Sweet 'N' Sauer Firsties

  • Sweet 'N' Sauer Firsties
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Course
  • Freebies
  • Contact

Tips and Tricks for Working with Partners

How many times have you said the words, “find a partner” and complete chaos happens? Either students don’t move, fight, or go immediately to their best friend. Sound too familiar? In this post you are going to learn some easy and effective ways to get your students partnered, why it’s important, and ideas for utilizing partner activities in your classroom. 

Working with Partners Tips and Tricks

Communication Counts

Allowing students to have a voice in the classroom is really important for a variety of reasons. Not only does it help with developing communication skills, but it also allows students to feel valued and heard. When students are encouraged to voice their ideas, experiences, and feelings, students learn important collaboration and language skills.  It also helps greatly to identify and discuss common misconceptions. 

Sometimes students don’t get much practice communicating and this is where partner conversations can come in to help foster healthy connections and discussions. I love utilizing partners throughout the day with students. Whether it’s during the beginning of the day and we are sharing something personal or during academic times. Oftentimes students feel more comfortable sharing with a partner and can learn from them even better from us! 

But how do we help students learn how to collaborate? Check out these tools below that can help students learn how to use their voice and come up with things to talk about. They’re great to help them learn how to have conversations and how to respectfully disagree with each other. 

Sentence starters for partner collaboration

Partner Card Activity Pack

How many times have you heard, “we don’t know what to talk about.” These can help with diminishing that statement. Encourage them with practice topics and don’t forget to shine a spotlight on great conversations you overhear to set expectations for students. When sharing with the class, one powerful question I like asking students is, “what did your partner say?” This helps ensure that they are actively listening to their partner and not just sharing their own thoughts and opinions. It also helps give their partner a voice if they are too shy to speak out themselves. 

When to Use Partners

Partner work is so powerful to foster student’s growth exponentially throughout the year, academically, socially, and emotionally. Working together helps build friendships, it gives opportunities for peer teaching, and it keeps students engaged. This type of work opens up great practice for problem solving, verbal communication, and conflict resolution as well. Some instances where grouping partners are would be beneficial include:

  • Academic conversations
  • Games or activities
  • Buddy reading
  • Field trips
  • Turn and Talks
  • Completing a task

While students learn a lot from individual and whole group time, utilizing partner activities is just as impactful and there should be tons of time for it in the school day. 

Perfect Pairings

Rather than causing chaos by simply telling students to partner up, using partner cards is an awesome way to get this task accomplished. You can either pre-plan out partners for academic conversations or randomly hand out cards and have them find a partner. 

partner cards

If you want to pre-plan partners, make your list and hand out one of the pairs to each half of the pairs of students. It may seem “random” for students, but you have strategically paired them! Would you like a more random pairing experience? Have students simply pick a partner card from a hat and have them find their perfect match. Using this method allows for students to work together who may not otherwise choose each other, more collaboration, and it provides a nice, structured way to group students. 

When you need to pair students for an academic task, strategic partnering should be implemented. This is really important so that students can have a productive conversation where they are both sharing information and learning from one another. It requires deeper thinking about the whole child and their strengths and who best fits with each other based on their abilities. This may mean that they have a different partner for math than they do for reading or even writing. When I strategically group students, I think about a variety of factors including who they work well with and how their skill levels compare to one another. For example, if I have a student who is ready for addition within 100 but another student who is still working on addition within 10, those two students are not the best grouping. Instead, I may look for another student who is also working on addition within 10 so that they can learn strategies from one another and have a productive time. 

What if you have an odd number of students? That’s no problem! Simply make an extra card and have milk paired with cookie 1 and cookie 2. These cards can also be laminated and hot glued onto a popsicle stick to make it easier for little hands to hold onto!

partner carfds working with partners first grade

All of these tools and more are apart of the Partner Cards Resource! 

