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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Persuasive Texts Sequencing Activity
3 jumbled persuasive texts for students to sequence in the correct order.
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Initial Letter Colouring Worksheet
Identify the first letter for each picture and then colour it in.
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Exploring Poetry Workbook
Teach your students about all things poetry with this jam-packed poetry workbook created especially for primary school students.
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3D Object Properties - Worksheet
Use this 3D Objects Worksheet to assist your students when learning about the properties of 3D objects.
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Alphabet Handwriting Sheet - 1 Page
Handwriting sheets with the alphabet and some words for students to trace.
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Australian Climate Regions Poster and Worksheet
A poster and a worksheet outlining the climate regions in Australia.
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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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Lab Safety Scenario Worksheets (3-5)
Think like scientists and improve Science Lab Safety Skills with printable lab safety scenario worksheets.
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Spring Word Scramble Worksheets
Say hello to Spring and vocabulary development with differentiated Spring Word Scramble Worksheets.
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Two Truths and a Lie Icebreaker
Spark conversation and help your students get to know each other with a Two Truths and a Lie Icebreaker game.
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Skip Counting Caterpillar Worksheet Pack
Craft a Skip Counting Caterpillar with our printable skip counting cut and paste worksheets for year 1.
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Position Worksheets
Use these position worksheets to make sure your students are ‘on top of’ their spatial awareness skills.
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Drawing Angles Activity Sheet Set
Use our drawing angles activity sheet set to give students differentiated practice in classifying and constructing angles.
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Decodable Text Worksheets – Common Consonant Digraphs (Set 1)
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
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Predicting Probability Activity Set
Perform the experiments in our predicting probability activity set to give your students practice conducting experiments, predicting outcomes and reflecting on the results.
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Coin Toss Probability Worksheet
Engage your students with this coin toss probability worksheet that guides them through a hands-on probability activity.
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Tropical Cyclone Worksheet - Year 5/6 Comprehension
Use our Tropical Cyclone worksheet pack to teach your students about natural disasters.
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Complex Sentences Worksheet Pack
Help your students practise writing complex sentences with our printable Complex Sentences Worksheet Pack for Year 5.
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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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5 Star Sentence Writing Pack
Use this 5 star writing checklist teaching pack to help students develop strong writing habits with a simple, effective checklist and engaging worksheets.
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Making Predictions Reading Comprehension Worksheet Pack
Improve students' reading comprehension with our Making Predictions Reading Comprehension Worksheet Pack, which features engaging short stories.
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Conversion of Measurements Worksheets — ‘Riddle Me!’
Laugh and learn with our conversion of measurements worksheets that give students practice converting metric units of length, capacity and mass.
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Weekly Spelling Sheets for Year 3
Use our Weekly Spelling Sheets for Year 3 to provide your students with quality spelling homework assignments all year long!
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Anecdotal Observation Checklist - Reading Behaviours
Observe student reading behaviours and easily take notes with an Anecdotal Record Note-Taking Template.
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Spelling Test Template Pack
Make those Friday spelling assessments easier with a pack of printable Spelling Test Templates!
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Editing Worksheets Year 5
Use these editing worksheets Year 5 to get your students fixing incomplete sentences, spelling errors and punctuation errors.
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Beginning Sounds Phonics Worksheets
Use these beginning sounds phonics worksheets to explore single grapheme correspondence with your students.
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Converting Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers Worksheet Set
Assign this converting improper fractions and mixed numbers worksheet set to your students to give them practise converting between amounts of more than one.
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How Do Rocks Form? – Informative Text Sequencing Task
Help students learn about informative text structure and how rocks are formed with an engaging cut-and-paste sorting activity.
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Poetry Cloze Passage Worksheets
Use these poetry cloze worksheets to introduce your students to various types of poetry in a fun and engaging way.
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Observable Properties of Matter Cut and Paste Worksheets
Practise sorting objects based on observable properties with a pair of printable cut and paste worksheets.
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Punctuation Worksheets - Lower Primary
Download our no-prep punctuation worksheets to help your students practice their skills with using a variety of punctuation marks.