I use groups a lot in my classroom. I try to ensure that my kids get up and moving as often as possible, instead of sitting in their desks working all day.
I use both homogeneous & heterogeneous groups in my classroom depending on my lesson. But, for classroom activities where students will be engaging with each other by talking, planning, and working, I prefer heterogeneous groups.
I put a lot of time and thought into student grouping when it comes to things like guided reading groups, or student project groups.
But sometimes I need a quick way to get my kids into groups, like when we play Jeopardy or another review game.
During times like this, I bust out my Learning Resources Student Grouping Tees.
What I like most about these is that they offer multiple ways to group students. The students have no clue which way I’ll pick.
You can group by color, animal name (back of tee), or sport name (front of tee).
Once I choose a way to group my students, I have them line up in teams. Then, I can make adjustments to be sure I am 100% happy with how they turned out.
I have had these sorting tees for over 10 years, but here is a similar product.
These pencils also offer 3 ways to group students: by number, color, or shape. Not as cute as the tee shirts, but still functional. Also, with my tee-shirts a lot of my students get confused by the different sports balls on the front of the shirts so I hardly ever use that one (ex: softball or tennis ball?!). These pencils are much more straightforward.
Happy grouping!
