Do you assign partners in your classroom? Partner talk is one of the most effective strategies you can use in your classroom. For partner talk to be effective, you must be intentional and plan beforehand. That includes pairing students by subject, having clear expectations, preparing what you are going to pose to students, how you will assess them, and more. Partner talk keeps students engaged, holds them accountable for their learning, enhances speaking and listening skills, helps students make connections, and makes them an active participant in their own learning. In this post, we will discuss some strategies for making the most of partner talk and some fun, engaging tools you can use to assign partners in your classroom. Creating a Safe Environment Before you introduce partner talk, you want to create a safe environment in which students feel comfortable enough to share. This book by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Just Ask!, is a great read aloud to use as you introduce partners. It discusses the importance of being brave and just being you. It also shows that it's okay and important to ask others questions when you have them. This is an important skill you will want students to have when talking with partners. It also creates an accepting environment for others who might think or feel differently than us, teaching empathy and compassion for others. Assigning Partners I have always assigned partners in my classroom. I am very intentional about who is assigned with who. You want to take into account academic levels, critical thinking skills, and personalities when pairing students. I don't pair a student who is very quiet and shy with someone who talks a lot. I try to find a happy medium. You also want to do the same when it comes to academic and critical thinking skills. I assign different partners for ELA and math, just because the abilities vary in each. It also gives them another person to talk to and get to know. All of the partners in this pack are food pairs, which makes it so fun for students! I switched up partners as needed or about every nine weeks. Create Expectations for Partner Talk You should explicitly teach, model, and practice expectations for partner talk. You can have students make this "partner pact" before practicing talking with a partner. When you are about to have a partner discussion, you will pose a question or a topic to students. Allow them to have think time before you have them turn and talk. They need to be ready to discuss the question. First, students should turn to look at their partner when it is time to talk. Tell students which partner you want to speak first, such as the meatballs can talk first. Have a signal that you give students will it's time to start talking. I would clap my hands twice and then say, "teach," and they would say back, "okay!" As students are speaking, monitor their discussions. You can do some informal observations as they are speaking and listening. Students should be actively listening to their partners and speaking when it is their turn. After students are finished, they should wait quietly. You could also have them do something to signal that they are finished, such as put your hands on your shoulders to let me know you are finished. I give them a warning that time is about up, and then, I use a signal to get their attention. I then choose a couple of students to share what they discussed. Using Accountable Talk Sentence Frames to Guide Discussions Students need scaffolding when it comes to discussion. I liked to use these accountable talk sentence frames to help them first form their thoughts. I, often times, would give them a specific frame to use when expressing their opinion. If you don't have space for all of the posters below, you can print this list of sentence frames. There are also these mini ones that you can give to students to use during partner talk. You can hang these accountable talk posters, or you can print these mini frames and put them together with a binder ring. Make Partner Talk Fun! These partner necklace tags are a fun way to assign spontaneous partners from time to time! You might be completing an activity and want students to find a different partner. Give half the students one food partner and the other half the other. They can then find a partner with that matching necklace. You could also use these when first assigning partners to help them remember which partner they are. I found the tags HERE. (This is my affiliate link.) Table tents are another fun little partner tool! Put one on each student's desk. Make sure you have an even number of each, so that students can pair up with someone else. Students can then go find a partner in the room. This is a great way to get students moving and to get to know one another! Partner talk is one of those instructional strategies that can give you so much bang for your buck. You are building community, increasing speaking and language skills, ensuring everyone is engaged and an active participant, assessing different skills, and students are getting to talk and express their thoughts. I put all of these resources and tools for partner talk into a brand new resource for you! If you would like to snatch it up, you can click HERE or any of the images in this post. I hope these resources are helpful and can make partner talk fun and engaging in your classroom!
Are you looking for tips and tricks for working with partners in the classroom classroom? Read on to learn all the hacks!
