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.
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The Force of Gravity Comprehension Worksheets
Download this gravity worksheet to teach your Year 4 students about the force of gravity and its impact on our daily lives.
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Haunted House Worksheets - Descriptive Writing Activity
Draw and write about scary Halloween houses with a printable Halloween descriptive writing activity pack.
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Year 1 Halloween Addition Game - Roll-a-Potion
Roll and add to create a magic potion, then draw it in the cauldron with a printable Year 1 Halloween game.
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Who Lives in a Haunted House? Finish the Drawing Activity
Draw and write about all the kooky nouns in a haunted house with a printable Halloween words worksheet for Year 2.
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Triple and Double Digit Multiplication - Halloween Maths Worksheets
Use various strategies to solve 2-digit multiplication problems with a set of Halloween Multiplication Worksheets.
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Directions with Right Angle Turns Worksheet
Teach your students to give and follow directions using right angles with this 2-page maths worksheet for Year 3 students.
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Skip Counting Worksheets (Fill in the Blanks)
Use this set of skip counting worksheets to check student understanding of skip counting in increasing intervals of 5, 10 and 100 up to 1000.
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Phases of the Moon – Comprehension Worksheet
Analyse different moon phases and how their visual appearances change over time with this reading comprehension worksheet.
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Create Your Own Map - Worksheet
Create simple maps of familiar places with this set of map templates and accompanying comprehension questions.
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Features of Maps - Worksheet
Apply knowledge of the components of a map to this map elements worksheet.
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Equivalent Fractions on a Number Line – Differentiated Worksheets
Practise placing equivalent fractions on a number line with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Mini-Mystery – Who Scared the Black Cat?
A logic-based Halloween-themed puzzle where students solve a mystery by reading clues.
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Colour by 2D Shape (Basic and Complex Shapes)
A detailed set of colour by shape activities.
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Grammar and Punctuation Assessment Tool – Year 4
A set of 5 grammar and punctuation assessment tools suited to Year 4 students.
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Introduction to Hardware and Software Sorting Activity
Guide students in understanding the difference between hardware and software with this cut and sort activity.
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Hundreds Boards with Missing Numbers - 1-100 and 101-200
A set of 12 hundreds boards worksheets with missing numbers.
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Inference and Prediction Worksheet Pack
Download this inference and prediction worksheet pack to teach your students how to confidently distinguish between these two strategies through a range of activities.
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Data Representation and Interpretation Worksheets - Year 1
Two data representation and interpretation worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Word Problem Worksheets - Year 5 and Year 6
4 mixed operations word problem worksheets with answers.
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Compare and Contrast Reading Comprehension Task
Help students strengthen their compare and contrast reading comprehension skills by reading an engaging passage about cats and dogs.
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Cloze Activities Worksheet Pack
Build confidence and strengthen literacy skills with cloze activities in which students fill in missing words to create meaningful texts.
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Using Rocks, Soils and Water Worksheets
Discover the importance of rocks, soils, and water as natural resources with a pack of printable Year 3 Science Activity Sheets.
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Is It a Line of Symmetry? Worksheets
Assign this lines of symmetry worksheet to your students to check their understanding of the existence of a line of symmetry on various 2D shapes.
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‘Dangerous Detergents’ Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the importance of collaboration between scientists and the effects of phosphates on the environment with our printable ‘Dangerous Detergents’ Reading Comprehension Worksheet Pack.
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Poetry Rhyming Worksheets
Support young readers as they learn to recognise, generate and apply rhyming words with this fun Rhyme Time worksheet set.
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Parts of Speech Fill-in-the-Blanks Worksheets
Use this set of fun fill-in-the-blanks mad lib parts of speech worksheets to explore parts of speech in a fun way.
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Information Report Text Examples and Worksheet Pack
Use this set of 5 information report text examples and 2 targeted worksheets to support your students in breaking down and understanding informative writing.
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How Does It Move? Toy Graphing Worksheets
Explore motion and mathematics with engaging Toy Graphing Worksheets.
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Reading a Thermometer Worksheets
Practise reading the temperature with a set of printable Reading a Thermometer Worksheets.
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Mood in Narrative Writing – Text Analysis Worksheets
Teach mood in narrative writing with this set of four worksheets designed to help students explore narrative atmosphere in the context of real texts.
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Advertisement Examples and Analysis Worksheets
Use these advertisement examples with accompanying analysis worksheets to teach your students about the purpose, structure and language features of product advertisements.
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Noun, Verb or Adjective? Colour By Code Worksheet
Use a colour by code Noun, Verb or Adjective worksheet to help students practise identifying parts of speech.