A lot of teaching strategies require students to be in small groups. That can mean partners, triads, groups of 4 or even more depending on the activity or
assignment. Sometimes you want students to create their own groups and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you want those groups to be random and sometimes you want them to appear random even though you’ve secretly formed the groups ahead of time. In this post, Ways to Form Groups, you’ll find a variety of different ways to form and organize groups from the planned to the random!
Student Choice/Random
- This option is pretty straight forward as students select their own partner/partners to work with. I used this method when I wanted students to actually “talk” to each other to brainstorm ideas or do a brain dump, etc. Because students are selecting their own groups, all you have to do is tell them how big the group size needs to be and they’ll take it from there.
Partners
- There are many ways for students to form partners. My favorite way is to group them with cards that “go together” in some way. The pairings can be objects such as hammer and nails, peanut butter and jelly or even shoes and socks. Here’s a TPT freebie titled, Partner Picking Cards. Other ways to pair might include people or characters that go together such as Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Shrek & Fiona, Chip & Dale, Bert & Ernie, etc. Here’s a TPT freebie, Partner Matching Cards already prepared! All you have to do is print them on cardstock, cut them apart and laminate and you’re good to go!
Shoulder Neighbors
- If you don’t want students getting up and moving around, have them form a partnership with one of their shoulder neighbors. You just have to direct them as to which shoulder neighbor to connect with. This method is often referred to as Think, Pair, Share.
Triads
- I found this great grouping resource on TPT as a freebie that is called “Interactive Group Generator–3 Ingredient Recipes” that is a way to form groups of 3. In addition, here’s another set of Partner Pairing Cards for Groups of 3 that is a TPT freebie. Again, you can have it be totally random or manipulate the groups ahead of time by presetting the card order.
Groups of 4-6
- If you want larger groups of 4 to 6, you can always make cards that are based on fours, fives or even sixes. For example, you might use tv groups such as Scooby-Doo. If you were using Scooby-Doo and wanted groups of five, make character cards using Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Velma and Scooby. If you want six, add in Scrappy Doo. You could also use Looney Toon characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, & Wile E Coyote. The Friends characters also make a group of 6: Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey. Sesame Characters also give you a variety of options to choose from.
- Once you pick your group size, simply pass out the cards and have students group by TV show characters. The beauty of this method is that you can do it randomly if you’re okay with whatever groupings shake out or you can manipulate the order of the deck and have certain cards go to certain students and you have your groups set even though to students, it appears “random”.
- If you want to make cards that form a variety of different size groups, you might want to create “pictures cards” such as these that can be used to various groups from partners to groups of six.
Color Dots
- Color Dots are another great way to form groups. Color Dots can be prepared on index cards or even popsicle sticks. Here’s a resource explaining how to create them.
Numbers or Letters
- Choose the size of the groups you want to have and then have students count off by that number or use the alphabet letters to accomplish an easy grouping.
Managing Groups & Benefits
- Here’s a great resource from Cornell on how to create and manage groups. Additionally, this is a great resource outlining the benefits of small group instruction.
Final Notes
- Whichever way you decide to group your students, be sure to mix it up periodically as students can catch on pretty quickly what you’re up to if you don’t. If you change it up frequently, it keeps them guessing!