The relationships formed between teachers are critical. They can make or break a school year, and be the difference between loving your job or loathing it. Relationships matter SO MUCH, and without a cohesive team,
Partner pairing cards are a great classroom management tool and learning support, and they double as a fun icebreaker for teens!
My teaching partner recently introduced me to my new favorite vocabulary review resources-Quizlet. I know that Quizlet has been around for several years. In fact, I remembered using Quizlet several years ago. According to the site, I made a quiz back in 2010, but I never used the website, because I didn’t see anything more […]
Clever Ways To Pick a Partner in Class - quick, fun and easy ways to organize your students into partners or small groups | you clever monkey
Partner reading is SUPER valuable! In today's quick post, I'm sharing 7 different ways that I have my students read together during partner reading.
If you have followed the discussion over the past years about "21st Century Skills" or have been on this planet long enough, you know that the ability to work with others is just as important as any "content" knowledge that we, as teachers, can provide. That being said, working "cooperatively" is NOT natural for all people, especially young children, and we have to make sure we are thoughtful about how we help students learn this valuable skill. Today I thought I'd share three key things to keep in mind--and then offer a few suggestions to get your brain thinking about ways to incorporate more learning partnerships in YOUR classroom! Partnerships are the perfect "starting point" for cooperative work! Think about how difficult it is for us, as adults, to get 4 or 5 of us to agree and be productive! Young students simply haven't been around long enough to know how to do that "delicate dance" of sharing, contributing, listening, and more. Learning how to actively listen is easier with just one other person. Sharing with just one person is so much easier for student who are more shy--and it's easier to have a back and forth conversation than try to balance several people. As students become accustomed to working with pairs, then it becomes easier to add people to the group. When forming partnerships, be mindful of your students' feelings. Be careful about the "find a partner" direction--because that is SO difficult for so many students. Whether they be shy, slower thinkers, worried about other students' feelings--asking students to form partners on the fly is often a tricky situation. Think about those who struggle finding partners and make sure everything is safe for them. Ideas? Use a "people picker" like popsicle sticks or index cards. Premake partnerships whenever possible (in addition to avoiding popularity contests, this allows you to encourage students to work with MANY other students, not just best friends). If you DO have students pick partners at times, consider a disclaimer, "If you don't find a partner in 15 seconds, come to me." so you can quickly help pair off those last few students. My students get very used to working with EVERYONE in the class (males, females, tall, small, etc) and they actually REQUEST me to pick popsicle sticks to take the partnering process out of their hands. We need to explicitly TEACH partnering skills Before I ask my students to work in partners, we have a number of discussions where we talk about what partnering LOOKS like, SOUNDS like, and WHY working in partnerships is beneficial. Together we made a list that we continue to refer to as we refine our partnering skills. The students did a pretty good job, I thought! Consider making a similar list with your students to make sure they understand that partnering isn't always easy--but it's worth it! As students start to work in pairs, you may need to stop and review some of these...and your students may come up with different ideas as well. Students need to realize that partnering isn't easy--and they will have to work at it! For some students, understanding that "balanced power" means that BOTH people have to share and both people have to listen is key--they can all relate to times they have had someone try to take over a group...and trying to work with someone who is NOT engaged or on task. So when should I use partnerships? All day long! Think about all the different ways that "Two heads" might be better than one...try some of these! Creating a climate where students work peacefully together will help increase engagement, improve learning, and increase the amount of academic discourse in your classroom. Another added bonus? As students work well TOGETHER, you are free to circulate, coach, and get a better sense of what is happening with your students' learning. Buddy reading Whether your students read with younger students or with others in your class, learning to read so others can hear, taking turns, staying on task, and using an appropriate voice level are all easy to practice with buddy reading. Try making copies of a fun poem for students to experiment with--or have them partner read an article. If you really want to dig in, have students read a novel as partners where they have discussions and buddy reading over an extended period of time. They can even complete a culminating project together! Checking for accuracy