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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Embedded Clause Worksheets
Teach the embedded clause with these engaging and easy-to-use worksheets designed to build understanding through clear examples and guided practice.
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Dependent Clause Worksheets
Explore how a dependent clause can show purpose, time, reason, concession and condition with this engaging set of worksheets for Year 5 students.
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Write a Short Story – The Tale of Transformation
Get your students analysing and writing a story with a lesson with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Adapt a Short Story – Change the Complication
Explore the role the complication of a story plays within narrative structure with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Do You See What I See? Observation Activity Sheets
Observe, predict, and record changes in the natural world with our ‘Do You See What I See’ Observation Activity Sheets.
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Phoneme Substitution Worksheets - Word Search Pack
Help students manipulate phonemes with these phoneme substitution worksheets where students substitute phonemes and search for words in a word search.
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Narrative Tension – Text Analysis Worksheets
Teach narrative tension with this set of three worksheets designed to help students explore how authors build suspense and keep readers hooked.
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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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Year 2 Narrative Writing Assessment Pack
Help students nail narrative writing with this scaffolded zoo adventure narrative writing assessment pack.
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Parts of a Book Worksheets
Use these parts of a book worksheets for students to identify the various parts of a book.
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How to Write a Fractured Fairy Tale Worksheet Pack
Engage students in narrative writing and explore how to write a fractured fairy tale with this set of worksheets
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Modeling Addition Word Problem Worksheets
Modeling addition is easy with these word problem worksheets that provide practice with real-world addition scenarios.
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Compound-Complex Sentence Test
Assess your students' understanding of compound-complex sentences with a printable Compound-Complex Sentence Test.
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Capitalisation Practice Worksheets
Use printable Capitalization Practice Worksheets to help your beginning writers learn to capitalise words in sentences.
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Grammar Conventions - Year 6 Grammar and Punctuation Test Pack
Assess student knowledge of grammar conventions with a printable Year 6 Grammar and Punctuation Test Pack
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Commas With Subordinate Clauses Worksheet
Use a Commas With Subordinate Clauses Worksheet to help your students practice comma placement in complex sentences.
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Unsinkable Titanic - Editing & Sentence Combining Worksheets
Practise editing and combining simple sentences with our Unsinkable Titanic Weekly Editing & Sentence Combining worksheets.
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Volume Worksheets
Provide your students with these volume worksheets to help them master finding the volume of cubes, rectangular prisms and triangular prisms.
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Prepositional Phrase Worksheet Pack
Enhance your grammar lessons with this prepositional phrase worksheet pack, designed to help Year 4 students master prepositions and prepositional phrases.
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Using Prepositions Worksheet Pack
Download this prepositions worksheet set, featuring five interactive cut-and-paste activities designed to reinforce understanding of positional language.
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NAPLAN - Language Conventions - Spelling Pack (Year 5)
A set of 12 worksheets with spelling words for NAPLAN Language Conventions Year 5.
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Volume Word Problems
Reinforce concepts of volume with these volume word problems worksheets that contain multiple problem types set in real-world scenarios.
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Fractions Greater Than 1 Worksheet Pack (Colour-by-Number)
Use our Fractions Greater Than 1 Worksheet Pack to give your students a fun way to practise converting between improper fractions and mixed numbers.
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The Three States of Matter – Year 5 Reading Worksheets
Use a Year 5 Reading Comprehension passage and worksheet to teach your students about the three states of matter.
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Cartesian Plane Worksheet Set (Real-World Scenarios)
Differentiate with our Cartesian plane worksheet set full of real-world maths scenarios.
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Properties of Matter Reading Comprehension Pack (Year 3)
Read and discover the properties of matter with a set of Year 3 Reading Comprehension Worksheets.
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Ten Frame Printable — Monster Teeth
Delight your students with this ten frame printable activity. This resource reinforces number recognition by inviting them to add teeth to monster-themed ten frames.
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Persuasive Letter Writing Task - Year 2-3
Improve student composition with an engaging persuasive letter-writing task.
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Mass Calculations Word Problem Worksheets
Put mass understanding into practise with this set of three word problem worksheets.
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Learning Reflection Templates
When finishing a unit or particular piece of work, have your students show you their understandings on a 3-2-1 Feedback Plan.
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Year 5 - Decimal Place Value Assessment
Assess your students' skills with decimals and place value using a printable Year 5 Decimal Place Value Test.
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Counting to 20 Cut and Paste Worksheet
Count objects within 20 and match the total to its written number on this 2-page cut-and-paste worksheet.