CLEVER WAYS TO PICK PARTNERS IN CLASS

Make picking student partners or small groups in class quick, easy and painless with these fun pick a partner cards while learning at the same time!

It should be easy to partner up students or put them in groups, right?

But any teacher who has been in the classroom knows that’s not always the case. To make the process easier and as pain free as possible, we put together our favorite classroom ideas for choosing partners and putting students into groups.

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There are so many different ways to group your students in class so we've put together so of our favourite ideas for organising children into pairs or small groups.

One of the simplest (and cheapest) is to grab some pop sticks or craft sticks and write your students names on them. Add them to a cup then pull out two at a time to pick your partners. 

I make a class set at the beginning of the school year. You can also use these to call on individuals to do small jobs in the class. Turn the stick the other way so you can see who has already had a turn.

Alternatively, gather pairs of different coloured craft sticks, pipe cleaners, pencils or small painted stones to draw out of a container two at a time.

Pairs of magnetic letters - one upper case + one lower case letter works just as well.

Never one to miss a learning opportunity, my students love using our pick a partner cards. 

As teachers we know, choosing a partner can be a daunting task for students and teachers alike. Why not make it random? These fun cards help students "find" their own partner. They choose a card and search for their classmate who has the matching one! They provide an easy way to pair students but allow an opportunity to review a concept while getting organised - WIN - WIN! 

It can all appear quite random taking the pressure away but you can control the randomness by placing the pick a partner cards down on student's desks before you start to help avoid those pairings you don't want.

Another cheap DIY option is to grab some paint chips from a hardware store. Make some matching pairs of colours to select from.

Or hand write numbers to match up on some small cards. We practice making our rainbow facts or our ways to make 10 or 100 this way. For example, on one card write 8 and on another 2. Together they make 10 or for 100 use 80 and 20 or 60 and 40. You get the idea.

It's a quick warm-up activity but also helps to pick a partner at the start of a lesson.

What are your favourite ways to pick groups or partners in your class?

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