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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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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Foundation Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Bonus Issue)
A bonus issue of our beautifully designed, 16-page reading magazine specifically designed for Foundation students.
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Foundation Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 1)
A beautifully designed, 16-page reading magazine specifically designed for Foundation students.
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Comprehension – History of Flight Reading Worksheets
Read and learn about innovations in aviation with a printable reading comprehension activity.
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The History of Codes - Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about the history and development of Morse code with a comprehension worksheet.
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Australia's Voting System – Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the history and systems of voting in Australia with this differentiated reading comprehension activity.
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Debating and Scrutinising Bills - Comprehension Worksheets
Explore how bills are debated and scrutinised in the Australian Federal Parliament with this differentiated reading comprehension activity.
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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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Comprehension Worksheets - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Read to learn about the Great Pacific Garbage patch with a printable reading comprehension worksheet pack.
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Remembrance Day Comprehension Worksheet
Explain Remembrance Day history and traditions to your students with a printable cloze reading passage and comprehension questions.
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Fascinating Facts About Animals Worksheet
Build reading comprehension skills and learn about amazing animals with a printable year 1 reading comprehension worksheet pack.
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Life Without Tacos – Comprehension Task
A comprehension passage and accompanying worksheet about cultural diffusion.
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Tricky Tongue Twisters – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Year 3 magazine (Issue 3).
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Human Histories: Popular Performers
A comprehension worksheet for a human histories article from the Year 1 magazine (Issue 2).
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Robot Hide and Seek – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a narrative from the Year 1 magazine (Issue 2).
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Search-a-Rooney 2 – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a image stimulus poster where students need to locate objects and characters.
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Human Histories: Terrific Tennis Players – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a human histories article from the Year 2 magazine (Issue 2).
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The Discovery of Tutankhamen's Tomb – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for an information report from the Year 6 magazine (Issue 3).
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Tongue Twisters – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Year 1 magazine (Issue 3).
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10 Fascinating Facts About Water – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Year 2 magazine (Issue 3).
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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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Letter to the Editor (No-School Birthdays) – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a letter to the editor from the Year 1 magazine (Issue 2).
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Human Histories: Amazing Artists – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article about some amazing artists.
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Human Histories: Helpful Heroes – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for an article about people around the world who have dedicated their lives to helping others.
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Comprehension - King Tutankhamun
A comprehension activity about King Tutankhamun.
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The Escape Key - Story and Task Cards
An exciting short story about escaping a maze with a set of task cards to explore after the text has been read.
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NAPLAN Reading Magazine – Year 3 - PowerPoint
5 reading texts with multiple choice questions for NAPLAN Reading Year 3 on PowerPoint.
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Tropical Cyclone Cloze Worksheet
A cloze worksheet about tropical cyclones.
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Recalling Facts and Details Worksheets
Download these recalling facts and details worksheets to help students identify, remember and retrieve important information from a text.
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Rio de Janeiro - Comprehension Task
A comprehension task that encourages students to apply a range of comprehension skills when finding out interesting fun facts about Rio.
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Australian Conservationists: Miranda Gibson – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about Miranda Gibson and her conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.
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Australian Conservationists: John Walmsley – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about Dr John Walmsley and his conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.