Worksheets for Teachers
Did someone say printable worksheets? From 2nd-grade math worksheets and 4th-grade reading comprehension worksheets to Common Core worksheets 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 elementary grade levels.
Explore printable activities, free worksheets, homework sheets and more — 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 individualized instruction was gaining traction, and educators recognized 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 individualized 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, practicing 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 markers 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 markers!
- Use digital worksheets. Allow students to fill out their worksheets on classroom tablets as a means to add an extra level of engagement.
- Focus on rigor. It's important to differentiate instruction, and the worksheets assigned to students should be appropriate to their needs — but they should not just be busy work. Ensure there's a challenge at hand to hold kids' attention!
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 — primary-aged students can work on their fine motor skills with our mini book, cut and paste worksheets, and more while their older elementary peers get pulled into the fun of vocabulary fun with word searches and crossword puzzle worksheets.
Printable puzzles engage students in the form of a brain game, and color by worksheets bring art elements into math 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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Symmetry Worksheets
Use this set of eight symmetry worksheets to help students understand symmetry, the line of symmetry, and symmetrical objects.
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Black History Profile: Carol Moseley Braun - Comprehension Worksheet
Review our profile on Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun and answer questions to reinforce understanding.
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Who’s in Your Circle? Quick Icebreaker Activity
Help your students find like-minded friends on the first day of school with a ‘Who’s in Your Circle?’ icebreaker activity.
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Should Smartphones Be Allowed in Class? Comprehension Worksheets
Decide if cellphones should be allowed in class and boost comprehension skills with a reading passage and comprehension test.
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Inspirational Woman Profile: Malala Yousafzai – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension task to use when learning about Malala Yousafzai.
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Free Story Prediction Worksheet
Encourage students to think critically before reading with this Story Prediction Worksheet.
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Paired Passage Worksheets-Mammals vs. Reptiles
Compare mammals vs. reptiles and add to your reading instruction with leveled nonfiction, compare and contrast passages and worksheets.
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What’s Inside? Inference Activity
Use these images to help students practise making inferences from visual clues by analyzing the contents of a bin and a backpack to determine what they reveal about the owner.
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Multisyllable Word List Resource Pack
Print and use a multisyllable word list to introduce your students to more complex words and syllable patterns.
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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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Trace, Draw and Order Sentences Worksheets
Use this set of sentence cut-and-paste worksheets to help your students build simple sentences.
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Symmetry Drawing Worksheet Pack
Teach your students about symmetry using this series of drawing worksheets where they must copy an image symmetrically using grid lines for reference.
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Black History Profile: Shirley Chisholm - Comprehension Worksheet
Review our profile on Congresswoman and first Black presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm, and answer questions to reinforce understanding.
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Ending Punctuation Cut and Paste Worksheets
Use this set of ending punctuation cut and paste worksheets to practice adding the correct punctuation marks to the end of sentences.
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Prepositions Picture Scene Worksheets
Engage students with this prepositions picture scene pack where they follow instructions to place pictures within five different scenes.
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Monthly Writing Prompt Calendars - Lower Grades
Encourage your little learners to write with fun writing prompts for kids in early elementary school.
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Color by Parts of Speech (Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Pronouns, Prepositions, and Adverbs) – Toucan
Practice identifying different parts of speech with this color by code worksheet.
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Color the Synonyms and Antonyms Worksheet
Explore vocabulary with this synonyms and antonyms worksheet for 3rd and 4th grade students.
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Living vs. Nonliving Things - Interactive and Printable Sorting Activity
Compare the characteristics of living and nonliving things with this cut-and-paste Venn Diagram worksheet.
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Groundhog Day Graphing Prediction Display and Worksheet
Graph the likelihood that Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow this year by creating a data chart on our Groundhog Day prediction worksheet.
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Black History Profile: Amelia Boynton - Comprehension Worksheet
Review our profile on civil rights activist Amelia Boynton and answer questions to reinforce understanding.
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Black History Profile: Thomas Mundy Peterson - Comprehension Worksheet
Review our profile on history-maker Thomas Mundy Peterson and answer questions to reinforce understanding.
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Black History Profile: Barack Obama - Comprehension Worksheet
Review our profile on the first African American President of the United States, and answer questions to reinforce understanding.
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Learning Dispositions Reflection Worksheets – Lower Grades
Support student self-reflection with this set of 10 engaging worksheets that encourage young learners to consider how they apply a range of learning dispositions.
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Rocks & Fossil Fuels - Cloze Reading Activity Pack
Review vocabulary and concepts related to the properties of rocks that allow for natural resource storage with a printable or digital Finding Natural Resources Cloze Activity.
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Summer Santa – Christmas Story Writing Pack
Bring creativity to your classroom with Christmas story writing activities that inspire students to craft hilarious holiday narratives about Santa’s summer adventures.
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Thanksgiving Mad Lib Worksheets
Boost engagement and reinforce grammar skills with Thanksgiving Mad Lib worksheets that turn learning parts of speech into a fun, interactive activity.
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Prepositions of Place Worksheet Pack
Enhance students’ understanding of spatial language with this prepositions of place worksheet pack featuring four different household scenes.
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Observable Properties of Matter Cut and Paste Worksheets
Practice sorting objects based on observable properties with a pair of printable cut and paste worksheets.
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Who Was Kiki Camarena? 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Download these 3rd grade reading comprehension worksheets that explore the story of Kiki Camarena while helping students build essential literacy skills.
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Independent and Dependent Clauses Worksheet Pack
Introduce the concept of independent and dependent clauses with a set of printable sentence structure worksheets.
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How Do You Draw a Firetruck? Directed Drawing Activity
Inspire your little artists with an engaging ‘How Do You Draw a Firetruck’ directed drawing activity sheet.