What are Executive Function Skills?

Executive function skills are central to success in the classroom and beyond. You can think of them as the CEO of your brain. They allow you to do things like organize, focus, and regulate emotions. We begin developing these skills from birth, but they only fully mature in our early 20s. And for many students, especially those with ADHD, executive function skills don’t come naturally. That’s why we are so excited to share our partner company Braintrust’s conversation with pediatric neuropsychologist Dr. Matt Pagirsky. Watch the video and keep reading to learn more about what executive function skills are, the way in which they impact learning, and how to support children who struggle with this skill set.

Key Takeaways

• We use executive function skills to …

  • Sustain attention and filter distractions

  • Identify goals, create plans to achieve them, and monitor our progress

  • Organize information

  • Generate strategies for solving problems

  • Initiate and complete tasks with efficiency

  • Remember and recall information

  • Shift attention and transition from one activity or subject to another

  • Regulate behavior and emotions

• Executive function skills play an important role in learning. Some examples include …

  • Reading

    • Decode words fluently by remembering sounds long enough to blend them

    • Organize and remember details in order to comprehend sentences and paragraphs

    • Keep track of a storyline

  • Writing

    • Organize our ideas in order to get them down on paper

    • Make a general plan for a piece of writing

    • Remember and apply spelling patterns and grammar rules

    • Edit and revise writing

  • Math

    • Solve multi-step problems

    • See different ways of solving a problem

    • Keep track of important information in a problem

    • Organize work on paper

• Executive function skills develop over time

  • They begin to develop in infancy

  • They typically mature around the age of 18-20 years old

  • They often take longer to develop in individuals with ADHD

• There are age-appropriate benchmarks for the development of executive function skills.

  • These include one’s ability to delay gratification, control impulses, pay attention to high and low-interest tasks, follow multi-step directions, and plan ahead.

  • Executive function challenges often become apparent during the transition into middle school and high school. This is because the complexity of assignments and expectations increases; and at the same time, students need to work with greater independence.

• Students struggling with executive function skills need intervention. This should include:

  • Explicit strategy instruction with frequent modeling

  • Consistent and repeated opportunities for practice

  • Direct instruction in organizational tools and strategies

  • Development of emotional regulation tools and strategies

If your child is struggling with executive function skills, we can help! Many of our tutors have extensive experience helping students develop the executive function skills they need for success in school and beyond. Reach out to us if you’d like to be connected. And if you are concerned about your child’s development, be sure to reach out to a pediatric neuropsychologist like Dr. Matt Pagirsky for a consultation or evaluation.

Our Collection of the Best Phonics Resources

Parents know how important it is to supplement their kids’ reading at home. But aside from picking up a good old-fashioned paperback, what other tools are out there? How do you distinguish great resources from mediocre? We’ve got your back. Here’s a guide to our favorite phonics and reading resources.

Digital Resources

Freckle ends up on just about all of our lists. That’s because it’s fun, effective, and takes literally no brain power from you to get your child set up on it. With activities in reading, phonics, and math, it’s a great one-stop shop for summer practice.

Wordwall houses an incredible library of teacher-made games in just about any subject you can think of. You can create your own for a fee, but accessing their library of pre-made games is completely free. You can browse generally or search for a specific skill. Kids love their fast-paced game templates, which are especially great for any student who likes a little competition.

Teach Your Monster to Read is visually appealing and so much fun for kids! They get to design their own monster and bring it with them every step of their reading journey.

Homer is a super fun and engaging website and app for kids to practice reading, writing, and a slew of other crucial early literacy skills.

Epic is a digital library with thousands of books for all ages, from decodables to young adult novels. They have texts on just about every subject in both fiction and nonfiction. Kids love Epic books because they look like real books, only they’re digital. The pages turn when you click on them, and most books are accompanied by vivid illustrations, photos, and/or graphics.