Partner Cards Activity Pack

Partner Cards Resource

Beginning of the Year Tips

When you are introducing this concept to littles, there can be confusion. Alleviate some of the confusion with some important lesson tools. Display this poster for students as they begin to learn about the different ‘perfect pairs’. They will see exactly who their perfect match is no matter which card they receive. 

Perfect Pairs Partner Cards and Tools

Students also need to learn what it means to be a good partner and how we collaborate with our peers. Take a look at these different expectation posters that can support student understanding during the first few weeks of school. These posters are also available in blank versions for you to add your own reminders for students!

working with partners elementary school

Partner Card Activity Pack

Want anther great way to practice communication skills at the beginning of the year? Charades is a great way to build team skills as well as important communication skills. The best part is that you can grab this engaging activity for FREE below!

back to school charades freebie

Love this FREE resource?

Sign up now and get exclusive access to this freebie and many more in the continuously growing freebie library!

I hope you enjoyed learning about how to utilize partners in your classroom. Collaborating is a CRUCIAL life skill for students and we need to help them learn how to do it successfully. Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list! You will get the most up to date tips, tricks, and classroom projects… and of course more fun FREEBIES including the Back to School Charades FREEBIE! You will also have exclusive access to tons of digital how-to videos! If you would like to learn about this and other things happening in my classroom follow me  @sweetnsauerfirsties on Instagram.

To follow me on TPT and get all the latest updates on HALF OFF new products, click HERE!

sweetnsauerfirsties

Love these ideas but don’t want to lose them? Don’t forget it, PIN it below!

Spread the Love

13
Shares

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

«
»

Back to School, Classroom Activities, Classroom Community, Classroom Management, Tips and Tricks 0

Newsletter

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe via Email

About This Site

A fun place to be apart of the educational journey. Full of all things teaching! The good, the bad, and even the ugly. Join my experiences and subscribe to my email list to get the most up to date tips and tricks.

Search

Categories

Latest on Instagram

Cheers to the weekend! 🥂 What are you looking Cheers to the weekend! 🥂

What are you looking forward to this weekend?
•
•
•

#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers
#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #disneyteacher 
 #igconnect4edu #teacherssupportteachers #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #teacherstyle #teachermomlife #teachertravels #teacherweekend #teachermom
One of my favorite tips from @missingtoothgrins 😂

What candy is your favorite to collect this time of year? 
•
•
•
•

#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers
#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #teachingtips 
 #igconnect4edu #teachermemes #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #teacherhacks #classroomfun #teacherhumor #teacherquotes #classroomcommunity
It’s World Read Aloud Day! 📖 @scholasticinc It’s World Read Aloud Day! 📖 

@scholasticinc has live read alouds ALL DAY!! 👏

Check them all out now with the link on my profile. 

What are you reading aloud today to your students?
•
•
•
•

#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers
#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #teachingtips 
 #igconnect4edu #worldreadaloudday #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #scholastic #classroomfun #makelearningfun #readaloud #classroomcommunity
At the happiest place on Earth! 😍 What’s mak At the happiest place on Earth! 😍

What’s making you happy this week?
•
•
•
•
#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers
#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #teachingtips 
 #igconnect4edu #teacherstyle #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #teachertravels #teacherinspiration #teachershare #teachermomlife #teachermom
I mean.. it’s not wrong. 🤷‍♀️😂
•
•
•
•
#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers
#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #teachingtips 
 #igconnect4edu #teacherssupportteachers #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #teacherhacks #teachermemes #teachertruth #teacherquotes #teachershare
The 100th day of school is HUGE! It’s a time t The 100th day of school is HUGE! 

It’s a time to celebrate all the hard work and learning done together. It marks an important time that signals that we’ve spent more than half the year together! 

There are so many fun, engaging, and simple ways to celebrate that make it a memorable experience for students. 

