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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Jack Be Nimble - Pocket Chart Sequencing Cards
Read and retell the story of Jack Be Nimble with a set of retell pocket chart cards.
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Eleanor Roosevelt Mini-Book
Discover the life and contributions of Eleanor Roosevelt with a printable reader and activity book.
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Little Miss Muffet - Sequencing Slide Deck
Engage young readers in texts and learn about setting with an instructional slide deck featuring the Little Miss Muffet rhyme.
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Eleanor Roosevelt - Reading Comprehension Activity
Discover the life and contributions of Eleanor Roosevelt with a printable reading passage and comprehension worksheet pack.
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Famous Female Athletes - Cathy Freeman Activity Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Cathy Freeman with a comprehensive pack of inspirational women worksheets.
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Who was Marie Maynard Daly? Women in History Activity Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Marie Maynard Daly with a comprehensive pack of inspirational women worksheets.
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Women in History - Margaret Thatcher Activity Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Margaret Thatcher with a comprehensive pack of inspirational women worksheets.
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Worksheet Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a comprehensive pack of inspirational women worksheets.
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The Great Depression Mini Book
Use this nonfiction printable mini book and cloze guided notes sheet to teach your students about the Great Depression.
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Hey Diddle Diddle - Sequencing Cards
Sequence the events in “Hey Diddle Diddle” with a set of retelling pocket chart cards.
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Hey Diddle Diddle Worksheets
Identify characters, setting, and parts of a story with kindergarten reading worksheets featuring the “Hey, Diddle, Diddle” nursery rhyme.
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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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Hey Diddle Diddle - Story Elements Slide Deck
Engage young readers in texts and learn about setting with an instructional slide deck featuring the Hey Diddle Diddle rhyme.
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Who is Bill Gates? Famous Entrepreneurs Comprehension Pack
Demonstrate comprehension and learn about famous entrepreneurs with a Bill Gates Biography and questions.
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Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk - Famous Scientists Comprehension Pack
Introduce your students to the groundbreaking work of Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk with a comparative reading passage and comprehension questions.
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Sojourner Truth Worksheet Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Sojourner Truth with a comprehensive pack of Women’s History Month worksheets.
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Historical Heroes - Harriet Tubman Worksheets
Learn about the life and contributions of Harriet Tubman with a comprehensive pack of Women’s History Month worksheets.
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Sound Devices in Poetry - Teaching Slide Deck
Teach the different sound devices used in poetry with this Google Slide Deck.
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Compare and Contrast Worksheets - The Texas State Flag v. The American Flag
Compare and contrast the Texas state flag and the United States’ flag using a reading comprehension passage and Venn diagram worksheet.
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Thurgood Marshall Activity Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Thurgood Marshall with a comprehensive pack of informational worksheets.
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Katherine Johnson Activity Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Katherine Johnson with a comprehensive pack of informational worksheets.
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George Washington Carver Activity Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of George Washington Carver with a comprehensive pack of biographical worksheets.
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Barack Obama - Biography Activity Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Barack Obama with a comprehensive pack of Presidents’ Day Worksheets.
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Texas Flag Facts - Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Boost reading comprehension skills and knowledge of facts about the Texas State flag with a printable reading comprehension worksheet.
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Out of the Book - Reading Game
A fun board game for students to practice comprehension strategies.
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Texas Symbols Worksheet
Boost reading comprehension skills and knowledge of Texas symbols with a reading passage and comprehension questions.
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Presidents' Day Activities - George Washington Worksheet Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of George Washington with a comprehensive pack of Presidents’ Day Worksheets.
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The Great Depression - Cloze Passage Worksheet
Use this cloze reading passage to boost academic vocabulary and teach your students about the Great Depression.
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Abraham Lincoln - 3rd Grade Reading Comprehension Pack
Celebrate Presidents' Day and discover the accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln with a printable reading comprehension activity pack for 3rd grade and up.
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Humpty Dumpty Pocket Chart Retell Cards
Read and retell the story within the Humpty Dumpty tale with a set of retelling pocket chart cards.
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Humpty Dumpty Teaching Slides - All About Characters
Engage young readers in texts and learn about characters with an instructional slide deck featuring the Humpty Dumpty rhyme.
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Hickory Dickory Dock - Pocket Chart Retell Cards
Read and retell the story found within the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock with a set of retell pocket chart cards.
- Reading Comprehension Worksheets
- Reading Comprehension Templates
- Reading Comprehension Posters
- Reading Comprehension Games
- 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