Hard Print Resources

For those of you wanting to limit or eliminate summer screen time, we recommend the following resources:

Highlights Kids is one of the most popular magazine subscriptions for kids, and for a good reason. Each issue contains many opportunities for readers to learn, explore, and play. While most of the content doesn’t feel academic, students practice crucial skills in reading, math, critical thinking, problem-solving, and strategizing.

Phonics books are a great resource for students who are emerging readers. Also called “decodable” books, they usually come in a set and are specifically written with targeted phonics skills and concepts for students to practice systematically and sequentially. The main difference between these books and other books that have phonics concepts is that these usually align to a specific curriculum, which means that the skills students use when reading each subsequent book are scaffolded and follow the same progression as the lessons they are learning/have learned in school (or at home).

Finally, a high-quality phonics workbook is another great no-tech bet. But not all workbooks are created equal. Those that focus primarily or exclusively on rote, repetitive copying, and other memorization strategies don’t necessarily provide kids with meaningful learning. It’s important for workbooks to be substantive, especially since it’s easy for worksheets to become busywork! That means they should require critical thinking and application as opposed to mindless practice. This one by Scholastic has some great exercises.

The Benefits of Reading: 5 Ways Reading Helps Kids Become Better Students

Kids love to play make-believe on the playground and create worlds for their toys. Sitting down with a book may seem dull by comparison, especially when they’re out of school and free to enjoy their summer break. But encouraging them to read every day is crucial for their development as people and students.

This guide explains how reading helps kids become better students so parents and educators feel motivated to help kids fall in love with stories. Here are a few key benefits of reading for kids:

1. They Learn New Vocabulary Words

Coming across new words is one of the first benefits of reading for students. Although their teachers will give them vocabulary lists in school, children remember new words more easily after reading them in books and applying them with associated meanings and situations. The words connect with their favorite characters or storylines, cementing their definition in your child’s memory. Reading more frequently also helps kids become naturally better spellers and develops their phonemic and phonological awareness.

2. They Become Better Communicators

An extensive vocabulary helps students write better essays and even get into better colleges when sending applications. Improving their communication abilities is one of the most significant benefits of reading for kids. College admission boards look for applicants with strong communication skills before accepting anyone.

Even if college is over a decade down the road, reading books early in life will help kids have an easier time in their future academic pursuits.

3. They Retain Lessons Longer

Reading teaches young minds how to retain information longer. It’s among the many benefits of reading for students because their brains exercise and refine the ability to remember crucial details. Encourage your kids to pick up books while they’re out of school or enter a summer reading club that motivates them with fun prizes.

They’ll start their new habit to win a competition and finish the summer with a new appreciation for reading. They may even meet new friends because everyone hung out at the library to start the event and attend the awards ceremony. It’s always good to expand a child’s social circle even when the primary goal is to help them remember school lessons longer.

4. They Develop Problem-Solving Skills

Books demonstrate how characters solve problems. Kids model these problem-solving skills in the classroom during tests and while answering questions during a presentation. They may never meet a little engine who could or give a mouse a cookie, but they’ll learn from those characters and use their new problem-solving skills to excel at school.

5. They Cultivate Time Management Skills

Time management is one of the unknown benefits of reading for kids. They’ll have to find time during their routine to sit down with their book and pay attention to the clock so they don’t miss dinner or the bus. Students replicate these skills when they divide their days into breaks, reading periods, and class schedules. Successful time management results in better grades and even better mental health.

Cultivate a Love of Reading

Now that you know how reading helps kids become better students, cultivate a love for it in your home. Take your kids to the library or buy new books for their bedroom. Short reading sessions every day will transform into days spent carrying books everywhere they go. They’ll succeed in and out of the classroom because stories gave them the tools they needed to chase their goals.

About the Author
Ginger Abbot is an education and learning writer with a personal love for reading. Explore more of her work on her website, Classrooms, where she also serves as editor.

What is the Reading Rope?