Swipe left to see some of the fun ways we’ve celebrated together and learn easy and engaging ways now with the link on my profile or drop a 🤩 and I’ll share the link!
•
•
•
•
•
#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers #teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #igteachers #iteach #iteachfirst #kindergarten #igconnect4edu #teachershare #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #makelearningfun #100thdayofschool #teachertips #classroomfun #100daysofschool #100thday
Save this for easy and fun 100th day ideas! The 1 Save this for easy and fun 100th day ideas!

The 100th day doesn’t have to be overwhelming, there are TONS of easy and low prep ideas to help your students have a blast and make it easy to plan for YOU.

🌟 Have a scavenger hunt for 100 items (erasers, candy, etc).
🌟Stations are my favorite management hack for the 100th day. They rotate through fun activities all day while you get to spend more time with each group.
🌟 Pocket chart games are easy and engaging. Students work together to hunt for the special item while practicing number sense, recognition, and patterns.
🌟 Would you rather is an easy way to get kiddos up and moving while connecting. This is a great no prep time filler!
🌟 Crowns are the perfect and quiet activity to show off all their learning and make a great keepsake. 

Learn about these activities and more with the link on my profile! You can also drop a 🥳 and I’ll share the link!
•
•
•
•
#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers #teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #teacherhacks #studentengagement #kindergarten #makelearningfun #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #classroomcommunity #100thday #100daysofschool #teachershare #classroommanagement #100thdayofschool
Well this should be fun! 😝 What is something yo Well this should be fun! 😝 What is something you say 2451 times a day as a teacher? Let us know below! ⬇️
•
•
•
•
#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers
#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #iteachtoo
 #igconnect4edu #teacherfunny #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #teachergram #teachershare #teacherquotes #teacherhumor  #teacherfun #teacherweekend
It’s time for #tptfreebie Friday! 🥳 Grab thi It’s time for #tptfreebie Friday! 🥳

Grab this adorable and no prep color by code activity.

It’s an easy and engaging QUIET activity that students can enjoy as morning work, a time filler, fast finisher, or even as homework!

Grab your FREEBIE now with the link on my profile or drop a 🤩 and I’ll share the link!

When is your 100th day? Let us know below! ⬇️
•
•
•
•
#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers
#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #teacherhacks
 #numbersense #makelearningfun #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #colorbycode #teachershare #teacherinspiration  #100thday #100thdayofschool

Latest on Facebook

Lindsay Sauer

12 hours ago

Lindsay Sauer
Cheers to the weekend! 🥂What are you looking forward to this weekend?•••#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #disneyteacher #igconnect4edu #teacherssupportteachers #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #teacherstyle #teachermomlife #teachertravels #teacherweekend #teachermom ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Lindsay Sauer

2 days ago

Lindsay Sauer
One of my favorite tips from @missingtoothgrins 😂What candy is your favorite to collect this time of year? ••••#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #teachingtips #igconnect4edu #teachermemes #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #teacherhacks #classroomfun #teacherhumor #teacherquotes #classroomcommunity ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Lindsay Sauer

3 days ago

Lindsay Sauer
It’s World Read Aloud Day! 📖 @scholasticinc has live read alouds ALL DAY!! 👏Check them all out now with the link on my profile. What are you reading aloud today to your students?••••#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #teachingtips #igconnect4edu #worldreadaloudday #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #scholastic #classroomfun #makelearningfun #readaloud #classroomcommunity ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Lindsay Sauer

6 days ago

Lindsay Sauer
I mean.. it’s not wrong. 🤷‍♀️😂••••#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers#teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachersofig #iteach #iteachfirst #teachingtips #igconnect4edu #teacherssupportteachers #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #teacherhacks #teachermemes #teachertruth #teacherquotes #teachershare ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Lindsay Sauer