One of the first "partner routines" my students learn as we start the school year is "check for accuracy". I start this with basic math problems, math homework, and other tasks--where students work alone, then compare answers with a partner. We then practice how to handle when answers are different...and learn how to re-solve the problem together to see who was wrong and how to "fix up" any mistakes together. This really helps create a climate for collaboration, not competition and is a great way for students to check homework, to check over practice work, or to test the spelling of a tricky word! "Turn and Talk" One of the classic partner activities...and a GREAT way to get all students involved in discussions--turn and talk is a way for students to participate more frequently. This DOES need to be explicitly taught as well. If you simply say, "Turn and talk to a partner", you can sit back and watch certain students immediately turning to a best friend, other students sitting back and waiting to be asked (often ending up sitting silent)--and this doesn't lead to productive talk. Teach students to turn and talk by first checking around them to "include" students (may mean creating a trio!) and to make sure that each partner has a chance to share their ideas. This is a great way to get everyone talking--especially when asking questions ALL students should have access to. Not all students will know the answer to all math problems...but everyone should be able to answer questions related to opinions...to read alouds ("What do you think Ally should do next?")...or other easily accessible ideas. Math games Math games are a fun and easy way to teach the give and take of partnering. When students struggle, you can sit with them and coach the fair play and sportsmanship...but with games, the turn taking part is more automatic and students can work on some of the other factors such as voice level, on task behavior, using supplies wisely and more. This is one of the games in one of my "Partner Play" resources! Partner journals One thing my students enjoy once in a while is what I call "partner journals". You can do a lot of different things with this--but essentially in involves "sharing a notebook" to reflect back and forth on a read aloud, an article, a math problem--anything. Check out THIS POST for more information. It is a great way for students to realize that they write so that others can understand--and if they don't, communication breaks down. Try it and see! Challenge problems Putting students in situations where they need to solve difficult problems can be a great way for partners to learn how to make suggestions, listen to ideas, and politely disagree. When the answer isn't immediately obvious, it becomes clear that "two heads can be better than one"...and students can take their learning to higher levels. What about when students WANT to work alone? This is when coaching might be important...students need to see that other students might have great ideas, might help them find errors in their own thinking--and can make the entire process more fun! My students did a great job partnering on this back to school shopping challenge! These algebra thinking cards were MUCH easier when partners started working together! The math discussions they had were fantastic--and they found lots of misconceptions and mistakes they were making as they worked! My favorite quote? "I knew I could never do math this hard by myself!" And so much more! These are just a few suggestions to get your students working in pairs--but there are so many more! Keep stressing how important collaboration is--and how it takes practice to get good at it...but when we ARE good at it, working together can be so much fun! Follow me on... Facebook Pinterest Instagram @Fourthgradestudio Twitter @FourthGrStudio Periscope @ FourthGrStudio Teachers Pay Teachers Store Blog
Happy Saturday and happy three day weekend! Having Labor Day off is always sooo nice after the beginning of the school year. 🙂 You might already know that I also write on the “Who’s Who and Who’s New” collaborative blog, and today I’m teaming up with a few of the other bloggers for a little fun Labor Day […]
Many teachers avoid using partners, but in reality, partners in the classroom make a great learning tool! Read these eight reasons to use partners.
Use these fun and simple ideas to boost your classroom collaboration! Picking learning partners has never been so fun!
Choosing a partner can be a daunting task for teachers and students alike. Why not make it random? These fun cards help students "find" their own buddy. They choose a partner card and search for their classmate who has the matching one! Partner Cards includes: ~ 45 pairs of "We Go Together..." *new pairs added! ~ 9 pairs of Opposites ~ 29 pairs of Emotions/Feelings ~ 9 pairs of Colors ~ 12 pairs of Time ~ 21 pairs of Numbers ~ Wild Card ~ Teacher's Choice Partner cards will get your students up and moving! They are a great way to have students work with new peers in the classroom. By request, the partner cards are now smaller which will make them easier to print. The amount of cards has increased, but the number of pages has decreased. Keep Your Teaching Colorful! Sara ☺ Want to Create Groups of Students? Use the Grab-a-Group Cards to create more than just pairs!
