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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Summarizing Fiction Task Cards
Guide students along their summarizing journey with this set of Fiction texts on task cards for students to summarize.
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Summarizing Nonfiction Task Cards
Guide students along their summarizing journey with this set of nonfiction texts on task cards for students to summarize.
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Color-Coding Summarizing Fiction Text Worksheets
Practice summarizing small fiction texts with this fun color-coding set of worksheets.
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Summarizing a Story Graphic Organizers
Help students remember the fundamentals of summarizing a story with this set of fun graphic organizers.
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Naked Mole Rats – Comprehension Worksheet
Read and learn facts about the naked mole rat with a printable reading comprehension worksheet pack for 5th grade.
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Amazing Ants! – Comprehension Worksheet for 2nd Grade
Review reading skills and learn about Amazing Ants! with a printable 2nd grade nonfiction reading comprehension worksheet.
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Uses of Magnets Comprehension Worksheet
Download this magnets worksheet to teach your 2nd grade students about the uses of magnets in our everyday lives.
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Nonfiction Text Features Teaching Slides
Explore the features of nonfiction texts with your students using this detailed and age-appropriate slideshow for elementary school reading lessons.
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Inferencing Worksheet
Use this worksheet with your students when teaching them how to make an inference.
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Making an Inference – Graphic Organizer Pack
Use these graphic organizers with your students when teaching them how to use text evidence to make inferences.
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Book Tasting Placemat and Brochure Templates
Host a Classroom Book Tasting to inspire young readers with a printable book tasting placemat and brochure template.
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Retelling Stories Paper Chains Template
Get crafty with this fun retelling stories activity where students use paper chains to create a chain for a story they have read in class.
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Three Little Pigs Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for The Three Little Pigs.
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Little Red Riding Hood Retelling Activity Cards
Teach your students about retelling with this set of sequencing cards for Little Red Riding Hood.
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5 Finger Retell Classroom Posters
Guide students through the 5 finger retell process with this set of classroom posters and individual student guide.
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Plant Adaptations - Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Read and learn about unusual plants and their adaptations with a pack of printable reading comprehension worksheets.
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Summarizing Nonfiction Graphic Organizer Pack
Help students summarize nonfiction texts with this set of graphic organizers.
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Story Elements Worksheets – The Ants and the Grasshopper
Practice identifying the story characters, settings and main events with this set of worksheets based on a traditional tale.
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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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Summarizing Nonfiction Interactive Activity
Help your students easily summarize nonfiction text with this interactive activity.
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Three Little Pigs – Sequencing Worksheet
Identify the story beginning, series of events and ending with this narrative text sequencing activity.
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Inside Trait or Outside Trait? Interactive Game
Explore the internal and external traits of story characters with this interactive digital game.
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Character Profile - Graphic Organizers
Explore the internal and external traits of story characters with a set of differentiated graphic organizers.
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Main Idea Task Cards
Practice finding the main idea and supporting detail in a passage with these task cards.
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Character or Not? Cut and Paste Worksheet
Explore the difference between characters and non-characters with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Main Idea Ice Cream Cones Sorting Activity
Practice distinguishing the main idea and the supporting detail with this fun ice cream sorting activity.
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Finding the Main Idea in Nonfiction Text Worksheet
Identify supporting evidence for the main idea of an informational text passage and answer the comprehension questions.
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Finding the Central Idea Worksheet
Read a short article, answer 10 comprehension questions, and use the gathered knowledge to write a central idea sentence about the text.
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The World's Oceans - Comprehension Worksheet
Explore the world’s five oceans with this detailed comprehension passage and related questions.
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U.S. Symbols Reading Comprehension - Differentiated
Boost reading comprehension skills and knowledge of United States’ symbols with differentiated comprehension worksheets.
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Figurative Language Football Interactive Activity
Have a Figurative Language bowl review with this self-checking Google interactive activity.
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Executive Branch Worksheet Pack
Learn about the leaders and responsibilities of the Executive Branch of the United States government with printable comprehension worksheets.
- 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