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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Critical Literacy Reading Task – School Camp Conundrum
Teach your students how to use critical literacy skills to evaluate texts with this engaging reading comprehension project embedded in a real-world scenario.
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Information Report Text Examples and Worksheet Pack
Use this set of 5 information report text examples and 2 targeted worksheets to support your students in breaking down and understanding informative writing.
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Westward Expansion Reading Comprehension Worksheet Pack
Enhance your students' close reading strategies, vocabulary, and writing skills with a Westward Expansion reading comprehension worksheet pack.
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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.
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Finding the Main Idea Worksheet Set
Use these finding the main idea in text worksheets to allow your students to practice finding the main idea.
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Persuasive Essay Examples with Analysis Task Cards
Use these persuasive essay examples with accompanying task cards to teach your students how purpose, structure and language features work together in strong persuasive texts.
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All About Cats - 1st Grade Reading Comprehension Passage
Explore informational text and learn all about cats and their external features with a printable 1st grade reading comprehension passage.
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Write a Short Story – Adventure in Space
Get your students analyzing and writing adventure in space stories with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Comparing Narrator’s Voice Worksheets
Teach how narrator’s voice shapes the reader's experience of texts with this set of worksheets where students compare passages written from different points of view.
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Point of View in Narration Booklet
Explore point of view in narration with this engaging mini book that helps students analyze the narrative voice of a book they have recently read.
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Narrative Voice Writing Prompts
Explore narrative voice with this set of engaging worksheets that require students to write literary passages in different points of view.
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Comparing Texts on the Same Topic Worksheet
Explore the purpose of poem texts and report texts with clear guidance that helps students' interpretive skills.
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Reading Adventure Tri-Fold - Book Report Brochure Template
Download a book report brochure template and create a fun reading adventure-themed travel brochure.
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Cause and Effect Comprehension Worksheets
Use these cause and effect comprehension worksheets to give your students practice reading, sequencing, and matching effects to their causes.
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Reading Comprehension With Pictures Worksheets
Download the Reading Comprehension with Picture Worksheets today and help your students become confident, visual readers!
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Making Connections Worksheet Set
Allow your students to record their connections to a particular text with this Making Connections Worksheet set.
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Oral Retell Sequencing Mats
Explore oral retelling with this set of oral retell sequencing mats for a variety of fairy tales and everyday activities.
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Finding Earth’s Resources Worksheet - Natural Resources & Fossil Fuels
Explore what's buried in rocks underground with a printable Earth’s Resources Worksheet for 4th Grade.
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Helpful Honey Bees Worksheet Pack - 2nd Grade
Read and learn about honey bees with a Printable Honey Bees Worksheet Pack for second grade.
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Immigration Worksheets - 4th & 5th Grade Reading Comprehension Pack
Use our printable Immigration Worksheets to introduce your students to the concept of immigration and the reasons why people migrate to new countries.
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Reading Comprehension Question Stems - Anchor Charts
Enhance instruction on the six reading comprehension strategies with our printable Reading Comprehension Question Stems Chart Pack.
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Reading Response Task Cards
Explore reading comprehension with your students using this set of reading response task cards.
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Free Author’s Purpose Handout
Use this Author’s Purpose Handout in the form of a brochure to explore the different reasons authors write.
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Author's Purpose Quiz – Self-Checking Task Cards
Engage students with their learning on author's purpose with this Author's Purpose Quiz.
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Author's Purpose PowerPoint
Use this Author's Purpose PowerPoint to teach your students how to identify the author’s purpose in a text.
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Bloom’s Taxonomy - Second Grade Reading Comprehension Questions
Grow comprehension skills with our Reading Comprehension - Second Grade Bloom’s Taxonomy Reading Task Cards.
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Free Click or Clunk Worksheet
Support students in monitoring their reading comprehension with this Click and Clunk Reading Strategy Recording Sheet!
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Making Predictions Game Board
Use this Making Predictions Game Board to engage students in making predictions with short text.
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Predictions in Reading Comprehension Task
Help students to engage with prediction during reading with this predictions in reading comprehension task.
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Caption Text Feature Matching Game
Teach your students about the caption text feature with this engaging and collaborative matching game.
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Author’s Purpose Sorting Activity
Use this author’s purpose sorting activity to teach your students the difference between persuasive, informative and narrative writing.
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Comparing Narrative and Informational Text Worksheets
Use this set of comparing narrative and informational text worksheets to examine the purpose and features of these two common genres.
- 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