As teachers, we have several goals (it’s like spinning plates, people) for our students. Two very worthy goals is to encourage our students’ confidence to grow and well as their independence. In a way, these two go hand-in-hand. The more confident a child is the more independent they become! Confidence and independence are traits that you want your students to have so that they can self-regulate and work independently. This will allow you to have more one-on-one time and small group instruction with fewer interruptions. YEAH!
When building student confidence and independence, it’s important for teachers to give students the resources that they need to support these goals. Students can practice these skills with self-checking materials that they can work on independently or in groups. They can work on specific concepts that have been introduced in the classroom. Early examples of self-checking materials would be flash cards; however, today’s resources have taken self-checking products to a fun, engaging level! How will self-check features help my students’ foster confidence and independence? Good question!
Confidence
Do you have a student that is afraid to be called on because they aren’t quite sure if their answer is correct? With self-checking, the students lose that sense of embarrassment and have more time to reflect on why they got an answer wrong. This also allows them to intrinsically celebrate the answers that they got correct. Yes!
Independence
Help students take responsibility for their learning, especially during small groups. Avoid unnecessary arguments from students who will try to convince other students that they have the correct answer. This all leads to your students disrupting you when you are busy helping other students. By offering a self-check feature, or an answer key, students can check themselves! This can be a great help when students are working in small groups. Tada . . . independence!
Here are some self-checking recommendations for your classroom:
Tricky Sticks™ Math Kit
Fun-filled games has the answer hidden on the back of each stick so that all players know the answer correct or incorrect! Includes three games: Missing Number, Shapes, and Money.
Picture Sticks™
These engaging activities are self-checking because when the sticks are put in the correct order, a picture is revealed!
Clip ‘N’ Check™
The self-check feature of these activities is revealed after the student “clips” their answer and flips the card over!
Place Value Activity Cards and Number Clips Kit
Students clip numerals to the card to represent the number shown and check the answer on the back. They can also write the number with a dry erase marker. Includes practice with place value family, expanded form, base-10 numerals, number words, and base-10 blocks.
Games
These games all come with an answer key!
Rock, Paper, Scissors Math Game – Addition And Subtraction Through 20
Grades 2-3 Math Adventures Games – Set 1
Comprehension Game Trio: Main Idea, Summary & Inference – Grades 4-5