Correcting Work for Kindergarten

[Clarita]

It seems to me handing a kindergartener back his work with red 'x' marks and a 8/10 seems wrong. How do you handle correcting a Kindergartner's work?

Background to the question:

This is occuring for Singapore Earlybird Mathmatics K. We do a lot of hands on work (especially the work out of the textbook) and I'm always there to explain questions and the like while he's working. I would like guide him towards being able to do independent work; he likes doing independent work and I don't feel like hindering that enthusiasm. So he works on some of the "activity book" problems on his own, sometimes he gets them wrong. 

Just from a learning, good habit building standpoint. I'm in CA, Kindergarten is not mandatory, no records are necessary. 

[KSera]

I would just look over and rework the missed ones together. I wouldn’t mark them as wrong or put a grade or anything. (My preference at that age would be to work all problems together though, and catch any errors as they occur. I would choose some thing other than math to be independent, if it were me.)

[Clarita]

10 minutes ago, KSera said:

I would choose some thing other than math to be independent, if it were me.

Handwriting is definately the one I choose to be independent, but then the "wrong" example is harder to describe. Math is the one he says "Mommy I can do this by myself just tell me what the question is." (After doing some similar hands on work.) By correcting this would be happening almost immediately afterwards since he only gets at most 3-4 problems per topic.

[Megbo]

At that age, we go over their work together and I have them rework any problems didn't answer correctly the first time. Correct answers get a check mark, so by the time we finish going over a page every problem will have a check beside it.

In later elementary school, I correct their work by putting a check mark next to correct answers and leaving incorrect answers unchecked. When they fix the answer, they get a check. 

[UHP]

My thought about this is not too fleshed out and not based on too much experience, but: far far better to catch them in the act of getting things right, give lots of praise.

My daughter can learn from her mistakes if I catch them in real time, and not so well if I catch and correct them a half hour after the fact. But sometimes I make up a worksheet that we pretend some other kid did, maybe a beast academy character. I put in mistakes that I know she's prone to make and ask her to find them. It's worked OK.

[barnwife]

This is not something I've ever dealt with. At that age, all my kids (so far, at least) do all work with me right there. I mean, they might do a couple problems as I putter around doing something near them, but I'd catch it and we'd fix it then. 

So I don't think of it as "checking their work" like I did as a school teacher with a stack of homework. It's just part of the lesson/teaching process.

[Gil]

You could just put the missed exercises on a white board and have him re-do the problem for you like he's teaching it to you.

Then, if he got it correct, point out that he missed it on the paper and let him fix it.

If he got it wrong, go ahead and fix it with him and have him fix it on the paper.

 

[Renai]

51 minutes ago, Gil said:

You could just put the missed exercises on a white board and have him re-do the problem for you like he's teaching it to you.

Then, if he got it correct, point out that he missed it on the paper and let him fix it.

If he got it wrong, go ahead and fix it with him and have him fix it on the paper.

 

This is how we did it. Yes, most of the time I was right there, but sometimes I wasn't. Rewriting it on the whiteboard is a treat.

[PeterPan]

2 hours ago, Clarita said:

I would like guide him towards being able to do independent work; he likes doing independent work and I don't feel like hindering that enthusiasm.

Another way to look at this is to find independent work that is *truly independent*. This means it's going to be *below* instructional level and something he can do independently. Otherwise, you're talking about something more like homework or the practice exercises for a lesson (something at instructional level). 

2 hours ago, Clarita said:

Math is the one he says "Mommy I can do this by myself just tell me what the question is." (After doing some similar hands on work.) By correcting this would be happening almost immediately afterwards since he only gets at most 3-4 problems per topic.

So fill me in because I haven't used that Singapore book. Are you saying there are 3-4 problems on a page and he might miss 1? Or there are more (10 or 12 or 20, I don't know) and he's missing 3-4? 

When I wanted my dd, who needed a lot of supervision, to work independently, I needed to get enough practice done FIRST that when she went to do it she would be able to get them mostly correct. So I'd be concerned about what is causing him to miss so many. Does he need more practice before he hits the page? Is he rushing? Does he need to self monitor a bit? When I worked in K5 (during the dark ages, haha) we would hand papers back and asked them if they did their *best* work.

If rushing is resulting in errors, then some self monitoring strategies would work. With my ds' independent work, I will check it and hand it back with the problems circled. I LOVE @Megbo's check idea. That's very positive and uplifting. 🙂 But I think I'd try to notice *why* you're getting errors and back up and deal with that root issue.

And for independent work for a K5er, things that will be possibly below instructional level, consider things like:

audio with a book to read along

https://www.teachercreated.com/products/cut-and-paste-math-3708

https://www.teachercreated.com/products/simple-graph-art-0095

anything by Kumon

logic puzzles from Timberdoodle

https://www.carsondellosa.com/705317--word-searches-activity-book-grade-k-1-paperback-705317/  

etc.

If you think he's rushing or impulsive, you could reveal the work one line at a time or have him check in to have it checked before he goes off to play or whatever.

 

[Clarita]

I might have read one too many articles about the horrible effects of telling your kid they are wrong. I don't even know how to begin the conversation of "You did this wrong."

2 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

So fill me in because I haven't used that Singapore book. Are you saying there are 3-4 problems on a page and he might miss 1?

It's 3-4 problems and he might miss 1. He's generally trying to get the answers right and is careful, but of course he's going to be 5 at the end of the month so he doesn't understand the concept of checking his answers. I'm generally fine with the amount he misses because he might miss 1 in a week of work, I don't expect anyone to be perfect. 

So this work isn't truly what he's doing independently. I'm right there next to him for the work, I might stretch or go to the bathroom or help his little sister with her scribbling.

