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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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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Nonfiction Text Features Flipbook – Read and Define
Use this text features flipbook as a reading center activity to teach your students about the purpose of text features in nonfiction books.
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Making Inferences – Birthday Activity
Teach your students how to make inferences with this birthday invitation activity.
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Nonfiction Summary Checklist
Give your students a checklist when summarizing nonfiction texts to make sure they include everything required.
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Amazon Rainforest Facts - Reading Passage
Read and learn about conservation with a reading passage and comprehension worksheet on the Amazon Rainforest.
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Metaphors Worksheet
Practice identifying and using metaphors with this differentiated metaphors worksheet.
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When Winter Comes - Poetry Analysis Worksheet
Printable poem for upper elementary students to practice analyzing poetry.
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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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Author's Purpose Graphic Organizer
Organize ideas and context clues that support the author's purpose from your assigned texts.
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I Have, Who Has? Fact and Opinion Game
A whole class game to help students understand the difference between a fact and an opinion.
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Giant Squid Reading Comprehension Worksheets - 5th Grade
Read and learn about the features and adaptations of the giant squid with reading comprehension worksheets for 5th grade.
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Polar Bear Adaptations Reading Comprehension Pack
Learn about the physical adaptations of the polar bear with a set of printable reading comprehension worksheets for 3rd grade.
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Making Inferences Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to make inferences with this 31-slide teaching presentation.
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The Force of Friction Comprehension Worksheets
Download this friction worksheet to teach your 3rd grade students about the force of friction and its impact on our daily lives.
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Inferencing Comics
Use this set of comic strips when teaching your students how to infer information from everyday situations.
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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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Retelling Stories Teaching Slides
Teach your students all about the fundamentals of retelling a story with this set of teaching slides.
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Inherited and Acquired Plant Traits - Reading Passage
Read and learn about inherited and acquired traits in plants with a printable reading comprehension passage and worksheet.
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Onomatopoeia Words - Vocabulary Display
Display a fun onomatopoeia word wall in your classroom with printable cards containing onomatopoeia examples.
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Comprehension Task Cards - Identifying Author's Purpose
Help students identify the author's purpose when reading with this set of comprehension task cards.
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Henry Hudson Comprehension Worksheet
Discover famous explorers like Henry Hudson with printable reading comprehension activities.
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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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Character Anchor Charts - Traits, Feelings, and Appearances
A set of 3 posters depicting words and phrases that can be used to describe a character traits, feelings and appearance.
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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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Reading Comprehension Strategies Anchor Charts
Provide young readers with concrete examples of reading strategies with a set of 18 ready-made reading anchor charts.
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Character Traits: Interactive Activity
Analyze text and identify character traits of characters with a Google Slides Interactive activity.
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Amelia Earhart Constructed Response Worksheet
Use this passage, second grade writing prompt, and worksheet to help students write a constructed response paragraph about Amelia Earhart.
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What's Missing? – Interactive PowerPoint
Put those inferencing skills to use with this "guess what's missing" interactive activity for young learners.
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Black History Profile: Kamala Harris - Comprehension Worksheet
Review our profile on Vice President Kamala Harris and answer questions to reinforce understanding.
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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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Poetry Task Cards
A set of 20 task cards to practice different elements of peotry.
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What's the Connection? Worksheet
Use this reading skills worksheet to help your students learn about the types of text connections: text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world.
- Reading Comprehension Worksheets
- Reading Comprehension Templates
- Reading Comprehension Posters
- Reading Comprehension Games
- 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
- Reading Comprehension for 7th Grade