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.
- Plus Plan
Spin, Tally, Graph and Interpret Data Task Card Activity
Guide your students to collect data, make tally marks, create a column graph and analyse data with this maths activity.
- Plus Plan
Line and Rotational Symmetry Quilt Activity
Have your students apply their knowledge of line and rotational symmetrical designs and collaborate with their peers using this fun quilt design activity!
- Free Plan
Do-a-Dot Rainbow Worksheet
Build fine motor skills and colour recognition with a printable rainbow dot art activity.
- Plus Plan
Classifying Triangles (By Angles) Worksheets
Practise classifying and sorting triangles based on their internal angles with this set of 3 worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Innovative Inventors - Year 4 Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Meet famous inventors in history with this informational text and comprehension questions activity
- Plus Plan
Famous Scientists Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Introduce your students to the groundbreaking work of Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk with a comparative reading passage and comprehension questions.
- Plus Plan
Reading Comprehension Worksheets - The History of Electricity
Read to learn about the history of electricity with printable reading comprehension worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Hundreds Chart Strategy Addition Worksheet Pack
Practise using the hundreds chart strategy with this worksheet set.
- Plus Plan
One More, One Less - Worksheet
Practise foundational addition and subtraction facts using the concepts of one more and one less.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes and Suffixes Quiz
Assess your students’ knowledge of prefixes and suffixes with a vocabulary quiz.
- Plus Plan
Adding and Subtracting Decimals Worksheet
Add and subtract decimals with a number line worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Objects in the Sky – Worksheet Pack
Use this set of worksheets to practise identifying and labelling objects in the sky as well as describing the moon, stars, sun and clouds.
- Plus Plan
How to Save Water Poster and Worksheet Pack
Teach your students ways to save water with a printable poster and worksheet pack.
- Free Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Fractions of Shapes – Differentiated Worksheets
Practise recognising halves and quarters with this differentiated basic fractions worksheet for year 1 and year 2 students.
- Plus Plan
Representing Unit Fraction & Whole Number Division – Teaching Presentation and Notes
Teach your students how to divide a whole number by a fraction and divide a fraction by a whole number with this teaching presentation and accompanying student notes.
- Plus Plan
CVC Phoneme Manipulation Worksheets - Short E
Manipulate the individual phonemes in ‘short e’ CVC words to create new words with this set of differentiated worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Positive Affirmations for Kids - Writing Worksheets
Complete and read allowed these positive affirmations for kids.
- Plus Plan
Estimating Decimal Sum and Differences — Year 6 Maths Mazes
Year 6 students can practise estimating solutions to decimal addition and subtraction equations with this set of maths mazes.
- Plus Plan
Planets of Our Solar System – Worksheet
Use this worksheet to review planet order, features and classifications.
- Plus Plan
Changing Direct Speech to Indirect Speech – Differentiated Worksheet
Convert direct speech to indirect speech with this worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Number of the Day - Worksheet
A worksheet to use when learning about numbers.
- Plus Plan
Colour by Parts of Speech - Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives - Octopus
Practise using parts of speech by colouring nouns, verbs and adjectives on the octopus.
- Plus Plan
Letter to the Editor: Social Media – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a persuasive article about social media.
- Plus Plan
Irregular Past Tense Verbs Worksheet
A worksheet that helps students identify irregular verbs.
- Plus Plan
Rhyming Match – Worksheets
Identify rhyming words through images with this set of 5 worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Phoneme Spotter Story – 'ow' Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the ‘ow’ sound.
- Free Plan
Natural, Managed or Constructed? - Worksheet
A worksheet that explores natural, managed and constructed features.
- Plus Plan
Subtraction Sausage Dog – Worksheet
A set of superb subtraction sausage dog worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Olympics Word Search – Upper
Words related to the Olympics in a word search.
- Plus Plan
Human Histories: World Explorers – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article about some world explorers and their achievements.
- Plus Plan
Coordinates Drawing - House
Students create this house by following the directions.