Literacy researcher Hollis Scarborough created a metaphor for explaining the complex processes involved in reading. She described reading by comparing it to the “strands of a rope." This awesome infographic visually shows the rope’s different parts and how they work together when one is reading. All of the components, or “strands,” together form what Scarborough calls “skilled reading." Skilled reading happens when students are able to read text fluently while simultaneously comprehending it. In other words, the different parts of the rope work in tandem when a person is able to accurately and automatically read a text and understand it fully. There are two main strands, Language Comprehension and Word Recognition, that are woven together. Each main strand consists of smaller strands that represent reading skills, as outlined below.

Word Recognition

These strands work together to promote fluency, accuracy, and speed as children are becoming competent readers:

Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness refers to the ability to recognize and manipulate the spoken sounds in sentences and individual words. It includes creating and identifying rhyming words, counting syllables, noticing alliteration, and finally, phonemic awareness, or the specific ability to recognize and manipulate the smallest units of sound (phonemes) in spoken words.

Decoding

Decoding is what we do when we use the letters in a word to determine what the word says. Decoding includes readers’ knowledge of the alphabetic principle, which states that sounds are represented by written letters/symbols, and that those letters/symbols are associated with specific sounds. A child’s ability to decode also requires that they have an understanding of sound-symbol correspondence.

Sight Recognition

When a child begins to recognize words by sight, it means they no longer have to work to decode the word whenever they come across it. Once a child has seen a word enough times, they begin to store the word visually in long-term memory. This means they can recall it automatically when they come to it.

Language Comprehension

These strands build off of and interact with one another as children practice making meaning of text:

Background Knowledge

This refers to what students already know about a topic before they begin reading about it. Background knowledge plays an important role in contextualizing facts in nonfiction and subject matter in a fiction story. When students have background knowledge of a topic, they are better able to make connections and gain a deeper understanding.

Vocabulary

Students should have an age-appropriate bank of vocabulary knowledge in order to be able to make sense of text. The best way to increase vocabulary is to read books with some unfamiliar words. But when students come across too many words they can’t define, this can leave them feeling frustrated and sap their motivation. Therefore, it’s important to target important vocabulary words periodically.

Language Structures

Language structure refers to the syntax and semantics an author uses in a text. Students should understand basic sentence structure in order to make sense of the order of words in a given sentence. This is called syntax, and it’s an important piece of language structure. Students should also have an age-appropriate understanding of semantics, or the often complex and nuanced meaning different combinations of words can have.

Verbal Reasoning

This refers to one’s ability to understand what one reads by using logic and reasoning. This is an important skill in that it helps students think deeply about a text, considering not just what it says explicitly, but also what is implied.

Literacy Knowledge

This last strand is all about a student’s knowledge of print concepts, such as a book’s layout. This includes everything from pre-reading skills like turning pages, to more advanced skills like navigating the text features of a nonfiction book in order to efficiently find information. It also includes concepts like genre and author’s purpose.

Many educators used to believe that teaching reading skills happened in a particular order; they thought students learned to read by first learning how to decode, then learning comprehension skills and strategies. One of the most important points of the rope metaphor is for parents and educators to understand that these skills are not sequential. They should be addressed concurrently in order for students to become the best readers they can be.

Helping in the Transition to College

For some students, the transition from high school to what’s next couldn’t be smoother. But for others, this time can feel impossible to navigate. The most important thing parents can do is find a balance between being supportive and giving their students the space they need to develop their independence. No matter where they’re headed next, these tips will help you help them make sure they’re on the right track.

Offer Help, But Give Space

Your child is likely craving independence. But he or she is also not ready for it in a lot of ways. He will still need you to guide and support him during this time. So be there! Be available for talks, advice, or to help with navigating some of the new adult skills your child (who is no longer a child) will soon need. If he’d rather navigate something on his own, let him (as long as it’s safe). It might just be a valuable learning experience.

Study Habits

Whether or not your child will be entering college, it's important that she develops productive work habits and study habits. This will come in handy (or be crucial) in whatever it is she is doing next. Knowing effective time management and organizational strategies will help her in all areas of her life, not just academics.

