Instantly start using these reading comprehension worksheets in your classroom – main idea worksheets, compare and contrast, summary charts…and more.
Our lessons should be designed to increase reading comprehension. The type of literacy questioning has drastically changed with what we know about teaching reading in the 21st century.
Even so, teachers know that we simply cannot hand out worksheets and expect students to learn. You have to teach students strategies that work.
Although I am not a fan of worksheets, they can be highly beneficial if they are designed for student interaction, developing meta-cognition and move beyond lower-processing skills such as only answering who, what and where type of questions.
I use worksheets too. but they are carefully chosen with specific goals in mind.
Reading Worksheets
I have written some great reading worksheets that teachers love. These elementary reading activities are ones I developed for using in my own classrooms. They are easily adapted for differentiated lessons.
Each set aligns to ELA standards in the Common Core. They can be used across multiple grade levels and really stress higher order thinking skills.
1. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
After reading the classic children’s book, these easy to use worksheets will have your students thinking deeply about the story. Venn diagrams, story mapping and sequencing are all here, along with weather mapping and making a cloud in a bottle!
2. Main Idea Worksheets
A variety of activities, ranging from locating the main idea to putting together sentences into a cohesive paragraph. You can guide your students into more critical thinking with these reading comprehension worksheets.
3. Book Treasures
This is one of my favorite activities and the students love it. It’s a simple idea: after you read a story the students are given a simple “treasure” to help them retell the story at home. It can be anything – a piece of string, a cotton ball (Little Cloud), a gold coin…it doesn’t take much to make the children excited. There is also a simple sheet for them to take home and fill out as a record of their understanding.
4. Summary Chart
This is a wonderfully simple way to teach students how to write a summary. You will use 4 different colors for the basic elements of a story and actively show the children how to say it before writing it.
5. Compare and Contrast Worksheets
Sorting, Venn Diagrams and Idioms all help the students to make sense of what it means to compare and contrast characters and settings in a story.