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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What Needs Soil to Grow? Colouring Worksheet
Teach students what needs soil to grow with this colouring worksheet for early years students.
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Adjectives and Adverbs Worksheets (Silly Stories)
Have fun with your students creating silly stories together while teaching and learning about parts of speech (adverbs and adjectives)!
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Report Writing – Firefighter Activity Pack
Engage your class with firefighter activity that combines informative writing practice with real-world learning about community helpers.
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Identifying Lines of Symmetry Worksheets
Use this set of differentiated worksheets to help students practise the process involved with identifying lines of symmetry on two-dimensional shapes.
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Seasonal Changes Worksheets
Engage your young learners with this set of fun season worksheets. Included are 12 activities to keep them learning!
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Weathering vs. Erosion Worksheet Pack
Support student understanding of weathering and erosion with this reading comprehension passage, worksheet and accompanying vocabulary activities.
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Skip Counting Worksheets (Fill in the Blanks)
Excerpt: Use this set of skip counting worksheets to check student understanding of skip counting in increasing intervals of 5, 10 and 100.
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Part Part Whole Word Problem Task Cards and Worksheet
Explore these animal-themed part-part-whole word problems that will open discussions with your young mathematicians.
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Interview a Classmate - First Day of School Activity
Help your students learn more about their new classmates with this fun speaking and listening activity!
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Jump Strategy Addition Worksheet Pack
Practise using the jump strategy with this worksheet set.
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Adding within 1000 Expanded Form Worksheet
Practise using the split strategy by working through this expanded form addition worksheet.
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Producer, Consumer, Decomposer - Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the role of producers, consumers and decomposers within ecosystems with this comprehension task.
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3 Digit Subtraction Worksheets - Subtraction Strategy Practise
Review and assess your students’ subtraction skills with a pack of printable worksheets covering various strategies for 3-digit subtraction.
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Inflectional Endings - Spelling with Suffixes Worksheets
Spell words with the inflectional endings -ed, -ing, -s, -es and -ies with a pack of printable practise worksheets covering inflected endings.
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3D Objects and Their Nets - Worksheet
Connect 3D objects with their nets and other 2D representations with this differentiated worksheet.
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Suffix Stories - Morphology Passages
Practise reading, defining, and using words with suffixes with a pack of suffix-focused reading passage worksheets.
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2D Shapes Comparison Worksheet
A set of two 2D shape worksheets for students to record their observations whilst comparing properties of 2D shapes.
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Ordering Decimals on a Number Line — Year 4 Worksheet
Practice ordering decimals on a number line with this worksheet.
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Humpty Dumpty Off the Wall – Comprehension Worksheet
Integrate nursery rhymes and early reading comprehension skills with a Humpty Dumpty reading passage and comprehension questions.
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Evaluating Expressions With Exponents – Worksheet
Practise evaluating expressions with exponents with this order of operations worksheet for year 6 and 7 students.
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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 Australia - Labelling Activity
Discover and label Australia's states, capital cities and key landmarks on this blank map.
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The Moon of Planet Earth Worksheet
Engage your students with a high-interest reading passage about the moon with this informative article and accompanying response sheet.
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All About the Sun – Comprehension Worksheet
Integrate science and reading while learning about the Sun with this comprehension worksheet.
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Halves and Quarters – Cut and Paste Worksheet
Practise sorting objects to consolidate students’ understanding of halves and quarters.
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Equivalent Fractions Chart – Differentiated Worksheets
Use a fraction wall to practise finding equivalent fractions and comparing fractions with this set of differentiated worksheets.
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Identifying Descriptive and Figurative Language Worksheets
Help your students identify descriptive and figurative language in narrative texts with this set of colour-coding worksheets.
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Number Recognition Worksheet - Sloth Colour-by-Number
Use the number colour coding on this colouring sheet to create a cute sloth-themed picture.
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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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Positive Affirmations for Kids - Writing Worksheets
Complete and read allowed these positive affirmations for kids.
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Christmas Worksheet - Singular and Plural Nouns
Identify singular and plural nouns with this Christmas worksheet.
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Christmas Capitalisation Worksheets
Reinforce capitalisation rules for months, proper nouns, titles, the pronoun I, and more with our Christmas capitalisation worksheets.