Self-Advocacy

 Every adult should know how to self-advocate. Ideally, students start learning self-advocacy early. While still in school, they should begin learning how to recognize their learning style and needs, and how to communicate them to others in their life, including professors, bosses, and even friends. The first step in truly mastering self-advocacy is to build confidence. Students who feel sure of themselves and believe that they are worth whatever they are advocating for are a lot more likely to speak up when they need something.

Teach or Reinforce Metacognition

Another important skill children need as they transition to young adulthood is metacognition, or the ability to think about one's thinking. All this really means is that students should have a good sense of themselves as learners and as individuals in order for them to best operate. For example, if your child needs to take breaks periodically to stay focused, it's helpful for them to be aware of that so they can proactively plan their work time with those breaks in mind.

Be Available to Help With Logistics

There are a lot of adult skills that just don’t come naturally to kids. We take some of these skills for granted because we’ve known how to do them for so long. Things like paying bills, filling a car with gas, or even mailing a letter at the post office (those still exist?!) can feel daunting to a teen! Be available to help with these things, but allow for independence when it’s there and when it’s comfortable.

Provide Guidance

We have our own curricula designed to support this transition, which we’ve named Smarter College - get in touch to learn more.

What is the Science of Reading?

You may have heard the buzz around the “Science of Reading” lately. New and trendy movements in education take off almost daily, but this one is worth paying attention to. For many years, even the most proactive and conscientious teachers have taught reading using a “Balanced Literacy” approach; that is, using a combination of explicit phonics instruction, and more whole language strategies like using context to “guess” words. But collective research from the last few decades has overwhelmingly shown that those whole language strategies don’t build strong readers able to decode complex texts. This extensive research has been coined the “Science of Reading.” As the name implies, we are all learning that teaching reading is a science, not an art. Students need explicit, systematic language instruction to “crack the code” and make sense of written language.

What’s the Difference Between Science of Reading and Phonics?

Phonics is part of the science of reading. Phonics instruction refers to the specific skills students learn about letter sounds and symbols. The science of reading is more complex than just phonics. It includes everything about how kids learn to read, which does start with systematic and explicit phonics instruction, but it doesn’t end there. In addition to teaching phonics, it also includes vocabulary acquisition, morphology skills (manipulating words), and comprehension strategies.

Science of Reading in the Classroom

So what should a reading lesson look like knowing what we now know? A typical reading lesson used to consist of a specific skill being modeled, perhaps through a read-aloud. Then students would try it out themselves through independent practice. It still works this way, but some of the skills and strategies promoted by Science of Reading research differ. Teachers might still model skills through a read-aloud, and students might still have time to practice those skills independently. But instead of teaching students strategies like using a picture and the first letter of a word to figure out what it says, students learn how to solve the word based on how it’s written. And instead of isolated comprehension strategies like sequencing events or identifying cause and effect, students practice mindful reading, and teachers show them what it looks like.

Shifting Your Practice

It can be difficult to acknowledge that something you’ve been doing for years isn’t best for students. But everyone who teaches reading is in the same boat! We are all constantly learning and growing. Making the shift toward a more structured approach to teaching reading just means that, like the research itself, your teaching practice is evolving.

A classroom that truly embodies the science of reading principles starts with phonics instruction early. It empowers students by helping them crack the reading code by actually learning how to decode words instead of using pictures, sentence structure, or context to guess at them. It also teaches comprehension not through isolated skill practice, but through interacting with text and being metacognitive about one’s reading process. This means students are encouraged to think about what and how they are thinking while they read. 

So given what we know about the science of reading, what makes a good reader? First, it takes knowledge of phonics rules and how to apply them. Next, it takes meaningful vocabulary acquisition. And finally, it takes actively and metacognitively engaging with text in order to make sense of it.

A Summer of Books

Social media sites have revolutionized the way we communicate. Zoom has now radically altered meetings and even classroom time. In this week’s post, we take it back to one of the transformative technological innovations of all time: the book. As we head into summer, we’re reposting some of our top recommendations —just the greatest hits — for students in middle and high school, so that your students can take up this time-tested tool for escape and education. 

