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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Christopher Columbus for Kids - Comprehension Worksheets
Learn about Christopher Columbus and his worldly explorations with a printable reading passage and comprehension questions.
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Native American Tribes in Texas - Venn Diagrams
Compare and contrast Native American tribes in Texas with a set of Venn diagram graphic organizers.
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Christmas MINTS Anchor Chart & Capitalization Worksheets
Reinforce capitalization rules for months, proper nouns, titles, the pronoun I, and more with a MINTS anchor chart and worksheet.
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What Do Good Citizens Do? Matching Activity
Teach the roles and responsibilities of good citizens with a scenario matching cut and paste worksheet.
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Volume of Composite Rectangular Prisms – Worksheet
Calculate the volume of composite figures and solve real-world problems with this worksheet.
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Henry Hudson Worksheet Pack
Discover famous explorers like Henry Hudson with a Henry Hudson Worksheet Pack
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Plotting and Comparing Integers – Worksheet
Practice plotting integers on a number line and completing comparison statements with this worksheet.
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Silent Letters Worksheets - Read, Find, and Color
Identify letters that are silent with this set of three find and color worksheets.
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Jacques Cartier Comprehension Worksheets
Travel back in time to the Age of Exploration with a look into the life and accomplishments of Jacques Cartier.
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World War I Comprehension Packet
Blend reading and social studies content with a printable set of World War 1 Reading Passages and accompanying question sets.
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Understanding Positive & Negative Numbers – Worksheet
Explore positive and negative numbers by plotting integers on a number line and identifying opposites with this worksheet.
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John Cabot Reading Passage - Comprehension
Discover famous explorers like John Cabot with printable reading comprehension activities.
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Estimating Decimal Sums and Differences – Worksheet
Refine rounding skills with an estimating decimal sums and differences worksheet.
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Inner vs. Outer Planets – Cut and Paste Worksheet
Sort inner and outer planets with this cut-and-paste science worksheet.
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Prime and Composite Numbers Worksheet
A worksheet to practice the relationship between factors and prime and composite numbers.
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Writing Ratios – Worksheet
With this worksheet, practice representing ratios as a fraction, with a colon, or with words.
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Word Study List - Long E Words
Explore and practice the many ways to spell the long E sound with a list of 50 long E words.
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CVC Word List
Introduce and explore consonant-vowel-consonant words with this extensive list of CVC words.
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Order Up! Numerical Expressions Worksheet
Solve problems by using order of operations to evaluate numerical expressions.
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American Revolution Matching Worksheet
Review Revolutionary War vocabulary with a crossword puzzle.
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Irma Rangel Constructed Response Worksheet
Use this Irma Rangel worksheet and writing prompt to help students write a paragraph using text evidence.
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Compound Words Cut and Paste - Worksheet
Cut, paste, and write to form open and closed compound words with a word-building worksheet.
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Writing Numerical Expressions – Digital and Printable Riddle Worksheets
Use these worksheets to match numerical expressions with different scenarios to reveal the answer to a math joke.
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Dividing Whole Numbers – Color by Number Worksheet
Solve long division problems with 2-digit divisors and color the grid according to the key to reveal a mystery picture.
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Fall Math Worksheets - Addition to 99
Celebrate the coming of Fall and practice adding 2-digit numbers up to 99 with a set of four Fall color-by-number worksheets.
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Using Coordinate Grids-Map Skills Worksheets
A set of 13 worksheets to help teach map skills to 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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Free Character Traits List
Teach your students to analyze characters more effectively by providing them with a list of character traits.
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Our Solar System - Interactive and Printable Cloze Reading Activity
Practice and review concepts associated with the solar system using a cloze passage.
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Susan B. Anthony Worksheet Pack - Comprehension
Learn fun facts about Susan B. Anthony with a differentiated Susan B. Anthony Worksheet Pack.
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Volume with Unit Cubes – Worksheet
Use this worksheet to reinforce how to find the volume of a rectangular prism by counting the number of unit cubes.
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Ada Lovelace - Cut and Paste Shapes and Patterns Activity
Explore shapes and patterns with the female programmer, Ada Lovelace, with this cut-and-paste activity for young students.