I made a few freebies!!!! Who doesn't love a good freebie? The first item I made is a poster that can be displayed to help your students ...
Vocabulary Strategies - Apple Tree Learning Educators have known for years that deep vocabulary knowledge must come from much more interaction than just looking up words in the dictionary. Ahhh... memories of 1982. :) In fact, research has proven that classrooms and students should create their own definitions to truly learn in-depth meanings. AcademicVocabulary - create definitions One of the best strategies for students to gain academic vocabulary knowledge is to SIMPLY TALK! I like to incorporate this strategy with BRAIN BUDDIES. This strategy can be used with just about any subject area, topic or student expectation. Brain Buddies with academic vocabulary words works like this: Buddy up students (I like for students to keep the same buddy for about 2 weeks ~ just enough time for them to really feel comfortable, but not too comfortable) Students should be sitting beside each other (I prefer to have them sit on the carpet) Share the academic vocabulary word on a large card that you will keep on display throughout Vocabulary Instruction the following weeks Ask students to think about what they know about the meaning of the word After having some think time, tell students to whisper to their partner what they believe the word means Take suggestions aloud from the Brain Buddies and discuss Next, draw an illustration of the word Have students explain to their partner how the illustration represents or connects to the academic vocabulary word You will want to give your students numerous opportunities to share and practice the words with their partners.... draw pictures, act them out, use them in sentences, etc. Brain Buddies is one of my most used strategies. You can use Brain Buddies for just about anything. My teacher friend, Mrs. Lott, is an amazing Kinder - 5th grade Title 1 Reading teacher on my elementary campus. She shared a handout with me, "Ways We Can Partner Talk" that she found on Pinterest. Trying to give credit where credit is due, I tried to locate the original author of Partner Talk. I found the same thing on Pinterest in about 20 different ways...from about 20 different people. I did retype the sheet because it was a little fuzzy, had a typo, and I wanted to change it up just a tad. Improve vocabulary instruction Here is a FREE link to the document: Ways We Can Partner Talk FREEBIE. Ways We Can Partner Talk How do you encourage students to practice and discuss new academic vocabulary words? I would LOVE to hear from you. ~jen Encouraging a LOVE of learning and thinking.
This is a fun Back to School Ice Breaker activity to get your students up and out of their seats during the first week of school....just pass out the jokes and they have to match them up and find their "Joke Partner". After everyone has matched up have the partners stand up and tell the class the jo...
If you have followed the discussion over the past years about "21st Century Skills" or have been on this planet long enough, you know that the ability to work with others is just as important as any "content" knowledge that we, as teachers, can provide. That being said, working "cooperatively" is NOT natural for all people, especially young children, and we have to make sure we are thoughtful about how we help students learn this valuable skill. Today I thought I'd share three key things to keep in mind--and then offer a few suggestions to get your brain thinking about ways to incorporate more learning partnerships in YOUR classroom! Partnerships are the perfect "starting point" for cooperative work! Think about how difficult it is for us, as adults, to get 4 or 5 of us to agree and be productive! Young students simply haven't been around long enough to know how to do that "delicate dance" of sharing, contributing, listening, and more. Learning how to actively listen is easier with just one other person. Sharing with just one person is so much easier for student who are more shy--and it's easier to have a back and forth conversation than try to balance several people. As students become accustomed to working with pairs, then it becomes easier to add people to the group. When forming partnerships, be mindful of your students' feelings. Be careful about the "find a partner" direction--because that is SO difficult for so many students. Whether they be shy, slower thinkers, worried about other students' feelings--asking students to form partners on the fly is often a tricky situation. Think about those who struggle finding partners and make sure everything is safe for them. Ideas? Use a "people picker" like popsicle sticks or index cards. Premake partnerships whenever possible (in addition to avoiding popularity contests, this allows you to encourage students to work with MANY other students, not just best friends). If you DO have students pick partners at times, consider a disclaimer, "If you don't find a partner in 15 seconds, come to me." so you can quickly help pair off those last few students. My students get very used to working with EVERYONE in the class (males, females, tall, small, etc) and they actually REQUEST me to pick popsicle sticks to take the partnering process out of their hands. We need to explicitly TEACH partnering skills Before I ask my students to work in partners, we have a number of discussions where we talk about what partnering LOOKS like, SOUNDS like, and WHY working in partnerships is beneficial. Together we made a list that we continue to refer to as we refine our partnering skills. The students did a pretty good job, I thought! Consider making a similar list with your students