Middle School

The Seeds of America trilogy, by Laurie Halse Anderson is a captivating work of historical fiction. Chains, the first book in the series, follows Isabel and Curzon, as they navigate Revolutionary war-era New York City, struggling for their freedom and the freedom of an emerging nation. 

Beloved children’s author Jerry Spinelli has a couple of tried and true classics for the middle school age group: Star Girl and Maniac Magee. Both are deceptively profound stories of kids amongst themselves, with important lessons for any reader. 

And for students interested in a well-told tale full of adventure, fantasy, and clever plot, we recommend the Artemis Fowl series, by Eoin Colfer (which has just been the subject of a so-so film adaptation), and the Percy Jackson series, by Rick Riordan. Both offer the chance to dig into an exciting world that extends across multiple books, to keep kids reading all summer long. 

High School

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a classic of dystopian literature, and a great read; if you’re looking for more bite-sized and engaging stories, Bradbury has written a treasure trove of them, many of which are set in summertime. Check out classic collections like Dandelion Wine, The Illustrated Man, and The Martian Chronicles. 

Everyone should read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. This tale of a family adapting to survive as they migrate west to California has important resonance with our current moment. And like Bradbury, Steinbeck was a prolific author with several works worth digging into: East of Eden, The Pearl, Of Mice and Men, and more. 

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin is perfect for the high schooler interested in fantasy, who is ready to graduate from the usual middle school fodder -- this book is often cited as Le Guin’s greatest, and her work remains groundbreaking and relevant today. And if your student falls in love with Le Guin, there’s a wide range of texts to choose from to follow.

Reading Benchmarks

This year, it has been especially hard for many parents to gauge how their children are doing in school. Strict social distancing rules have meant that there are no classroom visits to see your child in action, and many students haven’t stepped foot in a classroom themselves in over a year. You may be wondering just how your child is doing compared to how she or he should be doing at a given age and grade level.

One of the most important skills for students to keep up with is reading. Hopefully your child reads at home, and/or you read to or with them. Still, it can be hard to know where their skills lie. Here is a grade-level breakdown of skills students are expected to master by the end of each grade. These skills will vary from state to state, and even from school to school, so use this chart as a guideline as opposed to a rule.

Grade Level Skills and Benchmarks in Reading

Don't Panic

It’s important to keep in mind that virtually every child this year has experienced some sort of academic backsliding. Of course, the degree of regression will vary greatly from student to student. So if your child’s progress has stalled this year, don’t panic. They are by no means alone, and they will get back on track. It just might take a little extra work and perseverance…plus a healthy mix of tough love and empathy on your part!

Learning to Evaluate Sources

Before the age of technology, conducting research was both less convenient and a lot more straight-forward. Students would have to go to a library, look through the catalog of books organized using the Dewey Decimal System, and then locate their book on one of hundreds of shelves. There was little room for unreliable sources. And with all of the information available to us today, there is no shortage of high-quality, reliable sources at our fingertips. But there’s also a lot of bias and misinformation. So students not only need to find sources, but they need to make sure they’re the right sources. How do we teach students which sources they can trust, and which they should skip? 

Start with Search Terms

Not all search terms are created equal! The words students choose when conducting an internet search make all the difference in their results. For example, if a student is looking for arguments on both sides of an issue, they should be careful not to include any adjectives in their search that could cause their results to skew one way or the other. Otherwise, one view will outweigh the other in their sources, and probably in their final product.

Discuss Media Bias

In order to evaluate sources for credibility, students first need to understand what reliability (and unreliability) means. “Media bias” is an important term to teach students in introducing the concept of reliability of sources. So many news websites and independent journalists write with media bias, whether they realize it or not. Have students explore media bias by comparing two or more reports of the same event, and analyzing how they differ. Any differences in perspective, events that are or are not included in the story, or facts that are left out all point to media bias.

This doesn’t mean students should avoid using sources just because there is media bias present. It just means that students need to evaluate the source and the facts it presents with a critical eye, and always ask whether there is more to a story than is being presented.

