Reading Passages Teaching Resources
Explore reading passages ready to be used in your primary classroom to assess your students' comprehension skills and build their confidence as readers!
Created by teachers for teachers, each reading passage in this extensive collection has been designed to enhance student comprehension skills and build understanding. This collection of Australian English curriculum-aligned comprehension passages was created by the teachers on the Teach Starter team, and each has undergone a review by an expert on our team to ensure it’s ready for your classroom.
Not sure where to begin? Here’s a quick primer from our teacher team to help you get the most out of this teacher tool!
What Are Reading Passages?
Reading passages are a set of written texts that are typically used for reading comprehension exercises and assessments. They can come in various forms, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama. They are used to provide a text for students to read and analyse and are often accompanied by questions or tasks to assess comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and other language skills.
How to Use Reading Passages in the Classroom
This collection of short reading passages can be used for a variety of needs, including:
- Practising reading fluency
- Provide students with practise in reading comprehension and critical thinking skills
- Measuring students’ reading level
- Exposing students to different genres, authors and writing styles
Best of all? Teach Starter's reading passages have been developed so they can be used for individual or group activities.
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The Poet's Lament - Comprehension
A comprehension activity using a poem.
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Comprehension Task Cards - Recognising Cause And Effect
A set of comprehension task cards to help students recognise cause and effect when reading.
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Exploring Poetry Worksheet - Onomatopoeia
A worksheet to help students understand onomatopoeia in poetry.
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Comprehension - What are Earthquakes?
A comprehension activity about 'What are Earthquakes?'
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Advertisement Worksheet – K-9ine the Robot Dog
A comprehension worksheet for a persuasive magazine advertisement about a robotic dog.
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Arctic Fox Adaptations - Free Comprehension Worksheets
Read and learn about Arctic fox adaptations with a set of free Reading Comprehension Worksheets for Years 2 and 3.
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Innovative Inventors - Year 4 Reading Comprehension Worksheet
Meet famous inventors in history with this informational text and comprehension questions activity
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Sequencing Activity - Dogs Make the Best Pets (Persuasive Text) - Simplified Version
A sequencing task using a simple persuasive text.
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Paired Passage Worksheets-Mammals vs. Reptiles
Compare mammals vs. reptiles and add to your reading instruction with leveled nonfiction, compare and contrast passages, and worksheets.
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Malala Yousafzai Biography – Read and Respond Worksheet
A comprehension activity related to a biographical text.
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Sequencing Activity - Homework is Unnecessary (Persuasive Text)
A sequencing task using a persuasive text.
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Australian Endangered Species Snapshots – Comprehension Worksheet
Explore some Australian endangered species with your students using this set of reading passages with comprehension questions.
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Year 2 Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 1)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically written for Year 2 students.
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Little Red Riding Hood – Comprehension Worksheet
Develop your students' reading comprehension skills with a well-known fairy tale.
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Uses of Magnets Comprehension Worksheet
Download this magnets worksheet to teach your Year 4 students about the uses of magnets in our everyday lives.
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The Force of Friction Comprehension Worksheets
Download this friction worksheet to teach your Year 4 students about the force of friction and its impact on our daily lives.
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Australian Conservationists: The Irwins – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about the Irwin family and their conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.
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Year 3 Magazine - What's Buzzing? (Issue 1)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 3 students.
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Year 2 Magazine – What's Buzzing (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 22-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 2 students.
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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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Comprehension Worksheets - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Read to learn about the Great Pacific Garbage patch with a printable reading comprehension worksheet pack.
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Comprehension - Stop Polluting The Ocean
A comprehension activity using a persuasive text.
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The Three Little Pigs – Comprehension Worksheet
Develop your students' reading comprehension skills with a well-known fairy tale.
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Year 5 Reading Worksheets - The Business of Bees
Read and learn about bees, pollination and honey production with a reading comprehension passage and worksheet pack.
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Year 2 Magazine – What’s Buzzing? (Issue 2)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 2 students.
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Inferring Written Scenario Task Cards
Task cards that help students use their knowledge and ideas to help them decode ideas in texts
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Poison Dart Frog Adaptations – Year 4 Reading Worksheets
Explore the adaptations of a poison dart frog with printable reading comprehension worksheets for Year 4.
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Five Wonders Theme Park: Induction Booklet – Project
A project where students study the Five Wonders Theme Park stimulus poster to understand and use real world learning skills.
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Elements of Poetry Worksheet - Figurative Language
A worksheet to help students understand figurative language in poetry.
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Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion - Comprehension Task
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
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The Sinking of the RMS Titanic - Historical Recounts Comparison Task
A comprehension task to enable students to compare literary historical recounts and factual historical recounts.
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Narrative Paragraphs Sequencing Activity
6 jumbled narrative paragraphs for students to sequence in the correct order.