Grouping Students in the Classroom

How many times a day do you group students in the classroom? Grouping students can take on different appearances for different purposes.

It is important that students work with different students of different ability levels to help foster collaborative skills. Keeping grouping patterns fluid ensures that students' readiness levels, interests, and learning styles are being addressed.

HERE ARE A FEW QUICK WAYS TO GROUP STUDENTS

PARTNER DUO CARDS

Looking for a quick way to randomly partner up students where no student feels left out? Partner Duo Cards might be a strategy to use. Think of things that come as duos or two things that go together. Ham and eggs. Batman and Robin. Spaghetti and meatballs. Bat and ball. Cookies and milk.

Creating partner duo cards is a quick and easy way to match students with heterogeneous partners. Each student is given a partner duo card. Then they walk the room to find their match—and off to work they go!

TRIAD GROUPING CARDS

Need students to quickly get into heterogeneous groups of three? Modify the Partner Duo Cards into Triad Grouping Cards. Triad Grouping Cards make creating random groups of three quick and easy.

Create triad cards where three things go together. These can show the same object in different colors (e.g., red, black, and gray cars) or use themed sets (e.g., a rose, a tulip, and a sunflower). Students find two others with cards from the same triad to make a group of three.

CLOCK PARTNERS

Sometimes heterogeneous groups don't fit your instructional goals. That's when Clock Partners come in handy. Students set up appointments on a clock template. Later, you just call out “Meet with your 10:00 appointment” and students get right to work with that partner.

You can create clock partners based on readiness levels, interests, learning styles, or let students choose their own. Once the clocks are filled, they’re ready to go all year long!