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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Google Slides Interactive - Idioms Activity
Build vocabulary and have fun with an interactive Idioms activity.
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Identifying Character Traits Interactive Activity
Get your students identifying character traits with this engaging digital quiz that helps students understand how language reveals personality in writing.
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George Washington Carver Constructed Response Worksheet
Read and write about George Washington Carver using the RACES strategy for constructed response paragraphs.
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Abigail Adams Constructed Response Worksheet
Use this passage, writing prompt, and worksheet to help students write a constructed response paragraph about Abigail Adams.
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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.
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Milton Hershey RACES Writing Strategy Worksheets
Bring National Chocolate Day into your classroom with a biography and RACES writing worksheet about Milton Hershey.
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Sojourner Truth Constructed Response Worksheet
Learn facts about Sojourner Truth with an informational reading passage and writing activity for third grade and up.
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Paul Revere Worksheet - Constructed Response
Integrate reading, writing, and American history with a constructed response Paul Revere Worksheet highlighting the American Revolution.
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Point of View Task Cards - Beginner Set
Use these colorful, fun task cards to help your beginning reader identify first, and third-person point of view (POV)
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Idioms: What Are They and What Do They Mean? PowerPoint
An editable PowerPoint presentation to use when teaching idioms.
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Describe a Story Setting Worksheets
Download these engaging story setting worksheets that help students brainstorm descriptive language and write vivid setting descriptions with ease.
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Text Structures Sorting Activity
A set of 24 text structure cards to use in a sorting or scoot activity.
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Alliteration Brainstorming Template
Use this brainstorming template to practice using the sound device alliteration.
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Story Elements - Worksheet
Practice identifying characters, settings, problems and solutions in fictional texts with this set of worksheets.
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Setting-Plot Relationship Worksheet
A worksheet that explores the connections between setting and plot.
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Brilliant, Brave Minds – Comprehension Task
An article and comprehension task celebrating women and Women's History Month.
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Grade 5 Magazine - "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 1) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with issue 1 of Teach Starter's Grade 5 magazine.
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A Fistful of Flavors Alliteration Activity
Make alliteration fun with a printable worksheet that challenges students to create flavors of ice cream.
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Parts of a Book Worksheets
Use these parts of a book worksheets for students to identify the various parts of a book.
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Inferencing Activity for Young Learners
Six mini posters with accompanying questions to use with young learners when teaching inferencing.
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Sequence Persuasive Text Examples – Cut and Paste Worksheets
Use this example persuasive text pack to teach your students about sequencing arguments in a logical order.
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Write a Short Story – Overcoming Obstacles
Get your students analysing and writing overcoming obstacles short stories with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Sequencing Text - Worksheet
A worksheet to use when teaching students how to understand sequence when reading.
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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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Five Finger Summary - Graphic Organizer
A graphic organizer for students to use to summarize a fiction text.
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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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Comprehension Task Cards - Distinguishing Between Fiction and Nonfiction
A set of comprehension task cards to help students distinguish between fiction and nonfiction when reading.
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Reading Comprehension Strategies PowerPoint – Making Connections
A 14-slide editable PowerPoint template explaining the reading comprehension strategy of making connections.
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In My Eyes (Poem) - Poetry Reading Comprehension Activity
Practice analyzing poetry with this poem and set of comprehension questions.
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Comprehension Keys Board Game
A fun comprehension strategy board game for students to play during literacy rotations.
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Developing Report Writing Skills Teaching Slides
Use this slide deck to teach your students about the purpose, structural elements and language features of informational texts.
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Factual Recount Text Type Poster - With Annotations
A poster about the factual recount text type, including an annotated example.
- 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