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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Lab Equipment & Science Safety Worksheets (K-2)
Explore science lab equipment and safety rules with a printable pack of Science Safety Worksheets.
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Free Shapes Worksheets for Kindergarten
Print your free Shapes Worksheets for kindergarten to practice shape identification.
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Classroom Rules Worksheet Pack
Start your year off right by reviewing classroom rules with a cut-and-paste classroom rules worksheet.
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Lab Safety – Interactive and Printable Cloze Reading Activity
Demonstrate an understanding of lab safety rules and expectations by completing a cloze reading activity.
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Color the Synonyms and Antonyms Worksheet
Explore vocabulary with this synonyms and antonyms worksheet for 3rd and 4th grade students.
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Human Histories: World Explorers – Comprehension Worksheet
A free comprehension worksheet paired with an informational text about world explorers.
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Library Scavenger Hunt for Upper Elementary Grades
Explore the school library with a scavenger hunt!
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Emotion Match Passages Worksheet Pack
Help your students strengthen emotional vocabulary and early inferencing skills with this engaging set of Feeling Inferencing passages.
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Separating Mixtures Worksheet
Review different methods for separating mixtures with a printable Separating Mixtures worksheet.
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Reversible vs Irreversible Changes Gallery Walk Activity
Explore and explain chemical and physical changes with an engaging Reversible vs Irreversible Changes Gallery Walk Activity.
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Making Reading Connections Using Comics
Get your students making reading connections with these engaging comics and accompanying worksheets that help students link what they read to their own experiences, other texts and the wider world.
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Free Story Prediction Worksheet
Encourage students to think critically before reading with this Story Prediction Worksheet.
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Addition and Subtraction with Ten Frames Worksheet Pack
Practice adding and subtracting numbers to twenty using ten frames.
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How Does It Move? Toy Graphing Worksheets
Explore motion and mathematics with engaging Toy Graphing Worksheets.
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How Do Animals Move Worksheet Pack
Color, sort, and categorize how animals get around with a set of ‘How Animals Do Animals Move’ Worksheet Pack
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Sentence Fluency Reading Cards Set
Make fluency practice engaging with our Sentence Fluency Reading Cards Set.
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Caterpillar - Ordering Numbers Worksheets
Share these ordering numbers worksheets with your students to help them master sequencing numbers.
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Count and Graph Worksheet Pack
Explore counting and graphing skills with this set of three worksheets.
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Making Inferences With Pictures Worksheet
Guide your students to use pictures to make inferences with this reading worksheet.
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My Feelings Volcano Worksheet
Prevent students from being overcome by strong emotions with this volcano-themed coping skills worksheet.
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Sorting Symmetrical Shapes Worksheets
Use this simple but effective symmetry worksheet to reinforce the concepts of symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes with your Fourth Grade students.
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Plant Life Cycle Passage and Graphic Organizer
Give your students an opportunity to and sequence the life cycle of a plant with a reading passage and worksheet.
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I Set My Boundaries Worksheets
Identify your personal space boundaries with this worksheet set.
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Why Plant a Tree? Infographic Analysis Activity & Posters
Teach about Arbor Day or Earth Day with an infographic poster and a cloze note-taking worksheet about the importance of trees in our environment.
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Color-by-Code Grammar- Back to School Coloring Sheet
Use this color by code grammar worksheet as a back to school parts of speech review activity with your students.
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Paired Passage Worksheets-Mammals vs. Reptiles
Compare mammals vs. reptiles and add to your reading instruction with leveled nonfiction, compare and contrast passages and worksheets.
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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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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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2D and 3D Shapes - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Learn the difference between 2D shapes and 3D objects with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Representing Multiplication and Division Worksheets
Build multiplication and division understanding with this worksheet pack.
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Highlighting Parts of a Sentence Worksheet Pack
Use this Highlighting Parts of a Sentence Worksheet Pack to help students identify and understand the key components that make a complete sentence.
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Making Connections Reading Comprehension Passages
Teach the making connections reading comprehension strategy with this set of five engaging short stories and differentiated graphic organizers that help students build meaningful text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections.