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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Brainstorming for Essays Worksheet
A worksheet to practice using Venn diagrams, mind maps, and cause and effect maps to brainstorm for various essays.
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What's Your Claim? Worksheet
Identify elements of an argumentative essay and write original claim sentences to support individual reasoning.
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Pollinators – Comprehension Task
An article and comprehension task about pollinators.
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Color by Number - Multiplication Facts of 12
An engaging activity to consolidate your students' understanding of multiplication facts.
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Color by Number - Multiplication Facts of 9
Practicing multiplication facts of 9 doesn't have to be boring when you use this color-by-number worksheet.
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Color by Sight Words - 5 Words - Dog
A fun coloring activity to use when working with sight words.
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Color by Number - Multiplication Facts of 8
Throw out your boring fact practice and replace it with this color by number worksheet!
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Color by 2-D Shape – Activity Sheets
A detailed set of color by shape activities.
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Color by Number - Multiplication Facts of 7
Your students will love coloring while they practice their multiplication facts of 7 with this color by number worksheet.
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Find and Color - Verb Tense Worksheet
Differentiate between different verb tenses through this 1-page coloring worksheet.
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Growth vs. Fixed Mindset Statements - Worksheet
Assess student understanding about the different statements that one might say to distinguish between having a growth or fixed mindset.
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Back to School Today! Poem for Kids
Ease back-to-school jitters and launch your students into a love of poetry with a short poem for kids written just for the first day of school!
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Comical Chronicle Worksheets for 5th Grade
Practice different parts of speech with your 5th graders using this set of 10 ad-lib style stories.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - THERE
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “there” from the Kindergarten-level Dolch sight words list.
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Sweet Sight Words Worksheet - WHO
Practice reading, writing, and identifying the high-frequency word “who” from the Kindergarten-level Dolch sight words list.
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Digraph Handwriting - Worksheets
24 digraph worksheets that focus on handwriting and vocabulary activities.
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Design-a-Currency
An activity for students to design a coin and paper bill.
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Comical Chronicle 3rd Grade Part of Speech Worksheets
Get your 3rd graders excited about parts of speech with this worksheet filled with 10 ad-lib style stories.
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Complete or Incomplete? - Worksheet
Practice identifying incomplete and complete sentences.
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Listen, Comprehend, and Color Worksheets
A listening comprehension exercise and art activity rolled into one.
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Making 10 Number Bonds - Worksheet
A worksheet to practice the addition strategy of making 10.
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More or Less Worksheet
Practice adding and subtracting 10 and 100 to a three-digit number.
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Addition Strategy - Decompose, Then Make 10 Worksheet
Build addition strategies using digits 1-10 with this two-page decomposing numbers worksheet.
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Changes I Can See - Worksheet
A worksheet that explores changes to observable features of the environment.
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Multiplication and Division Worksheets – Mixed Facts
A set of worksheets to help students develop fast and accurate recall of math facts.
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Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Sevens (Wolf) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by sevens.
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Goods and Services Worksheet
Practice identifying and describing examples of goods and services.
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Complex Dot-to-dot – Skip Counting by Twos (Seahorses) – Worksheet
A complex dot-to-dot where students demonstrate skip counting by twos.
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Goods and Services Word Search
Stretch your students’ vocabulary and reading skills with this economics-focused word search that features examples of goods and services.
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Fixing Capitalization Worksheet
Reinforce capitalization rules with this capital letters worksheet that features 10 sentences with missing capitalization.
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Inauguration Day – Comprehension Task
A comprehension task paired with a text about Inauguration Day.
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Forces Quiz
Assess students' understanding of contact and noncontact forces with this forces quiz for 3rd grade students.