Worksheets for Teachers
Did someone say printable worksheets? From 2nd-grade math worksheets and 4th-grade reading comprehension worksheets to Common Core worksheets for kindergarten and beyond, our collection of teacher-created teaching tools is ready to make learning fun and engaging for your students in all subject areas and on all elementary grade levels.
Explore printable activities, free worksheets, homework sheets and more — all created by teachers for teachers just like you!
Teach Starter worksheets undergo a careful review process by our expert teacher team to ensure they're ready for your lesson plans ... and your students! Best of all, you know each printable is designed with the goal of turning on that lightbulb over your students' heads and producing more of those "aha!" moments in the classroom!
Curious about how to make worksheets more engaging? Or maybe you're just wondering how worksheets became a tool used in schools? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
Why Do Teachers Use Worksheets?
Worksheets are an important part of any teacher's toolkit — and yes, we say part because we believe in the importance of hands-on learning too (explore our full collection for plenty of student-led activities!) — but do you ever wonder how they ended up being so ubiquitous?
It was back in the mid-20th century that worksheets started to take hold in education.
The concept of individualized instruction was gaining traction, and educators recognized the need to tailor learning experiences to students' unique abilities, interests and learning styles.
Worksheets started to emerge because they were a means to provide students with both individualized practice and reinforcement of skills. Psychologists like Jean Piaget (you may know him best for his theories on children's cognitive development?) played a role here. The Swiss psychologist suggested teachers should be providing their students with materials that would advance their thinking, and worksheets offer a means for students to assess their own learning.
The real win for worksheets, however, was the invention of the photocopy machine! It made it easy for this supplemental tool to spread like wildfire!
How Do You Make Worksheets Engaging?
You already know educational printables are a beneficial learning tool. They enable students to work independently, practicing and applying the concepts they've been learning in your classroom.
So how do you keep them from putting your students in boxes?
At Teach Starter, our worksheets aren't "just worksheets." Our expert teacher team works every day to create the tools you need to create impactful classroom experiences. That means our teacher team creates our school worksheets specifically to engage students with eye-catching graphics and creative formats. Here are some of their tips to ensure worksheets are used effectively in the classroom — and truly help engage your students!
- Use worksheets as just part of your toolbox. These are great tools to support classroom instruction and provide independent practise, and they should be balanced with a mix of other teaching tools!
- Mix up your worksheet types. Teach Starter's cut-and-paste worksheets, for example, add an interactive element to help hold students' attention.
- Encourage students to doodle. Doodle notes have taken education by storm in recent years as the visual note-taking method has been proven to improve students' focus and memory. Apply those benefits to your worksheets, and you may be surprised by how it pulls kids' attention to the page!
- Add plastic sleeves. Slipping worksheets into plastic sleeves and allow students to use wipe-away markers on the sleeves is a good way to extend the life of a worksheet — and it adds and element of fun for kids who love the chance to use markers!
- Use digital worksheets. Allow students to fill out their worksheets on classroom tablets as a means to add an extra level of engagement.
- Focus on rigor. It's important to differentiate instruction, and the worksheets assigned to students should be appropriate to their needs — but they should not just be busy work. Ensure there's a challenge at hand to hold kids' attention!
It's Not "Just a Worksheet"
The key to effective worksheets comes down to how you use them — a balanced approach to education combines worksheets with other instructional strategies — from hands-on activities to group work to project-based learning.
So what can you get from worksheets?
Consider this — primary-aged students can work on their fine motor skills with our mini book, cut and paste worksheets, and more while their older elementary peers get pulled into the fun of vocabulary fun with word searches and crossword puzzle worksheets.
Printable puzzles engage students in the form of a brain game, and color by worksheets bring art elements into math and reading.
Worksheets also provide the opportunity for formative assessment and give your students a chance to practice problem-solving while they work independently.
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One More, One Less Worksheet
Practice foundational addition and subtraction facts using the concepts of one more and one less.
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Forms of Energy Worksheet
A worksheet about the different forms of energy.
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Addition Strategy - Counting On Worksheet
Solve addition problems in this 2-page Counting On Addition Worksheet.
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Multiplication and Division Minute Math Booklet
Warm-up (or assess) with this 10-page booklet of multiplication and division drills.
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Flip, Draw, Expand! – Place Value Worksheet (5-Digit Numbers)
Build and expand 5-digit numbers using base-10 blocks to strengthen place value skills.
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Fractions, Decimals and Percentages Worksheets
Use these fractions, decimals and percentages worksheets in your upper elementary classroom for independent practice or as an assessment activity.
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Adjectives: Articles Worksheet
A worksheet to practice working with articles.
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New Year's Celebrations - Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about the origins of New Year’s celebrations with our informational text and comprehension questions worksheet.
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Decodable Text Worksheets – Set 2
A set of 10 decodable text worksheets for early readers.
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Living or Nonliving? - Worksheet
A worksheet that explores living and nonliving things.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - SOME
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “some” from the First Grade Dolch sight words list.
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Valentine's Day Hundreds Chart Mystery Pictures
Follow the color-coded number guides to fill in the hundreds chart square and reveal 9 special Valentine’s Day images.
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Order of Operations Worksheet
Tackle PEMDAS with an order of operations worksheet for 6th grade.
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Informative Text Writing Task – How Does a Plane Fly?
A scaffolded writing task for students to complete when learning about the informative text type.
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Finding Word Meaning In Context - Word Detective Worksheet
A teaching resource to help teach your students how to find word meaning in context.
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Positive and Negative Numbers - Worksheet
A set of worksheets to use when learning about positive and negative numbers.
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Grammar Worksheet Pack – Lower Elementary
Review different parts of speech with this worksheet pack.
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Fractions and Decimals Assessment
Assess students' knowledge of various decimals and percentages concepts with this four-page worksheet.
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Describe That Decimal Worksheet
Explore the place value of decimals with this versatile one-page printable worksheet.
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Telling Time to the Hour and Half-Hour - Worksheet
Practice telling time to the half-hour with a fun set of printable Telling Time Worksheets for 1st grade.
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Number Sequencing to 100 - Worksheet
A raindrop themed place value worksheet to use when sequencing numbers to 100.
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Representing Two-Digit Numbers - Place Value Worksheet
A set of worksheets for students to use when learning about place value and the different way two-digit numbers can be represented.
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Circuit Diagrams Worksheet
A worksheet that explores how to read and write circuit diagrams.
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Character Development – Fakebook Page Worksheet
Use research and creative writing skills to design a social media profile for fiction or nonfiction persons.
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Angle Sum of a Triangle – 6th Grade Math Worksheet
Calculate the missing angle in a variety of triangles with this one-page worksheet.
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Animal Fact File Worksheet
An animal fact file for students to complete when learning about a variety of animals.
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Prefix Worksheet: Un- and Dis-
Build vocabulary skills with a prefix worksheet featuring the prefixes Un- and Dis-.
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Measuring the Area of a Robot with Informal Units - Worksheet
A worksheet to use when measuring area with informal square units.
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Build an Animal Fact File – Cut and Paste Worksheets
Use this set of 5 writing prompts to assess your students’ informative writing skills.
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Verb Past Tense Worksheet
A worksheet with simple and irregular past tense verbs added to complete the sentences.
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Adapt a Short Story – Write the Ending
Get your students to write the ending of an existing story with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet.
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Adapt a Short Story – Change the Narrative Setting
Explore the role the narrative setting plays within a story with this engaging and fully scaffolded writing project booklet for elementary students.