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.
- Plus Plan
Checks and Balances - RACES Writing Prompt Worksheet
Practice using the RACES writing strategy and unravel the mysteries of the U.S. Government system of checks and balances with a passage, organizer, and prompt.
- Plus Plan
Milton Hershey RACES Writing Strategy Worksheets
Bring National Chocolate Day into your classroom with a biography and RACES writing worksheet about Milton Hershey.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) Constructed Response Worksheet
Use our printable constructed response writing prompts for fourth grade to learn about the fearless Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs).
- Plus Plan
Theodore Roosevelt Constructed Response Worksheet
Teach your students about Theodore Roosevelt with this printable biographical constructed response worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Sojourner Truth Constructed Response Worksheet
Learn facts about Sojourner Truth with an informational reading passage and writing activity for third grade and up.
- Plus Plan
Navajo Code Talkers Constructed Response Worksheet
Discover the impact of the Navajo Code Talkers on the outcome of World War II with a cross-curricular constructed response worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Idioms Four in a Row Game
Practice identifying the meaning of common idioms with an exciting game of Four-in-a-Row!
- Plus Plan
Character Analysis Task Cards
Get your students to perform a character analysis for any fictional character using this set of 20 task cards.
- Plus Plan
Urbanization Constructed Response Worksheet
Use this nonfiction constructed response worksheet to teach your students about urbanization.
- Plus Plan
A Book a Day Keeps the Monsters Away! — Bulletin Board Set
Print a monsters and reading-themed bulletin board bundle perfect for Halloween!
- Plus Plan
Great Depression Constructed Response Worksheet
Use this nonfiction constructed response worksheet to teach your students about the Great Depression.
- Plus Plan
Jane Addams Biography - Worksheet
Use this biographical constructed response worksheet to teach your students about Jane Addams.
- Plus Plan
Susan B. Anthony Constructed Response Worksheet
Integrate reading, writing, and American history with a constructed response worksheet about Susan B. Anthony and the women’s rights movement.
- Plus Plan
Benjamin Franklin Social Studies Reader and Activity Booklet
Read and learn about Benjamin Franklin with an informational reader and activity booklet.
- Plus Plan
Google Slides Interactive - Story Elements Activity
Introduce your kindergarten and first-grade students to the elements of a story using this interactive Google Slides activity.
- Plus Plan
Find the Print Features Task Cards (K-1)
Use these task cards to aid kindergarten and first-grade readers in recognizing print features and concepts of print.
- Plus Plan
The Louisiana Purchase -Constructed Response Worksheet
Integrate reading, writing, and Social Studies content with a Louisiana Purchase Constructed Response worksheet and graphic organizer.
- Plus Plan
Poetry Slapjack Game - Grades 4-5
Learn to identify rhyme, rhythm, and repetition with a poetry Slapjack Game!
- Plus Plan
Google Slides Interactive - Story Retell Activity
Use this Google Slides Interactive activity to practice retelling stories.
- Plus Plan
Timelines Worksheet for First Grade
Use this worksheet with the Timelines Teaching Presentation to assess students' knowledge of timelines.
- Plus Plan
Marshall vs. Tubman Differentiated Paired Passage Worksheets
Combine reading and history content with differentiated reading comprehension worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Armstrong vs. Earhart -Differentiated Paired Passage Worksheets
Combine reading and history content with differentiated reading comprehension worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Mars vs. Earth - Differentiated Paired Passage Worksheets
Learn about the planets with differentiated compare and contrast passages, activities, and writing opportunities.
- Plus Plan
Nonfiction Text Features – All About Me Project
Implement a text features project with an “All About Me” theme to explore informational text features with your students.
- Plus Plan
Idioms Dominoes
Build vocabulary and have fun with idiom games.
- Plus Plan
Idioms Go Fish Card Game
Understand the meaning of common idioms with a classroom game of Idioms-Go Fish!
- Plus Plan
Readers' Theater - Itsy Bitsy Spider Read and Retell Activity
Engage young readers in texts with a dramatic reading of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and accompanying story retelling activity.
- Plus Plan
Mexican Cession- Constructed Response Passage Worksheet
Teach your students how to write a good constructed response and integrate grade level Social studies concepts with a Mexican Cession-based Constructed Response worksheet and graphic organizer.
- Plus Plan
Fact and Opinion Sorting Activity
Use this fact and opinion sort to teach your students the difference between statements of fact and statements of opinion.
- Free Plan
Summer Reading Challenge Calendar
Inspire your students to read during the summer with a versatile reading challenge.
- Plus Plan
Reading and Writing Nonfiction Text: Earth Day Close Read Worksheets
Enhance your students' comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills with this nonfiction Earth Day passage and accompanying activities.
- 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