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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Dear Santa Letter Templates
Use a printable Dear Santa Letter template to write fun letters to Santa during your writing classes.
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How to Draw a Turkey - Easy Thanksgiving Art
Learn to draw a turkey with a fun How to Draw a Thanksgiving Turkey drawing worksheet.
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Conductors and Insulators Worksheet
Use this insulators and conductors worksheet with your students to practice identifying the characteristics of thermal and electrical energy.
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For and Against Worksheets
Explore 'for' and 'against' arguments for five different topics with this set of 'for' and 'against' sorting activities.
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Analyzing Line Plots – Differentiated Worksheets
Empower your students to become proficient data interpreters with this set of differentiated line plot worksheets.
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Story Setting or Not? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Explore the difference between story settings and non-settings with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Subtraction Strategies – Worksheet
Assess your students’ knowledge of subtraction strategies with a subtraction assessment.
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Amazon Rainforest Facts - Reading Passage
Read and learn about conservation with a reading passage and comprehension worksheet on the Amazon Rainforest.
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Forest Biome Food Web – Worksheet
Challenge students to create a food web and explain how energy flows between organisms with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Cardinal Directions Worksheet for First Grade
Use cardinal directions to create a simple town map with this 2-page cut-and-paste activity sheet.
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13 Colonies Reading Passages - New England, Southern, and Middle Colonies
Build reading comprehension skills and knowledge of the New England, Southern, and Middle colonies with printable comprehension worksheets.
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Winter and Christmas Break Activity Grids — Choice Boards
Give your students a variety of fun activities to do during the Christmas season with a printable Christmas Choice Board.
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Understanding Positive & Negative Numbers – Worksheet
Explore positive and negative numbers by plotting integers on a number line and identifying opposites with this worksheet.
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Thanksgiving Fix Ups - Sentence Editing Worksheets
Edit and correct capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and spacing errors with a set of Thanksgiving Fix the Sentence worksheets.
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Relating Decimals and Fractions Worksheet
Practice matching fractions with a denominator of 10 and 100 to decimals and vice versa.
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Christmas Activity Mats
Use these Christmas activity mats during morning arrival on the last day before Christmas break.
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Using Cardinal and Intermediate Directions Worksheet
Use cardinal and intermediate directions to determine locations around the United States with a map reading worksheet.
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Addition and Subtraction Within 20 – Worksheet
Use this worksheet with your students when exploring addition and subtraction within 20.
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The French and Indian War - Passage and Graphic Organizer
Reveal another chapter in American History with a reading passage and graphic organizer worksheet on the French and Indian War.
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Boston Massacre Passage and Writing Prompt Worksheet
Learn facts about the Boston Massacre with an informational reading passage and an informational writing prompt for fourth grade.
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Insulators and Conductors Worksheet
Identify different insulators and conductors of thermal and electrical energy with this worksheet.
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Do/Does Subject Verb Agreement Worksheet
Provide students with additional subject-verb agreement practice with a worksheet focusing on using DO and DOES correctly.
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Where is the Dinosaur? - Positional Words - Differentiated Worksheets
Use this set of differentiated worksheets to practice positional words (prepositions).
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Presidential Oath of Office - Vocabulary Activity
Learn new vocabulary while studying the Presidential Oath of Office with this differentiated activity.
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How to Write 2-Digit and 3-Digit Numbers Worksheet
Explore how to represent number values in standard form, word form, expanded form, and picture form with this multipurpose place value worksheet.
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Tracing and Drawing 2-D Shapes – Worksheet
A simple trace and draw worksheet for 2-D shapes.
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Common and Proper Nouns Sort - Cut and Paste Worksheet
A sorting worksheet to practice identifying common and proper nouns.
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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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Interesting Idioms Worksheet
A worksheet using common idioms.
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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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Fiction or Nonfiction? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this fiction and nonfiction worksheet when teaching your students about the differences between fiction and nonfiction texts.
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Epic Editing Workbook – 5th and 6th Grade
Use these editing and revising worksheets to get your students practicing and refining their proofreading skills.