Worksheets for Teachers
Did someone say printable worksheets? From year 1 maths worksheets to reading comprehension worksheets to printables 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 primary year levels.
Explore printable activities, free worksheets, homework sheets and more — all aligned to the Australian curriculum and 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 individualised instruction was gaining traction, and educators recognised 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 individualised 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, practising 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 pens 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 pens!
- Use digital worksheets. Allow students to fill out their worksheets on classroom tablets as a means to add an extra level of engagement.
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 — early years students can work on their fine motor skills with our mini books, cut-and-paste worksheets and more while their upper years peers get pulled into the fun of vocabulary fun with word searches and crossword puzzle worksheets. Printable puzzles that engage students in the form of a brain game and colour by worksheets that bring art elements into maths and reading.
Worksheets also provide the opportunity for formative assessment and give your students a chance to practice problem-solving while they work independently.
- Plus Plan
NAPLAN-Style Reading Magazine – Year 5
5 reading texts with multiple choice questions for NAPLAN Reading Year 5.
- Plus Plan
Soccer-Themed Maths Problem Solving Worksheets
Practise multiplication, division and problem solving skills with a high-interest soccer-themed scenario activity.
- Plus Plan
Decodable Text Worksheets – Common Consonant Digraphs (Set 2)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
- Free Plan
Visualising Quarter Turns — Worksheet
Help Year 2 students master quarter turns with this two-page worksheet.
- Free Plan
Angles at a Point – Year 6 Maths Worksheet
Identify and calculate angles at a point with this one-page maths worksheet.
- Free Plan
World Map with Countries - Black and White
Teach your students about the continents and countries of the world with this black-and-white world map.
- Plus Plan
3-Digit Roll It, Make It, Expand It! - Place Value Worksheet
A worksheet for students to use when learning about the place value of three-digit numbers.
- Plus Plan
Location and Transformation Worksheets - Year 2
6 location and transformation worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
- Plus Plan
Data Representation and Interpretation Worksheets - Year 2
4 data representation and interpretation worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
- Plus Plan
Chance Worksheets - Year 6
4 chance worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
- Plus Plan
Year 5 Reading Comprehension Worksheets - Superstitions
Learn about common superstitions and beliefs with a printable reading comprehenion passage for Year 5.
- Plus Plan
Telling the Time Worksheets- Quarter Hours
Tell and write time to the nearest quarter-hour and half-hour with printable telling time cut and paste worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Analogue Time to the Half Hour – Worksheets
Practise telling time to the half-hour with a fun set of printable Telling Time Worksheets for Grade 1.
- Plus Plan
Capacity Worksheet
A worksheet to use when exploring the concept of capacity.
- Plus Plan
Long Vowel Phoneme Spotter Stories
Use this set of decodable texts featuring various graphemes that make long vowel sounds.
- Plus Plan
Sentence Fluency Reading Cards Set
Make fluency practice engaging with our Sentence Fluency Reading Cards Set.
- Plus Plan
Multiplication Money Word Problems Worksheets
Create equal groupings to solve real-world scenarios with our multiplication money word problems worksheets.
- Free Plan
Multisyllabic Word List Resource Pack
Print and use a multisyllabic word list to introduce your students to more complex words and syllable patterns.
- Plus Plan
Earth’s Resources Worksheet - Natural Resources & Fossil Fuels (3-4)
Explore what's buried in rocks underground with a printable Earth’s Resources Worksheet for Year 4.
- Plus Plan
NAPLAN - Language Conventions - Spelling PowerPoint (Year 3)
A 44 slide PowerPoint presentation displaying NAPLAN style spelling questions.
- Free Plan
Converting Capacity Worksheet Set
Assign these converting capacity worksheet pages to give your students essential practice converting metric units of capacity.
- Free Plan
Metric Measurement Conversion Worksheet Set
Utilise our metric measurement conversion worksheet set to give your students practise converting units of metric length, mass and capacity.
- Plus Plan
Editing Year 4 Worksheet Pack
Use this editing Year 4 worksheet pack to get your students fixing incomplete sentences, spelling errors and punctuation errors.
- Plus Plan
Ordering Numbers Cut-and-Paste Worksheets
Give students our ordering numbers cut-and-paste worksheets for a fun way to practise ordering numbers 1 through 100.
- Plus Plan
Let's Get Ready to Rock! – Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Read and discover the three types of rock with a set of Year 3 Reading Comprehension Worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Poetry Cloze Passage Worksheets
Use these poetry cloze worksheets to introduce your students to various types of poetry in a fun and engaging way.
- Free Plan
Dot-to-Dot Alphabet Worksheets
Use this set of 3 dot-to-dot worksheets to get your youngest students practising their recognition of the alphabet.
- Plus Plan
Animal Shelter Operations - Metric Conversion Maths Task
Bring metric conversions into the real world with an engaging Animal Shelter Metric Conversions Maths Task.
- Plus Plan
Number Recognition Worksheet Pack
Use this collection of number recognition worksheets to help your students practise recognising the numbers 0 through 20 in many forms.
- Plus Plan
CM & MM Measurement Worksheets - Year 3
Practise using a ruler to measure in centimetres and millimetres with a pair of printable measurement worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Australian Endangered Species Snapshots – Comprehension Worksheet
Explore some Australian endangered species with your students using this set of reading passages with comprehension questions.
- Plus Plan
Apostrophes of Contraction Worksheets
Learn about the apostrophe of contractions with this set of worksheets.