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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Halloween Area and Perimeter Colour by Number Worksheet
Use these Halloween colour-by-number worksheets to practise identifying the perimeter and area of regular polygons.
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Mean Median Mode Worksheet
Use this double-sided worksheet to check students’ ability to find the mean, median and mode of given data sets.
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Label a Soil Profile – Worksheet
Identify and label different layers with this soil profile worksheet.
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Comprehension - Should Smart Phones Be Allowed in Classrooms?
Decide if cellphones should be allowed in class and boost comprehension skills with a reading passage and comprehension test.
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Picture Graphs Worksheet
Use this double-sided worksheet to help your students practise reading and evaluating a simple picture graph.
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Reading Pictographs - Worksheets
Use this double-sided worksheet to enable students to practise reading and interpreting pictographs.
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One More, One Less - Worksheet
Practise foundational addition and subtraction facts using the concepts of one more and one less.
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The History of Australia's Parliamentary System - Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the ins and outs of Australia’s parliamentary history with this reading comprehension activity.
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Grassland Food Web Worksheet
Challenge students to create a food web and explain how energy flows between organisms with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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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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Using Suffixes - Grammar Worksheet
Review concepts related to suffixes with a printable grammar worksheet.
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Number Bonds Subtraction - Worksheet
Practise subtraction using number bonds with differentiated number bond worksheets.
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Rounding to the Nearest Ten, Hundred and Thousand Worksheet
Review rounding concepts with a worksheet covering rounding to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand.
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Grow a Friendship Garden – Friendship Activities
Encourage students to make a friendship garden grow with this activity bundle that includes friendship worksheets, writing templates, craft templates and scenario cards.
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How About This Weather? - Worksheet
Explore different types of weather and subsequent observable changes with this 5-page worksheet pack.
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Adding and Subtracting Decimals Worksheet
Add and subtract decimals with a number line worksheet.
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Fractions on a Number Line – Worksheet
Improve student understanding of fractions on a number line with this printable maths worksheet.
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Community Giant Colouring Page and Map Skills Worksheet
An activity to practise map skills using a giant map of a community.
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Map of the World - Labelling Activity
Discover and label the world's continents and oceans with this blank map of the world.
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Simile and Metaphor Self-Portrait Worksheet
Teach students about similes and metaphors by asking them to describe... themselves!
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Numeracy Assessment Tool for Year 3
A set of 6 numeracy assessment tools suited to Year 3 students.
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Characteristics of Communities - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Identify characteristics of the different types of communities (urban, rural, suburban) with a cut-and-paste sorting worksheet.
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Sounds of 'OO' - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Sort words according to whether they contain a long or short ‘oo’ sound with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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CVC Phoneme Substitution Worksheet Pack
Manipulate the individual phonemes in CVC words to create new words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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2-Digit Addition Colour by Number - Halloween Mystery Picture
Celebrate the coming of Halloween and practise adding 2-digit numbers up to 99 with this set of Halloween mystery picture worksheets.
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Same Perimeter, Different Area Word Problems – Worksheet
Practise solving multi-step word problems involving objects that have the same perimeter but different areas.
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Counting to 100 - Dot Day Worksheet
Celebrate International Dot Day with this fun, hands-on way to practise counting to 100.
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Place Value Worksheets (Platypus Theme)
Practise expanded notation and writing numbers in words with the Place Value Platypus.
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Addition Worm – Worksheet
Build your students' addition skills with this fun set of differentiated worksheets.
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I Am Sorry – Poem and Discussion Questions
A poem to promote thoughtful discussion around issues of reconciliation on National Sorry Day.
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How to Make a Paper Plane – Procedural Writing Worksheet
Explore how to make a paper plane while your students fine-tune their procedural writing skills.
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Cut and Paste Algorithm Grid - Black and White
An activity for students to use when learning about algorithms (directions).