6 days ago

Lindsay Sauer
The 100th day of school is HUGE! It’s a time to celebrate all the hard work and learning done together. It marks an important time that signals that we’ve spent more than half the year together! There are so many fun, engaging, and simple ways to celebrate that make it a memorable experience for students. Swipe left to see some of the fun ways we’ve celebrated together and learn easy and engaging ways now with the link on my profile or drop a 🤩 and I’ll share the link!•••••#elementaryteacher #teaching #classroom #teachingideas #classroomideas #education #handsonlearning #teachertribe #teacher #teachers #teacherlife #teacherproblems #firstgrade #firstgradeteacher #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #igteachers #iteach #iteachfirst #kindergarten #igconnect4edu #teachershare #teacherspayteachers #weareteachers #makelearningfun #100thdayofschool #teachertips #classroomfun #100daysofschool #100thday ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Latest on Pinterest

  • Are you looking for ways to teach kindness to kids in the classroom? Today, I’m sharing my favorite teacher tips on helping your early elementary students understand kindness in the classroom. Some of my favorite kindness activities for kids is setting expectations and modeling kindness. We love reading, How Full Is Your Bucket? By Tom Rath and more. It’s important to role play ideas for kids in the classroom. Kindness anchor charts are great to create during whole group and small group lessons.
  • Do you need some ideas about teaching money to your first grade students? Check out my favorite teaching tips on money for kids. First, have your students watch some BrainPop Jr. videos and books about money for kids. Money anchor charts are fantastic to use during math whole group to better K-2 students' understanding. The CRA Math Model is perfect for understanding money for kids. I also share my favorite math centers like money puzzles, money bingo, and math money games!
  • Have you been looking for end of year classroom community activities? These classroom community building activities are perfect for your K-2 classroom! I love creating an end of year anchor chart so students can write down their favorite memories of first grade. K-2 students will love the balloon bulletin board countdown with themes. Early elementary students enjoy creating a reflection writing craft, first grade end of year memories, would you rather end of school year game, and much more!
  • Have you been wondering what the benefits of reading aloud to children are? Today, I will share why reading aloud to children is important. Reading aloud increases children's vocabulary, building fluency, and reading comprehension. It’s important to teach elementary students how to choose the just right book. I love doing interactive read alouds and think alouds during my picture book reading. Check out how I incorporate writing about reading, building my classroom library, and reading at home.
  • Do you need some ideas about teaching money to your first grade students? Check out my favorite teaching tips on money for kids. First, have your students watch some BrainPop Jr. videos and books about money for kids. Money anchor charts are fantastic to use during math whole group to better K-2 students' understanding. The CRA Math Model is perfect for understanding money for kids. I also share my favorite math centers like money puzzles, money bingo, and math money games!
  • Have you been wondering what the benefits of reading aloud to children are? Today, I will share why reading aloud to children is important. Reading aloud increases children's vocabulary, building fluency, and reading comprehension. It’s important to teach elementary students how to choose the just right book. I love doing interactive read alouds and think alouds during my picture book reading. Check out how I incorporate writing about reading, building my classroom library, and reading at home.
  • Are you looking for ways to teach kindness to kids in the classroom? Today, I’m sharing my favorite teacher tips on helping your early elementary students understand kindness in the classroom. Some of my favorite kindness activities for kids is setting expectations and modeling kindness. We love reading, How Full Is Your Bucket? By Tom Rath and more. It’s important to role play ideas for kids in the classroom. Kindness anchor charts are great to create during whole group and small group lessons.
  • Have you been looking for end of year classroom community activities? These classroom community building activities are perfect for your K-2 classroom! I love creating an end of year anchor chart so students can write down their favorite memories of first grade. K-2 students will love the balloon bulletin board countdown with themes. Early elementary students enjoy creating a reflection writing craft, first grade end of year memories, would you rather end of school year game, and much more!
  • If you want to know more about the science of reading, now is your chance. Today, I will share why the science of reading is important to learn and understand for our elementary students. The 5 essential components that make up reading instruction are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. For K-2 students it is important to spend approximately 40% of your instructional block focusing on phonemic awareness skills and phonics skills.

Copyright © 2023 · Website Design By Jumping Jax Designs

 

Loading Comments...