[wendyroo]

We do check marks (or stars or smiley face stamps or whatever they want) on correct answers.

That has always felt very "growth-mindset" to me - I am congratulating them on the problems they have mastered so far, with the full expectation that with a little more work they will be able to get the rest.

With my K'ers, I often step in to help with any problems that do not get checkmarks on the first attempt. I might do an example problem, point out a similarity to one they got right, use manipulatives to model the problem, etc. Once it is correct, even with help, then we checkmark it.

By the end of K, if they get one or two wrong, and I'm confident it is due to careless errors, then I will have them work to fix the problems on their own for a bit.

[PeterPan]

2 hours ago, Clarita said:

It's 3-4 problems and he might miss 1. He's generally trying to get the answers right and is careful, but of course he's going to be 5 at the end of the month so he doesn't understand the concept of checking his answers. I'm generally fine with the amount he misses because he might miss 1 in a week of work, I don't expect anyone to be perfect. 

I pulled up samples of the SM EB K books and I see what you're saying! There are 4 tasks per page and you're saying once a week he might miss 1 of them and you're wondering whether you need to DO something about this, yes? So it's once in a while, not an everyday occurrence, right? 

So do you want me to sprinkle some magic confidence dust that YES IT'S OK to let things go? People were giving you great answers on how to keep it positive, and that would be fine. It's also an option NOT to correct at all. You literally just notice and file that away as ok, maybe practice that skill at the start of the next lesson to make sure it's solid before moving on.

If it's just a once in a while thing, random errors, I'm with you that they happen! And it sounds like your gut is giving you good advice on how to handle him mentally. He's a K4 by age (except maybe in states like CA with a late cutoff?), so yeah gingerly. In fact, shhh, but if I saw those kind of errors consistently I would *put the materials away* and come back in 3 months. You might have a totally different experience. At his age, waiting just a few months can make a big difference.

2 hours ago, Clarita said:

So this work isn't truly what he's doing independently. I'm right there next to him for the work, I might stretch or go to the bathroom or help his little sister with her scribbling.

Seems like what you say is going to depend on why you think the error happened, kwim? The SM EB samples have a lot of *language* expectations, so I could see where an early reader or nonreader might get tripped up. With my ds I will say things like "Did you understand that one?" or "Did you understand what it was asking there?" You can do something polite like "Explain to me how you got this one" or "Let's take a look at this one again" or "Let's try this one again."

What is the worst that happens if you DON'T correct the error on the worksheet? My ds has a math disability btw, so I'm always thinking doom and gloom, what if I don't do things well, lol. Say I give him a multiplication worksheet and he misses *1* out of 20. I don't care, walk, let it go. Multiplication will be there tomorrow and the worst that happens is we need more days. Now if he misses *5* out of 20, then we have a problem Houston. If he also left things *blank* and has errors, then I'm going to figure out why he was having an off day. A lot missed, I'm going to figure he's not feeling well or for some reason found the task too hard. 

When the material is basically instructional level, it's worth correcting as you go because you actually want the correct learning. But for literal practice, it's ok to let stuff go. You just review it before the start of the next lesson to make sure the skill was solid before moving on.

I think if you don't correct EVER, then he doesn't get to work through the process of taking criticism, realizing something was hard, etc. But hard and K5 don't go together. Hard and K4 really don't go together. At this point, it should all feel like play. If it's not feeling that way, take a break and come back.

[purpleowl]

I don't bother with grades or marking 8/10 or whatever at that age.

To indicate which problems we need to go back and look at together, I use a pencil to lightly draw an arrow pointing to the problem number. After correcting it, the child can erase the arrow.

Sometimes I don't bother with that - I just say, "Can you tell me how you got this answer?" I try to ask that for some of the questions they got right as well as the ones they got wrong.

[Clarita]

Thanks all for all the helpful advice. I think I'm going to try the going over the work together and marking them correct; re-working them orally or written if necessary for complete happy marks. Whiteboard idea may have to come later because my kids get super distracted by white boards right now. 

He is K4 I just don't bother differentiating because we're homeschooling and it doesn't matter. I just don't have a lot of expertise with kids and I don't know what expectations are age appropriate.  

[Clarita]

23 hours ago, PeterPan said:

And for independent work for a K5er, things that will be possibly below instructional level, consider things like:

Although oddly enough a lot of the cutting and gluing, and coloring are the things he gets wrong most often. It's like the art skills are too much for him.

[goldenecho]

I would handle this one of two ways...

1.  Circle the ones he got wrong and have him correct it. 
2.  Keep record of ones he did wrong for your own notes and have him work out similar problems with you on a white board or something where you can talk to him about it later.

I wouldn't give him back a paper with stuff marked wrong unless I was asking him to change it.   

Edited November 11, 2021 by goldenecho

[kiwik]

Mine is 12 and I circle the incorrect one lightly and ask him to look again.

[Not_a_Number]

Honestly, I just hand back the work with Xs. If she fixes it, I cross out the X and make it a check.

But I've also stopped sitting with DD5 at all times when she does her work. I come in and check her work and talk to her for a bit, but everyone's better off if I'm not THERE the whole time... if I am, all of her feelings about her work become externalized on me, and the work suddenly becomes 10 times harder 😛 . 

For DD5, the Xs aren't a huge problem. She's happy when they are replaced by checks but they aren't, like, traumatic. Not all kids are THAT fragile 😄 . 

[GracieJane]

I guess we work backwards, because I only circle the problem sets done incorrectly. We have a saying: if you aren’t making mistakes, it’s too easy. 😉 My kids know if they get 100% on anything, I will make them invent a problem they can’t solve as punishment.