Easy Table Group Management - Teach Create Motivate

Collaboration is great for student development, promotes classroom community, and allows students to share ideas and new strategies with their peers. When students work towards a common goal, big things happen!

Sometimes, however, groups of students sitting together can be hard to manage and keep on task. Table points are an easy way to recognize (appropriate) collaborative efforts and manage table groups. Try it out!

Benefits of Student Groups

Grouping students by tables or desks have a lot of benefits in the classroom!

Collaboration
Voting
Partnerships
Call on a group to line up, turn something in, etc.

Having table groups is not the only way (or always the best way) to seat students! Do what works for your students in your classroom and adapt this strategy for you.

Table Sparklers

Table sparklers, points, sparkles, whatever you call it, is a group classroom management strategy. All you need is a jar for the sparklers (points), buckets for however many tables you have, labels, and that's it! I place them somewhere easy to see but not in the way. Like under the calendar, for example!

You might already have many of these things around your classroom, but if you're interested in what I use, a few different options are linked below!

How Students Earn Points

Anytime table groups are working well, they get a sparkle (point.) This might look like students working together, on task, following directions, being kind, any behavior that is making that group shine! The only catch is that it has to be the whole table working together.

The first table group to 10 (or whatever you and the class decide) gets a prize! Groups can decide on different prizes, vote as a class for one prize, let them pick a prize from a choice menu, let them scan a code, etc.

Once one group reaches 10 and wins a prize, start over! Also, start over anytime you move table groups around.

Student Engagement & Classroom Community

After students have the concept down, bring it up a notch by allowing groups to give other groups table points! This will not only be super fun for your students, but it will help build that positive classroom community.

When students notice other table groups maintaining an appropriate voice level, working collaboratively, or on task, they can give that table a sparkle! The only rule here is tables can't give themselves a sparkler, only others. Students will be super motivated to show positive behaviors to earn a point from you or another group!

Table Sparkler Supplies

Of course, you can use any container or method of tracking points! As teachers, we have a lot of great stuff already laying around. Michaels and Amazon are great places to look for items like this for your classroom. Michaels even has a 15% discount for teachers with an ID!

You can find what I use for table sparklers is linked here:

Table Bingo

Another easy table group management strategy is Table Bingo. The expectations of Table Sparklers are the same for Table Bingo. The only difference is the “points.” Groups earn bingo pieces instead of sparklers. It's that simple!

You could do Table Sparklers, Table Bingo, or switch it up each quarter, all while keeping the expectations the same. Switching between Table Sparklers and Table Bingo increases student engagement but maintains consistency. Classroom management win!

Try Bingo For FREE!

Try Bingo with your class for FREE! Reward students for showing kindness throughout the day. Get your students involved by allowing them to give out pieces when they notice peers being kind. Build classroom community and recognize positive actions all at once!

Classroom Management Bingo

Classroom management can be a doozy! I wanted something fun and engaging to help my students stay focused throughout the year that hit multiple classroom expectations. I love changing up what I use in my classroom to help my students manage behaviors.

I want to try Bingo!

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