Reading Passages Teaching Resources
Explore reading passages ready to be used in your primary classroom to assess your students' comprehension skills and build their confidence as readers!
Created by teachers for teachers, each reading passage in this extensive collection has been designed to enhance student comprehension skills and build understanding. This collection of Australian English curriculum-aligned comprehension passages was created by the teachers on the Teach Starter team, and each has undergone a review by an expert on our team to ensure it’s ready for your classroom.
Not sure where to begin? Here’s a quick primer from our teacher team to help you get the most out of this teacher tool!
What Are Reading Passages?
Reading passages are a set of written texts that are typically used for reading comprehension exercises and assessments. They can come in various forms, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama. They are used to provide a text for students to read and analyse and are often accompanied by questions or tasks to assess comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and other language skills.
How to Use Reading Passages in the Classroom
This collection of short reading passages can be used for a variety of needs, including:
- Practising reading fluency
- Provide students with practise in reading comprehension and critical thinking skills
- Measuring students’ reading level
- Exposing students to different genres, authors and writing styles
Best of all? Teach Starter's reading passages have been developed so they can be used for individual or group activities.
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Year 6 Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 6 students.
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Year 4 Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 4 students.
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Year 3 Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 1)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 3 students.
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Year 2 Magazine – What's Buzzing (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 22-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 2 students.
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Comprehension - Should Smart Phones Be Allowed in Classrooms?
Decide if cellphones should be allowed in class and boost comprehension skills with a reading passage and comprehension test.
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Famous Inventors Fact File — Alessandro Volta Comprehension Worksheet
Print an Alessandro Volta fact file worksheet to introduce students to this famous inventor and expand their understanding of electricity!
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The Water Cycle – Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Enhance your students’ comprehension and science vocabulary skills with this water cycle worksheet.
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Digital Warriors: Scroll Trolls – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for the comic from the Year 4 magazine (Issue 3).
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The Birthday Ride – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a narrative from the Year 1 magazine (Issue 3).
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Critical Literacy Reading Task – To Buy or Not to Buy?
Teach critical reading skills with this engaging reading comprehension project that helps students evaluate texts and make evidence-based decisions.
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J. K. Rowling Biography and Worksheet
Download this J.K. Rowling biography and worksheet, designed to help students learn about the life, education and writing career of the world-famous author.
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5 Fun Facts About Food – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Foundation magazine (Issue 3).
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Cause and Effect Task Cards and Worksheets
Use these cause and effect task cards to help your students identify relationships between events, understand why things happen, and improve overall reading comprehension.
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Compare and Contrast Reading Strategy Task Cards and Worksheets
Strengthen compare and contrast reading strategy skills with these engaging task cards that help students identify similarities and differences in the ideas in texts.
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Comprehension - Tia's Tantrum
A comprehension activity using a narrative text.
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Analysing Sound Devices in Literature Worksheets
Teach sound devices in literature with three engaging passages and accompanying worksheets that help students identify, analyse and explain the effect of key sound devices in meaningful reading contexts.
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Sophia the Superdog - Comprehension Text and Question Cards
A superdog themed text and set of questions to help develop comprehension strategies in the classroom.
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Character Description – Text Analysis Worksheets
Teach character description with this set of four worksheets that help students explore how authors use the STEAL technique to bring characters to life.
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Comparing Assertions Worksheet Pack
Get your students to compare assertions with this engaging set of worksheets designed to help students distinguish between strong and weak persuasive writing.
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Year 1 Magazine – "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 3) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with Issue 3 of Teach Starter’s Year 1 magazine.
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Year 1 Magazine - "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 2) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with Issue 2 of Teach Starter’s Year 1 magazine.
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Year 1 Magazine - "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 1) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with Issue 1 of Teach Starter's Year 1 magazine.
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Cause and Effect Comprehension Worksheets
Use these cause and effect comprehension worksheets to give your students practice reading, sequencing and matching effects to their causes.
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Comparing Narrative and Informational Text Worksheets
Use this set of comparing narrative and informational text worksheets to examine the purpose and features of these two common genres.
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Poison Dart Frog Adaptations – Year 5 Reading Worksheets
Explore the adaptations of a poison dart frog with printable reading comprehension worksheets for Year 5.
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Paired Passage Worksheets-Mammals vs. Reptiles
Compare mammals vs. reptiles and add to your reading instruction with leveled nonfiction, compare and contrast passages, and worksheets.
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Year 4 Reading Comprehension - The Day of the Dead Reading Passage
Read and learn about the Mexican holiday, Dia De Los Muertos, with a reading passage and Year 4 reading prose comprehension test.
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Year 5 Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 2)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 5 students.
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Year 3 Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 22-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 3 students.
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Types of Soils Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the properties of sand, silt, loam and clay with a set of 4 Types of Soils Reading Comprehension Worksheets.
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Year 1 Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 1)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically written for Year 1 students.
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Australian Inventions — The Black Box Comprehension Worksheets
Discover amazing Australian inventions like the Black Box In-Flight data recorder with a printable reading comprehension activity.