Need Grouping Ideas?

Here is an additonal list of grouping ideas I found in the archives of my old school district, Lakota Local Schools, West Chester, OH.  Feel free to recycle these "old" ideas:

Here's A List of Ideas to Choose From:

• Have students at the beginning of the year (or quarter) have different students sign by each hour on a clock. If a student signs, say, by 12:00 on another students, then they work together any time the teacher puts "12:00" on the board. Each hour must have a different signature, and only those that have openings with the same hours as the student may have them sign. This is called the buddy clock (History Alive)
• Pass out a description of an animal and have students act out what they see, they pair up with someone else that also has the same animal. (Brian Thomas)
• Give students an index card with famous pairs (like Tom & ______) leaving one of the names blank, students go around and try to find out who their partner is but can't use any of the words or names in the pairs. (History Alive)
• Pass out to each student a property from Monopoly that comes in threes. Have the students find the people who share the same property. (Brian Thomas)
• I always use playing cards to place students into lab groups. I use cards 8-Ace to create 7 groups and have specific stations (cards pinned on the ceiling) for the kids to move to. That way, every time we have lab, they are always with a new group. (Leanne Staley)
• Color the tips of popcycle sticks three colors. Have students choose a stick from a can when they enter class. Once they get a stick, tell them they must find two people with a different color and sit with them. (Melissa Antons)
• Make photocopies of pictures that will be central to the unit. Have one picture for each group of students you need. Cut the picture into four pieces (or more). Have students take a piece when they enter class. They must put their piece with others to make a whole picture. Use the picture as a visual discovery activity and icebreaker for the groups. (Brian Thomas)
• Sometimes I group students by colors . This works for me since I group in mostly 5's. Students with red on today, get in group. Blue in a group. etc. Odd colors in group. (Dee Parker)
• Putting into groups by oldest or youngest in family or number of people in family, or birthdays in certain months. (Dee Parker)
• For groups of two, write the problem on one card (related to the unit) and the answer on the other and give them a minute or two to find their partner. (Marianne Hunter)
• Write kids cards with composite numbers and have them find their partners that have their factors. (Marianne Hunter)
• Place a basket of construction paper in a variety of colors and shapes for the students to draw from on the way in. They pick up a shape on the way in, and can either be organized by color, shape, or other qualities the paper possesses. You could also just let them pick out of a hat, I suppose. (Julie McDowell)
• Give the students a picture/post card. Let them get into groups based on what the cards have in common. They can even keep the cards and group based on another quality a second time. This could also work with objects. (Julie McDowell)
• Have the students draw a playing card. Group based on the numbers or suit of the card. I have also done this to assign roles in a group (Queen = discussion director, King = vocabulary master, etc) (Julie McDowell)
• I put them into the group according to the learning style test I gave at the first of the year...some creative and some logical/analytical in every group. (Christy Walter)
• Write each student's name on an index card. Deal the cards into 4 equal piles according to student ability (High, Medium High, Medium Low, and Low) Choose one card from each pile. Be sure to include a mix of students (according to gender, race, and personality). Set this stack aside as Team 1. Form the remaining teams in the same way. Assign a team number to each stack of cards. On a separate sheet of paper, record the name of each team and its team members. That way you'll have something to refer to the next time you form teams. You don't want kids to end up on the same teams over and over. (Laura Candler)
• This idea is adapted from Howard Gardner's idea of multiple intelligences and Elizabeth Cohen's ideas surrounding mixed ability grouping. Give your students a multiple intelligence test at the beginning of the year. (see me if you want a copy, they're easy and fun for the kids, or you!, to complete) Use the data from the M.I. test to fill out a student information card that you will keep for the year. DO NOT reveal the information on this card to the kids. When placing students into mixed ability, heterogeneous groups use these cards to sort by gender, race, or multiple intelligence strengths. An example would work like this: The activity calls for mixed ability groups of four to five students. Take the student cards and sort by dominant multiple intelligences. Try to put students with different dominant intelligences together. Perhaps the activity requires students to create a visual presentation of information they learned in class. Ideally you would like to have someone in the group be linguistic, someone who is visual, someone who is interpersonal, and someone who is logical. A sample card of what I am talking about is below. (Brian Thomas)

• Famous Fours Idea: This works for up to seven groups of four. Give two people the clue and two people the answer on a piece of paper. Allow the students thirty seconds to find and sit with each other. Clue One: Marvel Comic Heros; Answer: Fantastic Four. Clue Two: Quote; Answer: "Our Four and No More!" Clue Three: 60's Band; Answer: The Four Tops. Clue Four: Four Score and Seven; Answer: 87. Clue Five: Golf Saying for "Heads Up!"; Answer: "Fore!" Clue Six: It's famous on muscle cars; Answer: Four on the Floor. Clue Seven: Family or Kid's Game; Answer: Connect Four