Reading Comprehension Teaching Resources
Explore printable reading comprehension worksheets, digital activities and more to teach reading comprehension strategies in your primary classroom. Created by teachers, for teachers, the teaching resources in this collection are aligned with the Australian curriculum and have undergone a careful review by a member of our expert teaching team.
You'll find editable versions to easily differentiate your instruction for individual students, plus various options to make your lesson planning easier this school year!
New to teaching this portion of the English curriculum or just looking for fresh and engaging ways to teach reading comprehension strategies? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a simple definition of reading comprehension, a look at different strategies students can use and more!
What Is Reading Comprehension?
We'll start at the beginning! Reading comprehension is a skill that's hard to overestimate in terms of its importance for early years students to develop.
Defined as the ability to understand and interpret written language, reading comprehension involves the process of decoding text, extracting meaning from it, and then integrating that meaning with prior knowledge and understanding.
Not only does comprehension comprise the ability to recognise and understand individual words, but it also involves the ability to recognise patterns and relationships within sentences and paragraphs, as well as the ability to make inferences and draw conclusions based on the information presented.
This isn't just important for reading, of course.
Comprehension is all about making meaning, and it includes various levels of understanding, including:
- Literal
- Inferential
- Evaluative
- Critical
If you think about it, we rely on these skills on a daily basis — when we notice the stooped shoulders of a partner as they walk in the door or when we listen to the weather report and observe how heavily laden the sky is with grey clouds.
To develop those same skills in a reading context, our students need to build a variety of language skills, such as vocabulary knowledge, grammar and syntax, as well as cognitive processes, such as attention, memory and critical thinking.
So how do they get there? Let's talk strategies!
What Are Reading Comprehension Strategies?
As you well know, students don't start off being able to comprehend every single thing they read. But teaching them strategies to understand better and retain information will allow them to go from recognising individual words to understanding a range of texts.
Some common reading comprehension strategies include:
- Previewing — This is the process of skimming the text before reading it in detail to get an overall sense of what it is about.
- Activating Prior Knowledge — Students can draw on existing knowledge and experience to help them understand new information, such as a new text.
- Making Connections — This strategy focuses on teaching students to make connections between a text and their own experiences and understandings. Research into the science of reading has shown enhanced comprehension when students are able to connect new information to information they already know.
- Questioning — In this comprehension strategy, students ask and answer questions to clarify the meaning of the text and deepen their understanding. When you centre questioning activities around the familiar open-ended prompts of who, what, when, where, how, why, and which, students assert their understanding and identify any gaps in their comprehension of the text. Questions can be posed by a teacher, by their peers, or by the students themselves.
- Visualising — Visualisation provides both teachers and students with another means to extend their exploration of a text and deepen understanding. This reading comprehension strategy asks students to create and describe an image in their mind, centered around a place, situation, or character in the text. Visualising has been proven in research to improve student recall! Using the five senses is a great way to scaffold student comprehension through visualising.
- Summarising — Summarising is a reading comprehension strategy that asks students to reflect on the text and communicate their understanding of it. A well-formed summary is made up of the main idea of the text and the key details that support the main idea, showing that the student has understood what they’ve read well enough to write a summary that’s not merely a repetition of the text.
- When summarising, students may complete one or more of the following:
- Recount the text in their own words
- Identify the main idea, topic or purpose
- List key words or phrases
- Identify structural elements of the genre
- Using the SWBST process can help students with this reading comprehension strategy. The steps in the SWBST process are:
- Somebody
- Wanted
- But
- So
- Then
- When summarising, students may complete one or more of the following:
- Inferring — The process of drawing conclusions based on clues or evidence presented in the text is called inferring, and it involves readers using what they know and pairing it with what they read in the text to make a conclusion. You may also call this 'reading between lines!'
- Monitoring Comprehension — When monitoring comprehension, students reflect on and assess their understanding as they progress through the text. In this metacognitive process, students may ask themselves questions like 'Is this making sense?' or 'Do I need to read this again?'
- Some comprehension strategies that may be effective may include going back to reread a section of a text, slowing down or speeding up your reading rate, and using text features to help understand difficult parts of a passage. All of these are active reading strategies that students can do to help them better understand what they are reading, while they are reading!
- While monitoring asks students to identify hurdles and barriers, students also benefit from connecting this reading comprehension strategy with explicit strategies to help them pass their hurdles.
All of these comprehension strategies can be taught and practised explicitly.
- Plus Plan
Literary Devices Poster Pack
Explore the various literary devices used by authors with the set of colourful classroom posters.
- Free Plan
Sorting Text Features Cut and Paste
Build confidence and comprehension with this ready-to-use Text Features Cut and Paste Worksheet!
