Responsibility

Staying on task until a job is done can be tough for adults, so it's not surprising that it's also difficult for most children. Teaching kids the importance of staying focused and finishing tasks is something that will serve them well in life. Help...

Self-monitoring is the ability to observe and evaluate one’s behavior. Give students the working knowledge of learning how to pay attention, stay on task and follow instructions with these five downloadable activities from Bryan Smith's How Did You...

Working memory is an important executive function because it helps children (and adults!) recall information required to complete tasks or functions, such as notetaking, spelling, or the order of operations in math. Some children seem to excel in this...

Planning is the ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or achieve a task, while prioritizing involves the ability to make decisions about what is important for you to focus on next. It can be challenging for children to know where to get started on...

Bryan Smith's Kindness Counts is a story about teaching random acts of kindness. These activities will help teach the importance of being kind to others, even when it isn't easy. Worksheets, games, discussion topics and group activities...

Initiative is the ability to start an activity, plan, or task. Learning how to take initiative and get things done is an important executive function skill for children. Author and educator Bryan Smith has developed five activities to accompany the...

Problem solving involves many other executive functioning behaviors, including reasoning, attention, planning, initiation, working memory, and self-monitoring. Teach your students problem solving skills with these activities that accompany the...

Sometimes making a choice is easy. Other times, it is quite hard. This is especially true when every option is less than ideal or simply stinks. Even when children think there are no good choices, they skill have to make a decision. Award-winning author...

The goal of this activity is to show how zest and enthusiasm are decreased by our lack of organization and the ability to maintain a sense of order. Energy is wasted when we spend our valuable time searching for items that we need. Frustration mounts and...

Students will learn the skills of accepting 'No' for an answer and disagreeing the right way. This activity accompanies Julia Cook's storybook I Just Don't Like the Sound of NO!, part of the BEST ME I Can Be! series. This fun and unique exercise is...

Students will learn the skills of accepting 'No' for an answer and disagreeing the right way with this activity that accompanies Julia Cook's storybook I Just Don't Like the Sound of NO! from the BEST ME I Can Be! series. Extend the learning with I...

This activity is designed to teach students to give more specific details and deliver them slowly. It can also teach students to listen more critically to instructions. From Julia Cook’s BEST ME I Can Be! series is an activity that accompanies her...