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
World War I Comprehension Packet
Blend reading and social studies content with a printable set of World War 1 Reading Passages and accompanying question sets.
- Plus Plan
Pollinators – Comprehension Task
An article and comprehension task about pollinators.
- Free Plan
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!
- Free Plan
3-2-1 Text Reflection Template
Quickly assess your students' comprehension after reading a fictional text with this 3-2-1 reflection activity.
- Plus Plan
Digital Warriors: Social Footprints – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet paired with a comic about being safe when sharing photos on digital platforms.
- Plus Plan
Fact or Opinion - Sentence Sort Worksheet
A worksheet to use when teaching students how to distinguish between fact or opinion.
- Plus Plan
Developing Informative Writing Skills PowerPoint
A 19-slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the structure and language features of informative texts.
- Plus Plan
Kangaroo Adaptations – Reading Comprehension PDF Worksheets
Discover amazing kangaroo adaptations with a printable Reading comprehension worksheet pack.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards Summarizing
Practice summarizing text with this set of event-specific task cards.
- Plus Plan
Using Tables of Contents Worksheets
Download these table of contents worksheets to provide your students with practice working with this valuable nonfiction text feature.
- Plus Plan
Making Inferences Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to make inferences with this 31-slide teaching presentation.
- Plus Plan
Making Inferences Worksheet Pack
Guide your students to read between the lines with this making inferences worksheet pack.
- Plus Plan
The Force of Gravity Comprehension Worksheets
Download this gravity worksheet to teach your 3rd grade students about the force of gravity and its impact on our daily lives.
- Plus Plan
The U.S. Constitution Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Introduce your students to the U.S. Constitution with an informational reading passage and reading comprehension test.
- Plus Plan
I Know About Fire Safety Book
Read and learn about fire prevention and safety with a differentiated Fire Prevention book for kids.
- Plus Plan
Story Elements Flipbook
Teach your students about story elements with this double-sided flipbook.
- Free Plan
Character or Not? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Explore the difference between characters and non-characters with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Plant and Animal Adaptations - Comprehension Worksheets
Boost reading comprehension skills with a comprehension passage, with questions, about structural, behavioral and physiological adaptations.
- Plus Plan
Finding The Main Idea - Comprehension Task (Turtles)
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
- Plus Plan
Formation of Earth – Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Use this reading comprehension activity that helps develop literacy skills and outlines the events and processes that led to the formation of our home planet.
- Plus Plan
Elements of Poetry - Instructional Slide Deck
Investigate poetic elements with an interactive Elements of Poetry teaching slide deck.
- Plus Plan
Barack Obama - Biography Activity Pack
Learn about the life and contributions of Barack Obama with a comprehensive pack of Presidents’ Day Worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Activity Pack
Apply a range of reading comprehension strategies to learn about Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Plus Plan
Escape from Pete's Pumpkin Patch - Halloween Escape Room
Escape the evil witch who turns children into pumpkins at Pete’s Pumpkin Patch using inferencing, problem solving, and grammar skills
- Free Plan
Character Anchor Charts - Traits, Feelings, and Appearances
A set of 3 posters depicting words and phrases that can be used to describe a character traits, feelings and appearance.
- Free Plan
Free Character Traits List
Teach your students to analyze characters more effectively by providing them with a list of character traits.
- Plus Plan
Google Slides Interactive - Idioms Activity
Build vocabulary and have fun with an interactive Idioms activity.
- Plus Plan
Bill of Rights - RACES writing response
Practice using the RACES writing strategy and discover the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights with a passage, organizer, and prompt.
- 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
Henry Ford - RACES Writing Strategy Worksheets
Provide students with Social Studies and Writing instruction using the RACES strategy for constructed response paragraphs.
- Plus Plan
Paul Revere Constructed Response Worksheet
Integrate reading, writing, and American history with a constructed response worksheet about Paul Revere and the American Revolution.
- 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.
- 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