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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A Thinker Like Me - Read and Respond Worksheet
A comprehension activity related to a poem.
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Colour by Sight Words - 7 Words - Monkey
A fun colouring activity to use when working with sight words.
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Colour by Parts of Speech - Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives - Octopus
Practise using parts of speech by colouring nouns, verbs and adjectives on the octopus.
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Read, Find and Colour – CVC Words
Consolidate your students' decoding skills with this set of search and find worksheets.
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Fantastic Forces Comprehension Worksheet
Download this forces reading comprehension worksheet to teach your Year 4 students about push and pull forces.
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Colour by Number - 6 x Multiplication Facts
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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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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Peer Politics: Moving On (Comic) – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a comic from the Year 6 magazine (Issue 3).
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Fossicking for Fossils – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for an information report from the Year 5 magazine (Issue 2).
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Jamie Oliver Biography – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a biography from the Year 3 magazine (Issue 2).
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Making Connections - Worksheet
Allow your students to record their connections to a particular text with this Making Connections Worksheet.
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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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How to Make a Paper Plane – Procedural Writing Worksheet
Explore how to make a paper plane while your students fine-tune their procedural writing skills.
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Goldilocks and The Three Bears - Finish the Story Writing Prompt
Finish the Goldilocks and the Three Bears story in your own words.
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Communication Then and Now - Worksheet
A worksheet for students to illustrate how communication methods and devices have changed over time.
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Cut and Paste Algorithm Grid - Colour
An activity for students to use when learning about algorithms (directions).
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Suffix -Able - Grammar Worksheet
Transform your students’ vocabulary skills with our skill-building English worksheets, featuring the powerful “-able” suffix
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Alphabet Handwriting Sheets - Including Non-Examples
Handwriting sheets with opportunities for students to trace, identify and write the letters of the alphabet.
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Angle Sum of a Quadrilateral – Year 7 Maths Worksheet
Calculate the missing angle in a variety of quadrilaterals with this one-page worksheet.
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Australia-Centred World Map
Teach your students about the continents, oceans and countries of the world with this Australia-centred world map.
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Eureka Stockade Fact Sheet and Comprehension Questions
A fact sheet and comprehension task to use when learning about The Eureka Stockade.
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1-10 Bug Counting Worksheet
A simple worksheet to help students with their counting skills.
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Colouring 2D Shapes Worksheet
A worksheet to consolidate students' understanding of rectangles, squares, circles and triangles.
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Location and Transformation Worksheets - Year 3
4 location and transformation worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Number Patterns - Worksheet
A place value worksheet to use when completing number patterns.
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Location and Transformation Worksheets - Year 1
2 location and transformation worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Generic Spelling Activity Worksheet Pack
A set of 6 generic spelling activity worksheets that can be used with any spelling list.
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What are Bushfires? Cloze Worksheet
A cloze worksheet about bushfires.
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Representing Two-Digit Numbers - Place Value Worksheet
A set of worksheets for students to use when learning about place value and the different way two-digit numbers can be represented.
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Country Investigation - Worksheet
A recording worksheet for students to use in the classroom when researching different countries and cultures.
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The Egyptian Pyramids - Comprehension Task
A 2 page comprehension task for students to use in the classroom when learning about the Egyptian pyramids.
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Mixture Separation Techniques Worksheet - Cut and Paste
Review the six techniques for mixture separation with a printable Separating Mixtures Vocabulary Worksheet.