Keep it or fix it?

Be a checker for a pretend 16-mark collection. One note says 8 + 8. Another says 8 + 7. Do either of these accounts fit the stated whole? You can keep a note or fix its parts.

  1. Inspect the same 16 marks, or direct a helper to make them.
  2. Choose a note to check. Match its claimed parts to the members, including each mark once.
  3. Keep the whole at 16. Keep or repair that note's parts and show why. Try the other note only if useful.

Point, speak, sign, use AAC or tell a helper where to put the marks. A quiet private try or pause is fine. No photo, returned homework, purchase or independent drawing/moving is needed.

Grown-up help

Prepare without a verdict cue. Make sixteen countable marks and two separate original ordinary notes, 8 + 8 and 8 + 7. Both refer to the same stated whole 16, not two extra collections. Present them alike, without a tick, cross or changed colour that supplies the decision. These differ from all held fresh source relationships.

Check after own thinking. The retained original ordinary account 8 + 8 = 16 can be kept. The different faulty ordinary account 8 + 7 includes fifteen marks and leaves one of the stated sixteen unaccounted for. Track members to check; repair the parts to a valid account such as 8 + 8, or another valid child-chosen split, while retaining whole 16. Do not teach that every note must change or reveal a held assessment verdict.

Smaller or next. If sixteen is too much, name a smaller actual whole and give it one valid and one different faulty ordinary note; state that this is a different practice amount. An adult can operate marks at the child's direction. A spoken check can explain the relation without a compulsory drawing or tactile task. If the reason is only ‘looks wrong’, match claimed members to the collection. Full plan. Preserve first reasoning before examples/hints; no required returned work or finished pair.

Original SubjectNest teaching and drawings © NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd 2026, CC BY 4.0. Credit SubjectNest by NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd, version 0.1.0, source and licence; note changes. Curriculum and provider rights remain separate.