Reading Comprehension Teaching Resources
Explore printable worksheets, digital activities and more to teach reading comprehension strategies and skills in your elementary classroom. Created by teachers, for teachers, the teaching resources in this collection are curriculum-aligned and have undergone a careful review by a member of our expert teaching team.
You'll find editable versions to easily differentiate your instruction for individual students, plus a variety of options to make lesson planning easier this school year so your students will be able to identify the main idea of a text, draw inferences, remember key details and more.
New to teaching this portion of the English curriculum or just looking for fresh and engaging ways to teach reading comprehension strategies? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is Reading Comprehension?
We'll start at the beginning! Reading comprehension is a skill that's hard to overestimate in terms of its importance for elementary students to develop.
Defined as the ability to understand and interpret written language, reading comprehension involves the process of decoding text, extracting meaning from it, and then integrating that meaning with prior knowledge and understanding.
Not only does comprehension comprise the ability to recognize and understand individual words, but it also involves the ability to recognize patterns and relationships within sentences and paragraphs.
On top of that is the ability to make inferences and draw conclusions based on the information presented.
Yes, there's a lot packed in there!
How to Teach Reading Comprehension
To develop reading comprehension, students need a variety of language skills such as vocabulary knowledge, grammar and syntax, as well as cognitive processes such as attention, memory and critical thinking.
So how do you teach reading comprehension? Like many of those foundational skills we teach in elementary grades, this isn't something kids learn in a single lesson, unit or even one school year.
Teaching reading comprehension is going to stretch from kindergarten and first grade all the way through the rest of a child's academic career (at least on the pre-college levels).
That said, here are some activities to make use of as you approach teaching reading comprehension as an elementary teacher:
- Pre-Reading Activities — Brainstorming, KWL charts, prediction exercises and other "pre-reading" activities will help your students activate their prior knowledge, build background knowledge and set a purpose for reading. These are all key to developing their comprehension.
- During-Reading Strategies — Teaching your students to ask questions, summarize, visualize and make connections will give students the know-how they need to monitor their comprehension as they read.
- Post-Reading Activities — Reading comprehension doesn't stop when kids get to the last page of a text. It's only just beginning. That's why it's important to make sure your lesson plans include activities that help students deepen their understanding of the text and develop critical thinking skills. Examples of post-reading activities that can help build these skills include discussions, debates and written responses.
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Amelia Earhart Constructed Response Worksheet
Use this passage, second grade writing prompt, and worksheet to help students write a constructed response paragraph about Amelia Earhart.
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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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Arctic Fox Adaptations - Free Comprehension Worksheet
Read and learn about Arctic fox adaptations with a set of printable Reading Comprehension Worksheets for 2nd and 3rd grade.
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Boston Tea Party - RACES Writing Strategy Worksheet
Integrate reading, writing, and American history with a worksheet about the Boston Tea Party using the RACES writing strategy for text evidence.
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Free Character Traits List
Teach your students to analyze characters more effectively by providing them with a list of character traits.
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Story Elements Graphic Organizers – Portrait
Encourage your students to write and draw about various story elements with this set of differentiated graphic organizers.
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Lewis and Clark Worksheet - RACES Writing Strategy
Practice using the RACES writing strategy for text evidence with a Lewis and Clark Passage, graphic organizer, and worksheet.
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Making Inferences Comprehension Task Cards and Worksheets
Download this set of comprehension task cards with your students to help them draw conclusions and make inferences when reading.
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Parts of a Story - Story Elements Workbook
Explore the different elements of a narrative story with this student mini workbook.
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Exploring Earthquakes Comprehension Worksheets
Give your students a clear, engaging introduction to earthquakes, what causes them, and how scientists measure them with printable Earthquakes Comprehension Worksheets.
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Color-Coding Summarizing Nonfiction Text Worksheets
Practice summarizing small nonfiction texts with this fun color-coding set of worksheets.
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Printable U.S. Constitution Day Worksheet Pack
Learn about Constitution Day in the United States with a pack of printable U.S. Constitution worksheets for 2nd and 3rd grade.
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Free Author’s Purpose Handout
Use this Author’s Purpose Handout in the form of a brochure to explore the different reasons authors write.
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Main Idea Comprehension Task Cards and Worksheets
Download this set of comprehension task cards to help students find the main idea when reading.
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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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All About Cats - 1st Grade Reading Comprehension Passage
Explore informational text and learn all about cats and their external features with a printable 1st grade reading comprehension passage.
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Author’s Purpose Reading Passages Worksheet Set
Explore the Author's Purpose in these reading passages with this set of Author's Purpose worksheets.
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Fascinating Facts About Animals – Comprehension Worksheet
Build reading comprehension skills and learn about amazing animals with a printable 1st grade reading comprehension worksheet pack.
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Narrative Structure Escape Room - Lost the Plot
Teach narrative structure with this engaging escape room game where students learn about the orientation, complication, climax and resolution by rebuilding a broken story.
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Narrator and Point of View Digital Quiz
Discover how narrator and point of view can be taught in a fun and engaging way with this interactive quiz designed to help elementary students become confident readers and critical thinkers.
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Narration and Point of View Worksheets
Use these narration and point of view comprehension passages to help students explore different narrative voices in literary texts.
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Compare and Contrast Text Structures Worksheets
Build students’ reading comprehension and critical thinking skills with this Compare and Contrast Texts Activity Pack.
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Phases of the Moon – Comprehension Worksheet
Analyze different moon phases and how their visual appearances change over time with this reading comprehension worksheet.
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What's the Connection? Worksheet
Use this reading skills worksheet to help your students learn about the types of text connections: text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world.
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Inference and Prediction Worksheet Pack
Download this inference and prediction worksheet pack to teach your students how to confidently distinguish between these two strategies through a range of activities.
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How Rockets Work - Reading Comprehension Worksheet Pack
Explore space science and the world of rocketry with a printable How Rockets Work Comprehension Worksheet Pack.
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Story Map Graphic Organizer Pack
Download and use a printable Story Map Graphic Organizer to help your students make sense of story elements related to their reading.
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Making Connections Worksheet Set
Allow your students to record their connections to a particular text with this Making Connections Worksheet set.
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Non-Fiction Text Features Poster Set
Build your students’ confidence in navigating informational texts with this engaging Text Features of a Non-Fiction Book Poster Set.
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The U.S. Constitution Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Introduce your students to the U.S. Constitution with an informational reading passage and reading comprehension test.
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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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Main Idea and Details Worksheets
Practice finding the main idea and supporting detail with this pack of main idea worksheets.
- Reading Comprehension Worksheets
- Reading Comprehension Templates
- Reading Comprehension Games
- Reading Comprehension Posters
- Reading Comprehension Flashcards
- Reading Comprehension for Pre-K
- Reading Comprehension for Kindergarten
- Reading Comprehension for 1st Grade
- Reading Comprehension for 2nd Grade
- Reading Comprehension for 3rd Grade
- Reading Comprehension for 4th Grade
- Reading Comprehension for 5th Grade
- Reading Comprehension for 6th Grade