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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Animal Adaptations - Informative Writing Prompt Worksheets
Write to describe animals and their adaptations with a printable pack of informative writing worksheets.
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Telling Time to the Nearest Minute Test
Assess your student's abilities to tell time to the nearest minute with a Telling Time to the Minute Unit Test for Year 3.
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3-Act Maths Tasks - Time Word Problems
Practise problem-solving skills and time conversions with a printable pack of 3 Act Maths Task worksheets.
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Cursive Writing Worksheets PDF - Alphabet
Practise writing the alphabet in cursive with a pack of printable cursive alphabet writing worksheets.
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Elapsed Time on a Number Line Worksheets
Practise finding elapsed time using an open number line with a pair of differentiated elapsed time worksheets.
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Decimal Number Patterns – Differentiated Worksheets
Practise determining a pattern and next value in a numerical sequence of decimals to the hundredths place.
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Free Desert Animal Adaptations Worksheets - Comprehension
Discover desert animal adaptations with a printable reading comprehension worksheet pack for Grades 4-5.
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Persuasive Device Definitions – Match-Up Worksheet
Have students match the persuasive devices with their definitions using this simple one-page worksheet.
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4-Digit Numbers Worksheet
Practise reading and writing 4-digit numbers using expanded form with this printable PDF worksheet.
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4-Digit Number Riddles Cut and Paste
Use these 4-digit number worksheets to help students practise matching numbers up to 10 000 with their word and expanded forms.
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Coordinating Conjunctions Worksheet
Distribute this coordinating conjunctions worksheet to help your students practise joining clauses with conjunctions to form compound sentences.
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Kind or Unkind Cut-and-Paste Worksheet
Explore kind and unkind scenarios with your students using this engaging cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Uses of Magnets Comprehension Worksheet
Download this magnets worksheet to teach your Year 4 students about the uses of magnets in our everyday lives.
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Inference Detectives Worksheet Pack
Guide your students to use personal experiences and text evidence to make inferences with this set of reading worksheets.
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What Are Floods? Comprehension Worksheet
Read and learn about flooding with a printable reading comprehension worksheet.
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Finding Patterns in Addition Charts (Odd and Even Numbers) Worksheet
Explore odd and even number patterns using an addition chart with your students.
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Rounding to the Nearest 100 Worksheet
Help your students find the correct bone for each dog by rounding to the nearest hundreds place with this maths worksheet designed for year 2 and 3 students.
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Rounding to the Nearest 10 Worksheet
Teach your students to round to the nearest 10 with this printable maths worksheet designed for year 1 and 2 students.
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Right Angle Turn Patterns Worksheet
Teach your students to make shape patterns using right angle turns with this differentiated maths worksheet for Year 3 students.
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Innovative Inventors - Year 4 Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Meet famous inventors in history with this informational text and comprehension questions activity
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Finish the Drawing - Worksheets
Get creative and finish the drawings with a set of five art worksheets.
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What Plants Need - Year 1 Worksheet
Identify what plants need to survive with a group of free plant worksheets for Year 1 students.
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My Safety Plan Worksheet
Create a safety plan to help understand what to do or who to go to when you feel unsafe.
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Animal Adaptations - Worksheet Pack
Use these animal adaptation worksheets when teaching students about the structural, behavioural, and physiological adaptations of animals.
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Renewable vs Non-Renewable Energy Sources – Worksheet
Discover the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy sources with a comprehension passage and worksheet.
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The Number Line Zoo - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Develop number sense by returning the zoo animals to their correct positions on the number line with a cut-and-paste worksheet.
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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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Types of Figurative Language - Worksheet
Practise identifying and creating examples of figurative language with this printable worksheet.
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Equivalent Fraction Wall – Blank
Encourage students to create their own equivalent fraction chart with this printable maths template.
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Reading a Map Worksheet
Develop map skills with a map-reading worksheet.
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Comparing Fractions, Decimals and Percentages – Worksheet
Strengthen student understanding of how to compare fractions, decimals and percentages with this worksheet.
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Emotions Worksheet Set
Help students understand different emotions with this set of five emotions worksheets.