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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Reading and Writing 2-Digit Numbers Worksheet
Practise converting expanded form numbers into their standard form with this worksheet.
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Colour by Number – Repeated Addition and Multiplication
Guide your students to connect repeated addition with multiplication by completing this colour-by-code multiplication worksheet.
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Data Collection Worksheet Set
Use this set of differentiated graphs worksheets to assess your students’ understanding of how data is collected, organised and presented.
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Snail Trail Odd and Even Properties Worksheet
Help students identify the properties of odd and even numbers and using the ‘rules’ when calculating with this maze-style worksheet.
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Groups of Objects Odd or Even Worksheets
Practise determining if a group of objects (up to 20) is an odd or even number of members.
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Column Graphs Grade 5 Worksheet
Use this double-sided column graphs worksheet to check your students’ understanding of interpreting and drawing column graphs.
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Parts of Speech Colouring Worksheet (Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs)
Use this colour by part of speech worksheet as a fun Autumn activity with your students.
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Callback Phrases List
Catch your students’ attention with a set of fun attention-grabbing callback phrases.
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Fact Family Mazes Differentiated Worksheet Set
Use this differentiated worksheet set to provide independent practise of fact family knowledge to solve multiplication expressions.
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3D Object Detective - Worksheet
Explore the properties of some common three-dimensional objects with this printable worksheet.
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Spelling CCVC Words - Worksheets
Develop students’ ability to segment and blend the sounds in CCVC words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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Grammar and Punctuation Assessment Tool - Year 5
A set of 5 grammar and punctuation assessment tools suited to Year 5 students.
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Level 3 Decodable Readers - Worksheet Pack
A set of one-pager worksheet versions of the texts from our Level 3 decodable readers
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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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Word Study List - L Blends
Introduce and explore words containing an initial l-blend with this extensive list of words.
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Treasure Island - Mapping Skills Worksheet
Put mapping skills into practice by creating a map of a treasure island!
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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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Auslan Fingerspellathon
A worksheet and participation certificate to use when learning how to use the Auslan Fingerspelling Alphabet.
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The Australian Flag Poster and Worksheet
A poster and worksheet of the Australian Flag.
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Eureka Stockade Fact Sheet and Comprehension Questions
A fact sheet and comprehension task to use when learning about The Eureka Stockade.
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Drawing 2D Shapes Worksheet
A worksheet with questions regarding 2D shapes.
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The Three Little Pigs – Comprehension Worksheet
Develop your students' reading comprehension skills with a well-known fairy tale.
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Movie Review Worksheet
A movie review worksheet for students to complete after watching a film.
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Number and Place Value Worksheets - Year 6
6 number and place value worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Fiction and Non-Fiction Cloze Activities
A set of 7 fiction and non-fiction cloze worksheets with answer sheets.
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Pinning or Tracing Pages - Animals
Ten animal pinning pages.
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Fair Testing in Science - Differentiated Experimental Design Worksheets
Use a differentiated experimental design worksheet to introduce your students to the concept of fair testing in science.
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Foundation Narrative Writing Assessment Pack
Support your Foundation learners as they take their first steps into narrative writing with this gentle, highly scaffolded Lost Toy Narrative Writing Pack.
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What Are Pollinators? Year 2 Comprehension Worksheet Pack
Introduce your students to the world of pollinators and nonfiction text comrpehension with a printable Year 2 Reading Comprehension worksheet pack.
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Editable Blank Survey Template For Students
Organise student survey data with a set of printable blank survey templates.
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Colour By Code - Simple or Compound Sentence Worksheet
Use a Colour By Code Simple or Compound Sentence worksheet to help your students practise identifying simple and compound sentence types.
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Author’s Purpose Reading Passages Worksheet Set
Explore the Author's Purpose in these reading passages with this set of Author's Purpose worksheets.