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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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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Character Traits: Interactive Activity
Analyze text and identify character traits of characters with a Google Slides Interactive activity.
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The Louisiana Purchase -Constructed Response Worksheet
Integrate reading, writing, and Social Studies content with a Louisiana Purchase Constructed Response worksheet and graphic organizer.
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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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What's the Connection? Worksheet
Use this reading skills worksheet to help your students learn about the types of text connections: text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world.
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Novel Study – Character Map Worksheet
Explore and analyze the characters in your class novel with this set of three worksheets.
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Figurative Language - SCOOT! Task Cards
Explore figurative language in multiple ways with the set of 24 task cards.
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Nonfiction Text Features: Match It Up!
Download this nonfiction text features game to teach elementary school students about the common text features of informational texts.
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Spring Is Here Poem – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet paired with a poem about the season of spring.
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My Mini Book Report
Have students write about their favorite literature with this fun-sized mini-book.
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Comprehension - That's Not My Pet
A fun script and set of questions to help students develop reading and comprehension strategies.
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Five Finger Summary - Graphic Organizer
A graphic organizer for students to use to summarize a fiction text.
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Distinguish Between Fact and Opinion Poster
A poster highlighting how to distinguish between fact and opinion when reading a piece of text.
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Cause and Effect - Comprehension Task
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
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Cause and Effect - Scenario Worksheet
A worksheet and answer sheet to use when teaching students the about the cause and effect text structure.
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Inspirational Woman Profile: Yuna Kim – Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension task to use when learning about Yuna Kim.
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Compare and Contrast - Venn Diagram Template
A template to use when teaching students how to compare and contrast.
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Kangaroo Adaptations – Reading Comprehension PDF Worksheets
Discover amazing kangaroo adaptations with a printable Reading comprehension worksheet pack.
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Poison Dart Frog Adaptations – 4th Grade Reading Worksheets
Explore the adaptations of a poison dart frog with printable reading comprehension worksheets for 4th grade.
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2nd Grade Reading Passage & Worksheet- Being a Good Pet Parent
Print a 2nd grade reading comprehension passage and worksheet to teach comprehension skills and learn about being a good pet parent by limiting pets' impact on ecosystems.
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#SUMitUP Summarizing Activity
Summarize fictional text through this whole-class station activity.
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Giraffe Adaptations Reading Comprehension - 3rd Grade
Read and learn about giraffe adaptations with a set of 3rd grade reading comprehension worksheets.
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Inference Pictures – Digital Question Pack
Download this set of captivating pictures and thought-provoking questions designed to challenge students’ inference-making abilities.
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5 Finger Retell Graphic Organizers
Help students sort out their thoughts during retelling with this set of three 5 finger retelling graphic organizers.
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OREO® Opinion Writing Poster
Help students remember the structure of opinion texts with this fun OREO® acronym.
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Summarizing Nonfiction Graphic Organizer Pack
Help students summarize nonfiction texts with this set of graphic organizers.
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Book Recommendation Flower Garden Template
Create a book recommendation flower garden with this easy-to-use template.
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Producer, Consumer, Decomposer - Comprehension Worksheets
Explore the role of producers, consumers and decomposers within ecosystems with this comprehension task.
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Comprehension Task Cards - Finding The Main Idea
A set of comprehension task cards to help students find the main idea when reading.
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Main Idea and Details in Nonfiction Text — Instructional Slide Deck
Build skills in identifying main idea and details in nonfiction texts with an instructional slide deck for primary grades.
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Story Beginning, Middle, and End - Graphic Organizer
Help your students write and draw about the beginning, middle and end of stories with this set of differentiated graphic organizers.
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Types of Figurative Language - Worksheet
Practice identifying and creating examples of figurative language with this printable worksheet.
- 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