- Free Plan
Making Predictions from Sentences Worksheets
Practise making predictions with sentences using this set of making predictions worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Making Predictions With Pictures Prompt Cards
Encourage early reading comprehension by using Making Predictions with Pictures Prompt Cards to help students develop critical thinking and inference skills through visual storytelling
- Plus Plan
Prediction in Reading Comprehension Task
Help students to engage with prediction during reading with this predictions in reading comprehension task.
- Plus Plan
Properties of Matter Reading Comprehension Pack (Year 3)
Read and discover the properties of matter with a set of Year 3 Reading Comprehension Worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Similes Matching Game
Use this similes game to introduce your students to some of the most common similes used in the English language.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards Summarising
Practise summarising text with these relevant events-based texts.
- Plus Plan
Fennec Fox Adaptations - Close Reading Worksheets
Read and learn about Fennec Fox adaptations with a set of printable Reading Comprehension Worksheets for Year 5.
- Plus Plan
Planet Fact File Pack with Comprehension Worksheets
Learn the facts of each of the planets in our solar system with these planet fact file sheets and accompanying comprehension worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Empathy vs. Sympathy Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Challenge your students to learn the differences between empathy and sympathy with this reading comprehension worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Reading Comprehension Worksheets - The History of Electricity
Read to learn about the history of electricity with printable reading comprehension worksheets.
- Free Plan
Narrative Elements Graphic Organisers – Portrait
Encourage your students to write and draw about various story elements with this set of differentiated graphic organisers.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Reading Response Journal – Comprehension Templates
A journal with comprehension sheets designed for students to study texts.
- Plus Plan
Onomatopoeia Poems Poster and Templates
Use this onomatopoeia poem poster and accompanying template to teach your students how to write an onomatopoeia poem.
- Plus Plan
Alliteration Poem Poster and Templates
Use this alliteration poem example and accompanying worksheets to teach your students how to write an alliteration poem.
- Plus Plan
Character Traits, Feelings and Appearance - Posters
A set of 3 posters depicting words and phrases that can be used to describe a character's personality, feelings and appearance.
- Plus Plan
Introduction to Narrative Features PowerPoint - Year 3 and Year 4
A 23 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the features of narrative texts.
- Plus Plan
Interesting Idioms Worksheets
Teach figurative language with these idioms worksheets that will introduce your students to many of the most commonly used idioms.
- Plus Plan
Non-Fiction Text Features Poster Set
Build your students’ confidence in navigating informational texts with this engaging Text Features of a Non-Fiction Book Poster Set.
- Plus Plan
Visual Literacy Analysis Slide Deck
Teach visual literacy analysis using this comprehensive slide deck featuring 20 stimulus images, each accompanied by thought-provoking question prompts.
- Plus Plan
Oral Retell Sequencing Mats
Explore oral retelling with this set of oral retell sequencing mats for a variety of fairy tales and everyday activities.
- Plus Plan
What Are Pollinators? Year 2 Comprehension Worksheet Pack
Introduce your students to the world of pollinators and nonfiction text comrpehension with a printable Year 2 Reading Comprehension worksheet pack.
- Plus Plan
Australian Immigration – Analysing Infographics Worksheet
Explore Australian immigration trends with your students by analysing a kid-friendly infographic and answering guided questions.
- Free Plan
Monitoring Comprehension Strategies Text Annotations Poster
Help students monitor their comprehension with this Monitoring Comprehension Reading Strategy using text annotations.
- Plus Plan
Making Predictions Reading Passages Task Cards
Explore the comprehension strategy of predicting using these making predictions reading passages task cards.
- Plus Plan
Making Predictions PowerPoint
Use this Making Predictions PowerPoint to engage students in the learning of predicting during reading.
- Plus Plan
The Olympic Games - Comprehension Task
Encourage students to apply a range of comprehension and writing skills when finding out interesting fun facts about the Olympics with a printable reading comprehension task.
- Plus Plan
Australian Conservationists: The Irwins – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about the Irwin family and their conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.
- Plus Plan
Koala Adaptations Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Learn about the physical and behavioural adaptations of the koala with a set of printable reading comprehension worksheets for Year 4.
- Plus Plan
Innovative Inventors - Year 4 Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Meet famous inventors in history with this informational text and comprehension questions activity
- Reading Comprehension Worksheets
- Reading Comprehension Templates
- Reading Comprehension Posters
- Reading Comprehension Teaching Presentations
- Reading Comprehension Games
- Reading Comprehension Flashcards
- Reading Comprehension for Foundation Year
- Reading Comprehension for Year 1
- Reading Comprehension for Year 2
- Reading Comprehension for Year 3
- Reading Comprehension for Year 4
- Reading Comprehension for Year 5
- Reading Comprehension for Year 6
- Reading Comprehension for Year 7