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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Character Traits Graphic Organizer
Describe the most notable mental and moral qualities of a real or fictional person.
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Reading Response Templates - Complete Journal
A reading response journal for students to use to engage with text in meaningful and purposeful ways.
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What's the Author's Purpose? - Sorting Activity
A sorting activity to help students identify the author’s purpose for a piece of text.
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Developing Narrative Features PowerPoint - Grade 5 and Grade 6
A 26-slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the characteristics and craft of composing a narrative text.
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Fascinating Facts About Animals – Comprehension Worksheet
Build reading comprehension skills and learn about amazing animals with a printable 1st grade reading comprehension worksheet pack.
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Fiction vs Nonfiction Posters
Teach students the difference between fiction and nonfiction with this set of two classroom posters perfect for Kindergarten classrooms.
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Poetic Devices PowerPoint
A 23-slide editable PowerPoint template to use when introducing students to poetic devices.
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Analyzing Poetry PowerPoint
A 19 slide editable PowerPoint template the use when teaching students how to analyze poetry.
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Cause and Effect - Sentence Sort Worksheet
A worksheet and answer sheet to use when teaching students the cause and effect comprehension strategy.
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Comprehension - That's Not My Pet
A fun script and set of questions to help students develop reading and comprehension strategies.
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Find Word Meaning in Context Poster
A poster highlighting how to find word meaning in context when reading a piece of text.
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Reading Detectives Name Tags
8 colorful reading detective name tags to assign students during book club sessions.
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Improving Opinion Texts Worksheets
3 pieces of text for students to rewrite in order to make them more persuasive.
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Procedural Writing Sequencing Worksheet – How to Wash Your Dog
Use this procedural writing worksheet to teach your students about the importance of sequence in procedure texts.
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Interpreting Figurative Language - Worksheets
Explore figurative language in poetry with this age-appropriate poem and accompanying vocabulary questions.
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Comprehension Strategies – Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the classroom when introducing comprehension strategies.
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Poetry Analysis Template
A template for students to use when analyzing a poem.
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Before, During and After Reading Fiction Questions - Dice
5 different versions of dice to use when asking questions before, during and after reading.
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Introduction to Narrative Features PowerPoint - Grade 3 and Grade 4
A 23 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the features of narrative texts.
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Comprehension Task Cards - Recalling Facts And Details
A set of comprehension task cards to help students recall facts and details when reading.
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Bloom's Taxonomy Fast Finisher Task Cards - Upper Grades
44 Bloom's Taxonomy fast finisher activity cards.
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Rio de Janeiro - Reading Comprehension Activities
Take your students on a trip to Rio de Janeiro with an engaging reading comprehension worksheet and Carnival Mask activity.
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Paralympic Events Teaching Slides
Teach your students about the events held during the Paralympics with our Paralympic Events Teaching Slides.
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What Is Climate Change? Comprehension Worksheet
Teach your students about the perils of climate change with this comprehensive article with accompanying comprehension questions.
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Informative Writing Fact Files - Differentiated Writing Worksheets
Teach your students to write informative texts using a pack of differentiated Informative Writing Fact File Worksheets.
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Sloth Adaptations – Comprehension Skills Worksheet
Read and comprehend nonfiction text about the adaptations of a sloth with a printable pack of reading skills worksheets.
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Elements of Poetry PowerPoint - Grade 5 and Grade 6
A 25 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when introducing students to the elements of poetry.
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How to Summarize Nonfiction Mini Book
Explore the elements needed for a good summary of nonfiction texts with this How to Summarize Nonfiction mini-book.
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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 Fiction Poster Set
Help students remember what to include in a summary of a fiction text with this easy to use SWBST acronym.
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Summarizing Fiction Slide Deck
Build summarizing skills with fiction texts using these teaching slides.
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Inferencing Worksheet
Use this worksheet with your students when teaching them how to make an inference.