the Planet kid's book.
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What Good Friends Do – Differentiated Friendship Worksheets
Sort verbs according to if they are friendly or unfriendly interactions with this friendship worksheet.
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Earth, Sun and Moon – Comprehension Worksheet
Read about and compare physical characteristics of the Eath, sun and moon with this reading comprehension sheet.
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Equivalent Fractions – Worksheet Pack
Use fraction models, strip diagrams and number lines to determine equivalent fractions with this worksheet pack.
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Earth Watch: Protecting Native Plants and Animals – Comprehension Worksheet
Build comprehension skills and learn about human impact on ecosystems with a reading passage and worksheets.
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Daily Vocabulary Dive - Synonyms and Antonyms Worksheet
Give your students a daily dose of synonym and antonym review with a 5-day vocabulary warm-up worksheet.
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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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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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Rounding Decimals Mystery Picture Worksheet
Round decimals to the nearest whole, tenth, hundredth and thousandth while revealing a mystery image with a fun colour-by-number worksheet.
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Goods and Services Word Search
Stretch your students’ business vocabulary with this economics-focused word search that features examples of goods and services.
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Converting Percentages Year 6 Worksheet
Print a year 6 maths worksheet about converting a percent to a decimal or a fraction.