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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Plant and Animal Adaptations - Reading Comprehension Passage
Boost reading comprehension skills with a comprehension passage, with questions, about structural, behavioural and physiological adaptations.
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Inflectional Endings - Spelling with Suffixes Worksheets
Spell words with the inflectional endings -ed, -ing, -s, -es and -ies with a pack of printable practise worksheets covering inflected endings.
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Australia's Levels of Government - Workbook
Learn the duties and leaders of the national, state, and local levels of government with a printable government workbook.
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Ordering Decimals on a Number Line — Year 4 Worksheet
Practice ordering decimals on a number line with this worksheet.
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Elements of Poetry Workbook
Explore the wonders of poetry with this set of poems and accompanying worksheets designed specifically for children.
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Level 2 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 2 decodable readers.
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Representing Money Amounts – Worksheet
A worksheet for students to practise representing money amounts in multiple ways.
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Decodable Text Worksheets – Single Graphemes (Set 2)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
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Multiplication and Division Speed Drill Worksheets – Facts of 9
A set of worksheets to help students develop fast and accurate recall of the nine times tables.
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Wingaru Easter Egg Match-up Puzzle
An Aussie animal-themed Easter egg worksheet.
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Epic Editing Workbook – Year 3 and Year 4
Use these paragraph editing worksheets to get your students practising and refining their proofreading skills.
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Personal Recount Sequencing Activity - Surprise!
A worksheet to use in the classroom when learning the sequence of a personal recount.
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Supplementary Angles – Year 6 Maths Worksheet
Teach your students to identify and calculate supplementary angles with this one-page maths worksheet.
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Celebrations Around the World - Worksheet Pack
An 18-page worksheet booklet to use when exploring the topic of celebrations.
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Chance Worksheets - Year 4
2 chance worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Pre-Handwriting Worksheets
A collection of 18 pre-handwriting skill sheets with a range of different techniques and themes.
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Very Important Verbs Worksheet
Explore verbs within the context of the well-known story of The Gingerbread Man.
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Compare and Order Decimals Worksheet
Build decimal place value understanding with a printable worksheet for comparing and ordering decimals.
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Procedural Writing Sequencing Worksheet – How to Wash Your Dog
Use this procedural writing worksheet to teach your students about the importance of sequence in procedure texts.
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Alphabet Handwriting Sheet - 1 Page
Handwriting sheets with the alphabet and some words for students to trace.
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Fast Finishers' Folder - Lower Primary
Twenty-one activities for your fast finishers.
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Landscape Adjective Hunt Worksheet Pack
Use these worksheets to help your Year 2 students bring settings to life using adjectives in descriptive writing.
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How Does Heat Move? Heat Transfer Worksheet
Explore heat transfer and sources of heat with our "How Does Heat Move?" Heat Transfer Worksheet.
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Level 1 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 1 decodable readers.
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Beginning Sounds Phonics Worksheets
Use these beginning sounds phonics worksheets to explore single grapheme correspondence with your students.
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Letter Recognition Worksheet Pack
Use this set of Alphabet Letter Recognition Worksheets to help students recognise, name, and identify both uppercase and lowercase letters.
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Roll-a-Kandinsky - Dot Day Art Game
Introduce your students to the circle art style of Wassily Kandinsky with a fun Roll-a-Kandinsky Art Game for Dot Day.
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Multisyllabic Word List Resource Pack
Print and use a multisyllabic word list to introduce your students to more complex words and syllable patterns.
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Cause and Effect Comprehension Worksheets
Use these cause and effect comprehension worksheets to give your students practice reading, sequencing and matching effects to their causes.
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Printable Worksheets About Bees - Year 2-3 Comprehension
Use our worksheets about bees to discover what there is to know about bees, how they help plants, and how they make honey.
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Complex Sentence vs Compound Sentence Worksheets
Download a set of Complex Sentence vs Compound Sentence Worksheets to help your upper primary students practise writing, identifying and comparing sentence types.
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Writing Compound-Complex Sentences Worksheet
Use a Compound-Complex Sentences Worksheet to help your upper primary students learn to use advanced sentence structures in their writing.