to make sure they understand that partnering isn't always easy--but it's worth it! As students start to work in pairs, you may need to stop and review some of these...and your students may come up with different ideas as well. Students need to realize that partnering isn't easy--and they will have to work at it! For some students, understanding that "balanced power" means that BOTH people have to share and both people have to listen is key--they can all relate to times they have had someone try to take over a group...and trying to work with someone who is NOT engaged or on task. So when should I use partnerships? All day long! Think about all the different ways that "Two heads" might be better than one...try some of these! Creating a climate where students work peacefully together will help increase engagement, improve learning, and increase the amount of academic discourse in your classroom. Another added bonus? As students work well TOGETHER, you are free to circulate, coach, and get a better sense of what is happening with your students' learning. Buddy reading Whether your students read with younger students or with others in your class, learning to read so others can hear, taking turns, staying on task, and using an appropriate voice level are all easy to practice with buddy reading. Try making copies of a fun poem for students to experiment with--or have them partner read an article. If you really want to dig in, have students read a novel as partners where they have discussions and buddy reading over an extended period of time. They can even complete a culminating project together! Checking for accuracy One of the first "partner routines" my students learn as we start the school year is "check for accuracy". I start this with basic math problems, math homework, and other tasks--where students work alone, then compare answers with a partner. We then practice how to handle when answers are different...and learn how to re-solve the problem together to see who was wrong and how to "fix up" any mistakes together. This really helps create a climate for collaboration, not competition and is a great way for students to check homework, to check over practice work, or to test the spelling of a tricky word! "Turn and Talk" One of the classic partner activities...and a GREAT way to get all students involved in discussions--turn and talk is a way for students to participate more frequently. This DOES need to be explicitly taught as well. If you simply say, "Turn and talk to a partner", you can sit back and watch certain students immediately turning to a best friend, other students sitting back and waiting to be asked (often ending up sitting silent)--and this doesn't lead to productive talk. Teach students to turn and talk by first checking around them to "include" students (may mean creating a trio!) and to make sure that each partner has a chance to share their ideas. This is a great way to get everyone talking--especially when asking questions ALL students should have access to. Not all students will know the answer to all math problems...but everyone should be able to answer questions related to opinions...to read alouds ("What do you think Ally should do next?")...or other easily accessible ideas. Math games Math games are a fun and easy way to teach the give and take of partnering. When students struggle, you can sit with them and coach the fair play and sportsmanship...but with games, the turn taking part is more automatic and students can work on some of the other factors such as voice level, on task behavior, using supplies wisely and more. This is one of the games in one of my "Partner Play" resources! Partner journals One thing my students enjoy once in a while is what I call "partner journals". You can do a lot of different things with this--but essentially in involves "sharing a notebook" to reflect back and forth on a read aloud, an article, a math problem--anything. Check out THIS POST for more information. It is a great way for students to realize that they write so that others can understand--and if they don't, communication breaks down. Try it and see! Challenge problems Putting students in situations where they need to solve difficult problems can be a great way for partners to learn how to make suggestions, listen to ideas, and politely disagree. When the answer isn't immediately obvious, it becomes clear that "two heads can be better than one"...and students can take their learning to higher levels. What about when students WANT to work alone? This is when coaching might be important...students need to see that other students might have great ideas, might help them find errors in their own thinking--and can make the entire process more fun! My students did a great job partnering on this back to school shopping challenge! These algebra thinking cards were MUCH easier when partners started working together! The math discussions they had were fantastic--and they found lots of misconceptions and mistakes they were making as they worked! My favorite quote? "I knew I could never do math this hard by myself!" And so much more! These are just a few suggestions to get your students working in pairs--but there are so many more! Keep stressing how important collaboration is--and how it takes practice to get good at it...but when we ARE good at it, working together can be so much fun! Follow me on... Facebook Pinterest Instagram @Fourthgradestudio Twitter @FourthGrStudio Periscope @ FourthGrStudio Teachers Pay Teachers Store Blog
Students love playing games. Reading games can be the perfect way for students to practice key phonics skills. These Partner Phonics Games for VCE Words give
Quick, easy, and painless!
