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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Drawing Conclusions and Making Inferences – Comprehension Task Cards
Use this set of comprehension task cards with your students to help them draw conclusions and make inferences when reading.
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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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Sorting Text Features Cut and Paste
Build confidence and comprehension with this ready-to-use Text Features Cut and Paste Worksheet!
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Symbols and Signs Environment Poster Pack
Help your students recognise the world around them with this engaging Symbols and Signs in the Environment Poster Pack!
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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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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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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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Harriet Tubman Comprehension Worksheet
Uncover facts about Harriet Tubman with a Reading Passage and Comprehension worksheet.
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Nonfiction Text Features Flipbook – Read and Define
Use this text features flipbook as a reading center activity to teach your students about the purpose of text features in nonfiction books.
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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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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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Subjective Language vs Objective Language Poster
Display this vibrant subjective language vs objective language poster in your classroom to illustrate the differences between personal opinions and factual statements.
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Reading Monitoring Comprehension Activity Pack
Explore easy ways to monitor comprehension with this quick draw activity pack perfect for elementary students.
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Making Predictions from Sentences Worksheets
Practice making predictions with sentences using this set of making predictions worksheets.
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Novel Study – Making Predictions Before Reading Worksheet
Make predictions before reading a novel with this novel study worksheet.
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Civil War Comprehension Pack
Read across the curriculum with a printable set of Civil War Reading Passages and accompanying question sets.
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Back to School Today! Poem for Kids
Ease back-to-school jitters and launch your students into a love of poetry with a short poem for kids written just for the first day of school!
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Nonfiction Scavenger Hunt – Mini Book Activity
Explore non-fiction text features with this Nonfiction Scavenger Hunt activity - the perfect mix of hands-on learning and foundational literacy skills.
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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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Objective and Subjective Language Digital Quiz
Spark deeper thinking about objective and subjective language with this interactive digital quiz that helps students distinguish between fact, opinion and biased opinion in real-world texts.
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Self Monitoring Reading Strategy Poster
Help students reflect on their reading with this Self Monitoring Reading Strategy Poster.
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Free Click or Clunk Worksheet
Support students in monitoring their reading comprehension with this Click and Clunk Reading Strategy Recording Sheet!
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Reading Fix-Up Strategies Anchor Chart
Support your students in becoming confident, independent readers with this Fix-Up Strategies Anchor Chart!
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Science of Reading Group Folder Templates
Stay organized with these versatile Science of Reading Group Folder Templates, designed to offer plenty of options.
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Author’s Purpose Sorting Activity
Use this author’s purpose sorting activity to teach your students the difference between persuasive, informative and narrative writing.
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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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Finding the Main Idea - Graphic Organizer Templates
Teach students how to find the main idea of a text using one of these one-page graphic organizers.
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Comprehension Worksheets - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Read and learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with a reading comprehension passage and worksheet pack.
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Story Elements Anchor Charts - Sloth-Themed Posters
Display these cute sloth-themed story elements anchor charts when learning about narrative texts.
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3-2-1 Text Reflection Template
Quickly assess your students' comprehension after reading a fictional text with this 3-2-1 reflection activity.
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Design Your Own Book Cover Worksheet
Design a new book cover and summarise a book using this one-page, printable template.
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Novel Study – Chapter Summary Worksheet
Reflect on a chapter in a class novel using this one-page worksheet.
- Reading Comprehension Worksheets
- Reading Comprehension Templates
- Reading Comprehension Posters
- Reading Comprehension Games
- 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
- Reading Comprehension for 7th Grade