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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Multiplication Gears Worksheet - Multiplication Facts of 7
A worksheet to use when learning the multiplication facts of seven.
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Multiplication Gears Worksheet - Multiplication Facts of 6
A worksheet to use when learning the multiplication facts of six.
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Multiplication Gears Worksheet - Multiplication Facts of 5
A worksheet to use when learning the multiplication facts of five.
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Multiplication Gears Worksheet - Multiplication Facts of 3
A worksheet to use when learning the multiplication facts of three.
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Multiplication Gears Worksheet - Multiplication Facts of 2
A worksheet to use when learning the multiplication facts of two.
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Punctuation Worksheets - Upper Elementary
Punctuation worksheets with examples and definitions to help your students learn.
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Real Estate Listing Inference Worksheets
Support comprehension with inference worksheets that guide students in interpreting real estate descriptions and justifying their ideas with clear textual evidence.
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Latitude and Longitude Worksheet
Use this free latitude and longitude worksheet along with Google Maps to teach your students about longitude and latitude.
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Communicating with Others - Worksheet
A worksheet for students to identify the communication methods and devices we use today.
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Beginning of Year Time Capsule Template
Use this teaching resource at the beginning of the school year to create a time capsule for each student.
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Measuring Area Using Arrays
A worksheet to use when exploring the concept of measuring area using arrays.
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Doubles Plus One - Dice Roll Worksheet
Practice the doubles plus one addition strategy with this one-page worksheet.
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Liquid Volume Worksheet
A worksheet to use when exploring the concept of liquid volume.
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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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Narrative Writing Tense Worksheets
Download these narrative writing tense worksheets to help your students understand why past tense is most commonly used in stories.
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Enneagram Personality Test Pack
Build relationships and tailor your teaching to your students’ personalities using an Enneagram Personality Test and supporting resources.
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Propositional Phrase as an Adverb Worksheets
Download this engaging pack of 5 worksheets to teach your 4th-grade students how to use the prepositional phrase as an adverb.
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Inference Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this cut-and-paste worksheet to practice inferring using images with your early reader.
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Reading Response Templates - Complete Journal
A reading response journal for students to use to engage with text in meaningful and purposeful ways.
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Learning Dispositions Reflection Worksheets – Lower Grades
A set of 10 worksheets to allow students to reflect on their application of various learning dispositions.
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Searching For Natural and Processed Materials Activity
Explore the environment, identify common materials, and learn where they come from with a scavenger-hunt-styled Natural and Processed Materials Activity.
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Making Inferences Picture Cards Activity
Use these Making Inference picture cards activity to match text with images and infer meaning using visual details.
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Capitals and Punctuation Interactive Game
Use this soccer-themed punctuation digital game to allow students to practice simple punctuation such as full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and capital letters.
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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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Nouns Worksheet Pack
Use these noun worksheets to support students in identifying and using nouns within sentences.
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Hot and Cold Worksheets
Explore materials and their properties with a set of printable Hot and Cold Worksheets.
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Verb Worksheet Pack
Use this set of engaging verb worksheets to explore verbs in the Kindergarten classroom.
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Personal Recounts Sequencing Worksheet Pack
Use this set of simple personal recounts to help students learn the structure of a recount by reading, identifying key features, and sequencing events into the correct order.
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Explanation Report Text Examples and Worksheet Pack
Use this set of explanation text examples and analysis worksheets to help students identify and apply key features of explanation texts.
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Shades of Meaning in Nouns Worksheet Pack
Elevate student vocabulary with a noun worksheet pack that helps learners explore shades of meaning and choose more precise words in their writing.
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Parts of Speech Fill-in-the-Blanks Worksheets
Use this set of fun fill-in-the-blanks mad lib parts of speech worksheets to explore parts of speech in a fun way.