Teach Healthy Skepticism

In general, students should always view online sources with a healthy level of skepticism. This doesn’t mean they need to distrust everything they come across. But they should get in the habit of always questioning the reliability and credibility of what they read. Here are some great questions to model with, and to teach students to ask themselves as they are internet browsing:

• What was the author’s purpose in writing this, and what is their background? Do I know that they have the expertise to write on this topic?

• What is the website’s purpose?

• How current is the information on this website?

• Is the information on this website backed up anywhere else?

Resources

CommonSense.org’s Digital Citizenship Curriculum for K-12 has some great lessons and activities to supplement students’ development of research skills, as well as lessons in how to interact with online content more generally.

This infographic, created by Richard Byrne and Canva, has some excellent strategies for executing effective google searches.

We’re Here to Help!

It’s important for students to engage in consistent practice over the summer in order to maintain the skills they’ve worked so hard to develop. OurSmarter Summers program is just the ticket! We are offering general courses in Elementary grades, where students will use critical thinking skills in reading, writing, and math in a high-engagement, high-rigor virtual setting. For Middle and High Schoolers, we are offering next-level writing courses to help build your child’s confidence as a writer (and learn to evaluate sources)! Visit ourwebsite to learn more about our Smarter Summers program or to register your child.

Stages of Writing Development

As with any big skill, children learn how to write in stages. Some parents are surprised when they hear that their kindergartner’s incomprehensible scribbles are age appropriate. Others may balk at a teacher’s suggestion that their high schooler’s writing, which seems eloquent, is underdeveloped. The evolution of a writer’s development is complex. But students generally follow the same progression of milestones. Here are the major ones to look for in each grade band.

Early Stages of Writing Development

In pre-school and kindergarten, students are learning how to hold a pencil correctly. While this may come naturally to some kids, many need to be given very clear instructions on proper grip. This is especially true if fine motor skills are weak. 

It’s important to note that while encoding (spelling) words based on the sounds they make is a regular part of any phonics curriculum, writing skills are much more complex. Students begin researching as young as kindergarten, but their research will look very different than that of a high schooler! When kindergartners research, it usually entails choosing a topic and using illustrations to move their writing along. And many times, their ‘writing’ also consists largely of illustrations, usually accompanied by simple sentences, phrases, or individual words. 

Around first grade, students begin to use more “inventive spelling,” where their spelling is based on the sounds in words. While there will still be many errors, their spelling becomes more logical. They can construct simple sentences and group sentences together based on topic.

Upper Elementary

As students become more fluent in spelling and sentence construction, the focus gradually shifts away from the structure of words and sentences, to that of paragraphs and whole pieces of writing. Once students arrive at fourth and fifth grade, they should start crafting sentences that fit together in the context of a larger paragraph or story. They begin to incorporate an overall structure to their writing, and they should be able to follow that structure through to the end of their written work.

Middle School

In middle school, writing demands become more formal, as students learn to use sources in their writing and how to cite those sources. They begin to learn how to connect the citations to their claim or argument, both accurately and eloquently. Using domain-specific vocabulary in their writing, students are expected to be able to produce writing pieces on more specific topics.

High School

At the secondary level, students begin reading and writing with a more critical eye. They improve their writing by reading the works of others, and can identify strengths in their own writing, as well as areas for improvement. They begin completing writing assignments that are more original, and are better able to synthesize information from a variety of sources in order to make an argument that is original, or that explores a topic in a new way or from a new perspective. These are the skills that students will continue to refine throughout the rest of their academic careers— and beyond, if they continue writing.

We’re Here to Help!

It’s important for students to engage in consistent practice over the summer in order to maintain the skills they’ve worked so hard to develop. Our Smarter Summers program is just the ticket! We are offering general courses in Elementary grades, where students will use critical thinking skills in reading, writing, and math in a high-engagement, high-rigor virtual setting. For Middle and High Schoolers, we are offering next-level writing courses to help build your child’s confidence as a writer! Visit our website to learn more about our Smarter Summers program or to register your child.