Kids' writing ideas from Pinterest, including paint chip synonyms, printable Boggle game, traffic signal transitions, and paper plate Venn diagram.
Types Of Women Who Are Most Likely To Cheat On Their Partners
Appointment Clock Buddies is a fun cooperative learning strategy for assigning partners. Free printables and full directions included in this post from Laura Candler!
This printable Partner talk anchor chart poster is a great visual for primary classroom management! Display partner talk anchor chart in classroom for students to reference during "turn and talk" or partner talk time!•Full color•full poster size: 11" width, 17" height•Print on two 8 x 10 sheets (hor...
Having students work in partners is a popular choice for many teachers, but it can sometimes go wrong. Check out these tips for partner work in class.
Last week we started our study of verbs. I have used a few free verbs study packs I've found on TPT to introduce the concept. I love thi...
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I’ve been trying to think of creative ways to group students in class. When I want students to discuss something or work on something with a partner, it’s easy to just say, “Turn to the person next…
Improve reading fluency using these 4 steps. Learn about new exercises that will help your students to become more self-motivated.
Snakes and ladders: HOBBIES & FREE TIME ACTIVITIES -Let your students speak about hobbies and free time activities with fun!They will be encouraged to
These simple active listening exercises help students focus on what is being said and to share their feelings about being truly heard.
Kindergarten blog for teachers in the classroom. Ideas for homeschooling as well. Free files to your with your students.
Howdy partners! Explore these fun and engaging partner yoga poses with your little cowboys and cowgirls. Invite your kids to do partner triangle pose, partner horse stance, partner warrior 3 pose, and more! The deck of 37 colorful cards includes: an index card listing the yoga postures in a sequence 15 illustrated cards showing the postures 15 matching instructions cards yoga teaching tips The yoga poses in the index are sequenced specifically to invite flow from one pose to the next. This takes the guesswork out of figuring out which pose to do next. Download these Cowboy Yoga Cards to learn through movement in your home, classroom, or studio. Yeehaw! The yoga kids featured in the illustrations are multicultural and from a variety of countries. Ages 3+ Printing Instructions
These simple active listening exercises help students focus on what is being said and to share their feelings about being truly heard.
Students love playing games. Reading games can be the perfect way for students to practice key phonics skills. These Partner Phonics Games for VCE Words give
Well, 10 days away from Christmas Break {note…I initially wrote this last week and I never finished it…yikes!} and I feel like I have finally hit my reading-teacher groove. After months of training and trying, we have finally ‘fit’ it ALL into our 50 minute class period: flashback, mini-lesson, guided practice/Kagan structure, exit slip, AND...
Fun team building and partnering activity for back to school or anytime with thanks from Book Buddies. Great for brain breaks, getting acquainted or partner match-ups! Here are a few of the fun match-ups you will find in this resource: Happy - Feet Peanut Butter - Jelly I'm laughing - My head of...
These simple active listening exercises help students focus on what is being said and to share their feelings about being truly heard.
Here are some fun, engaging High-Frequency Words Partner Games that help students practice reading various sight words. Games include word-reading and
