Police Officers Matching Worksheet

Police officers are one of the first community helpers young children learn to name, and this police officers matching worksheet gives first graders a clear, friendly way to connect what an officer looks like with what an officer actually does. Learning about community helpers is a foundational social studies skill: children begin to understand that a neighborhood is made up of people with different jobs, that those jobs keep everyone safe and cared for, and that a police officer is a trusted adult they can turn to when they need help. Matching a picture to a sentence also builds early reading comprehension, because the child has to read the words carefully before deciding which picture belongs with them.

This community helpers worksheet is built around two short activities that a first grader can finish in about ten to fifteen minutes. In Part A, students study four labeled pictures of a police officer at work — directing traffic, writing a report, riding a police bike, and working with a police dog — and write the letter of each picture beside the sentence that describes it. In Part B, students use a small word bank to complete three sentences about what police officers wear and how they help. Print it, hand it out, and use it as a warm-up before a community unit, as independent morning work, as a center activity, or as a quick review after a guest speaker or a field trip to the local station.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 4 picture-to-sentence matching items and 3 word bank fill-in sentences

There are three reasons this police officers matching worksheet helps children learn the skill. First, it pairs pictures with words, so a child who is still building reading stamina has a visual anchor for every sentence and can succeed without an adult reading each line aloud. Second, the four pictures show four genuinely different jobs, which teaches that a community helper does many things rather than just one — a much richer idea than simply naming the job. Third, the word bank in Part B gives students the vocabulary they need (badge, safe, help) and asks them to place each word where it makes sense, which is exactly the kind of context work that early comprehension standards ask for.

Teachers and parents can extend the lesson in a lot of easy ways. Invite a local officer to visit the classroom, or watch a short video of an officer at work and add a fifth picture to the page. Ask children to draw their own picture of a police officer helping someone and write a sentence to go with it, using the same sentence pattern as the worksheet. Play a sorting game with picture cards of several community helpers — officers, firefighters, mail carriers, nurses — and talk about which tools belong with which job. At home, point out community helpers you see during errands and ask your child to name one way each person helps the neighborhood.

Related Resources

• Community Workers Worksheet
• Identifying Community Workers Worksheet
• Calling 911 Worksheet
• Community Song by Have Fun Teaching