Pairs, Photo Magnets & Groups

In Front of the Class

by Linda Starr, Education World®

Comedy Teams

Looking for a way to pair up students? Cut out cartoon strips from the daily newspaper. Then cut each strip into two sections. Hand out the sections and challenge students to find the student with the other half of their comic strip. Students whose comics go together are partners for the day's activity.

Attractive Uses for Photo Magnets

Purchase or cut magnet tape to the size of business cards. Print color photos of students that are the same size as the magnets and glue a different student's photo to each magnet. The photo magnets can be used for many purposes -- to announce groups for student activities, poll students' opinions, create a picture graph of students' birthdays, keep track of students who have left the room...

Famous Pairings

Looking for an easy way to establish pairs of students for a classroom activity? Create a set of "Famous Pairs" cards. You will need one card per student. On each card, write a word that represents one half of a famous pair. For example, on one card you might write peanut butter and on the matching card you would write jelly. Other famous pairs might include Adam and Eve; bow and arrow; Calvin and Hobbes... Distribute a card to each student and have students find the other half of their famous pair. (You might use this list of famous pairs from Wikipedia as a source for the activity.)

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