Worksheets for Teachers
Did someone say printable worksheets? From 2nd-grade math worksheets and 4th-grade reading comprehension worksheets to Common Core worksheets 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 elementary grade levels.
Explore printable activities, free worksheets, homework sheets and more — 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 individualized instruction was gaining traction, and educators recognized 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 individualized 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, practicing 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 markers 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 markers!
- Use digital worksheets. Allow students to fill out their worksheets on classroom tablets as a means to add an extra level of engagement.
- Focus on rigor. It's important to differentiate instruction, and the worksheets assigned to students should be appropriate to their needs — but they should not just be busy work. Ensure there's a challenge at hand to hold kids' attention!
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 — primary-aged students can work on their fine motor skills with our mini book, cut and paste worksheets, and more while their older elementary peers get pulled into the fun of vocabulary fun with word searches and crossword puzzle worksheets.
Printable puzzles engage students in the form of a brain game, and color by worksheets bring art elements into math 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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Greek and Latin Roots Practice Worksheet Bundle
Practice using vocabulary containing Greek roots and Latin roots with 24 weekly root word practice worksheets.
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Goods and Services Worksheet
Determine examples of goods and services with an economics worksheet.
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U.S. Landforms Brochure
Research and present knowledge of famous landforms in the United States with a brochure project.
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Identifying Community Helpers Worksheets
Engage kindergarten and first-grade students in identifying community helpers with a pair of worksheets.
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Thirteen Colonies Brochure Project
Provide your students a 13 colonies project to end your unit on American colonization.
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Major U.S. Land Features Worksheets
Discover and identify the major rivers, mountains, and landforms in the United States with an easy-to-use set of worksheets.
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Natural Resources Vocabulary Worksheets
Practice and review vocabulary terms associated with natural resources with this worksheet pack.
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Lewis and Clark Expedition - Cloze Worksheet
Practice and review concepts associated with the Lewis and Clark Expedition using a cloze passage.
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Rounding Decimals – Worksheet for 5th Grade
Practice rounding decimals to the nearest tenths and hundredths place with this worksheet.
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Singular and Plural-Subject-Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional grammar practice with a worksheet focusing on singular and plural subject-verb agreement.
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Is/Are Subject Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional subject-verb agreement practice with a worksheet focusing on using is and are correctly.
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Has/Have Subject Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional subject-verb agreement practice with a worksheet focusing on using has and have correctly.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - VERY
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “very” from the Second Grade Dolch sight words list.
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Using Context Clues - Worksheet
A worksheet to practice using context clues.
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Using Words with Prefixes - Worksheet Pack
Practice using the prefixes Un-, Re-, Mis-, Pre-, Dis-, and In- with a pair of printable prefix worksheets.
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Energy Transformations Worksheet
A worksheet to practice identifying energy transformations.
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Color by Number - Multiplication Facts of 9
Practicing multiplication facts of 9 doesn't have to be boring when you use this color-by-number worksheet.
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Color by Number - Multiplication Facts of 4
Get your students practicing their facts of 4 with this color by number worksheet.
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Color by Number - Multiplication Facts of 3
Get your students practicing their facts of 3 with this color by number worksheet.
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Map Elements Worksheet
Apply knowledge of the components of a map to this map elements worksheet.
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Complete and Incomplete Sentence Sort Worksheet
Practice sorting incomplete and complete sentences.
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Multiplication and Division Worksheets – Mixed Facts
A set of worksheets to help students develop fast and accurate recall of math facts.
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Argumentative Texts Worksheet
A worksheet for students to practice identifying a claim and supporting evidence in an argumentative text.
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Multiplication and Division Worksheets – Facts of 6
A set of worksheets to help students develop fast and accurate recall of the facts of 6.
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Context Detectives Worksheet
A set of 3 worksheets for students to practice using context clues to identify the meaning of a word.
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Holiday Mini-Mystery – Who Broke the Candy Cane?
A fun, logic-based holiday activity where students read clues to solve the mystery.
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Possessive Nouns Worksheet
A worksheet to practice writing possessive nouns correctly.
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Living or Nonliving? - Worksheet
A worksheet that explores living and nonliving things.
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Find the Pattern Worksheet
A worksheet for younger students to work on recognizing patterns.
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Order of Operations Worksheet
Solve equations using the order of operations with this one-page worksheet.
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Adjectives and the Senses – Worksheet
Organize adjectives into the most appropriate sense with this cut and paste sorting worksheet.
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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.