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
Year 6 Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 6 students.
- Plus Plan
Character Traits Posters
Remind your students about the difference between external and internal character traits with this set of three classroom posters.
- Free Plan
Is It a Fact or an Opinion? - Worksheet
A worksheet to practise identifying facts and opinions.
- Plus Plan
Reading Comprehension Strategies PowerPoint - Questioning
A 15 slide editable PowerPoint template explaining the reading comprehension strategy of questioning.
- Plus Plan
Reading Comprehension Strategies PowerPoint - Predicting
A 14 slide editable PowerPoint template explaining the reading comprehension strategy of predicting.
- Plus Plan
Figurative Language Posters – Onomatopoeia
Help young readers and writers recognise onomatopoeias with a set of onomatopoeia classroom posters.
- Plus Plan
The Importance of Soil – Comprehension Worksheets
Teach your students about the importance of soil to plants, animals and humans with this differentiated reading comprehension passage with accompanying questions.
- Plus Plan
Three Little Pigs Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for The Three Little Pigs.
- Plus Plan
Year 2 Magazine – What's Buzzing (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 22-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 2 students.
- Plus Plan
Compare and Contrast Worksheets - Neil Armstrong vs. Amelia Earhart
Compare and contrast Neil Armstrong and Amelia Earhart with differentiated reading comprehension worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Finding the Main Idea in Fiction Texts Interactive Activity
Help your students easily find the main idea and support details in a fiction text with this interactive activity.
- Plus Plan
Story Elements Poster Set
Display these cute sloth-themed story elements posters when learning about narrative texts.
- Plus Plan
Text Features Flashcards
Teach students the features of nonfiction texts such as headings, sidebars, captions and many more with this set of flashcards for primary students.
- Plus Plan
Decodable Text Worksheets – Single Graphemes (Set 2)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
- Free Plan
Fiction or Non-Fiction? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this fiction and non-fiction worksheet when teaching your students about the differences between fiction and non-fiction texts.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension - How To Make Pancakes
A comprehension activity using a procedure for lower grades.
- Plus Plan
Fiction vs Non-Fiction Posters
Teach students the difference between fiction and non-fiction with this set of two classroom posters perfect for early years classrooms.
- Plus Plan
Making Connections with Text Poster
A poster showing the concepts of text to self, text to text and text to world.
- Plus Plan
Non-Fiction Visual Features Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this visual text features worksheet when exploring text features such as photographs, maps, charts and diagrams with your students.
- Plus Plan
Character Profile - Graphic Organisers
Explore the internal and external traits of story characters with a set of differentiated graphic organisers.
- Plus Plan
The History of Australia's Parliamentary System - Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the ins and outs of Australia’s parliamentary history with this reading comprehension activity.
- Plus Plan
Main Idea and Details in Nonfiction Text - Teaching PowerPoint
Build skills in identifying the main idea and details in nonfiction texts with this teaching PowerPoint
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Worksheets - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Read to learn about the Great Pacific Garbage patch with a printable reading comprehension worksheet pack.
- Plus Plan
All About the Sun – Comprehension Worksheet
Integrate science and reading while learning about the Sun with this comprehension worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Making Connections - Worksheet
Allow your students to record their connections to a particular text with this Making Connections Worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Novel Study – Chapter Summary Worksheet
Reflect on a chapter in a class novel using this one-page worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Before, During and After Reading Fiction - Question Prompts
Question prompts and a worksheet to use when asking questions before, during and after reading.
- Plus Plan
In My Eyes (Poem) - Comprehension
A comprehension activity using poetry.
- Plus Plan
Summarising Fiction Poster Set
Help students remember what to include in a summary of a fiction text with this easy to use SWBST acronym.
- Free Plan
Animals in the Arctic - Free Mini Book
Learn about polar animals and build comprehension skills with a Year 2 Arctic animal book.
- Plus Plan
Inferencing Worksheet
Use this worksheet with your students when teaching them how to make an inference.
- Plus Plan
Let's Infer! Reading Worksheet
Boost reading comprehension with our 2-page writing worksheet that helps students practice making inferences.
- Reading Comprehension Worksheets
- Reading Comprehension Templates
- Reading Comprehension Posters
- Reading Comprehension Teaching Presentations
- Reading Comprehension Games
- 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