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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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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Summer Reading Challenge Calendar
Inspire your students to read during the summer with a versatile reading challenge.
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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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Free Story Prediction Worksheet
Encourage students to think critically before reading with this Story Prediction Worksheet.
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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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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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What Are Pollinators? Worksheet Pack
Introduce your students to the world of plants and pollination with a printable Pollinators Worksheet Pack.
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Science of Reading Aligned Group Folder Templates
Stay organized with these versatile Science of Reading Group Folder Templates, designed to offer plenty of options.
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Onomatopoeia Words - Vocabulary Display
Display a fun onomatopoeia word wall in your classroom with printable cards containing onomatopoeia examples.
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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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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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Digital Predicting Story Activity
Use this digital story of The Muddy Dog and matching prediction worksheets to explore how to make predictions before, during and after a story as a class.
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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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'I Can' Statement Cards - Primary Literacy Display
Highlight your classroom learning targets with printable 'I Can' Statements for lower primary students.
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Empathy vs. Sympathy – 5th Grade Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Challenge your students to learn the differences between empathy and sympathy with this reading comprehension worksheet.
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Reading Comprehension Strategies Anchor Charts
Provide young readers with concrete examples of reading strategies with a set of 18 ready-made reading anchor charts.
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Poetry Match Game - Elements of Poetry Activity
Practice identifying poetic elements in examples of poems with a poetry sorting activity for fourth grade and fifth grade.
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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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Paul Revere Worksheet - Constructed Response
Integrate reading, writing, and American history with a constructed response Paul Revere Worksheet highlighting the American Revolution.
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Reading Response Templates - Complete Journal
A reading response journal for students to use to engage with text in meaningful and purposeful ways.
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First, Then, Finally Sort and Writing Template
Help your students sequence ideas for a narrative story with these narrative element prompts and a First Then Finally Writing Template.
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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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Polar Bear Adaptations Reading Comprehension Pack
Learn about the physical adaptations of the polar bear with a set of printable reading comprehension worksheets for 3rd grade.
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Making Inferences Comprehension Task Cards
Download this set of comprehension task cards with your students to help them draw conclusions and make inferences when reading.
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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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Types of Characters - Poster
Remind students about the types of characters that can be found in stories with this colorful classroom poster.
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Main Idea and Details Worksheets
Practice finding the main idea and supporting detail with this pack of main idea worksheets.
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Free Cause and Effect Graphic Organizer
Practice identifying cause and effect with a blank cause and effect graphic organizer.
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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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The Poet's Lament - Comprehension
A comprehension activity using a poem.
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Inference Clip Cards Activity
Use this set of inference peg cards to have students practice looking at an image and making an inference based on prior knowledge.
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Main Idea Cut and Paste Worksheet Set
Use these Main Idea cut and paste worksheets with students to learn about the main idea and details in a paragraph.
- 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