Tips and Tricks to Work Through Writer’s Block

Task initiation is an executive function that refers to one’s ability to begin a new task in a timely manner without prompts or reminders. Children who struggle with task initiation show it in different ways. While one child may stare at a blank computer screen, another may procrastinate or avoid a task altogether. These behaviors are typically observed more frequently with tasks that require multi-step processes or critical thinking. Because many writing assignments require students to engage in the entire multi-step writing process, students with poor task initiation skills often feel overwhelmed, or even develop writer’s block (the inability to start or continue writing for reasons other than lack of skill or commitment).

This blog shares simple tips and tricks to help students initiate writing tasks or overcome the dreaded writer’s block:

Create an outline

Creating a plan for writing assignments is a big help. For younger grades, graphic organizers and brainstorming maps can be extremely beneficial. Older students can create an outline to help organize their ideas and thoughts. The planning phase is also a great time to determine how long each section will take to complete! It may be helpful to create a schedule to determine when each section will be completed. Schedules can increase motivation and help incorporate planned breaks into longer projects.

Work backwards

Knowing where something ends can help the brain process the information in a new way. It can take the anxiety out of reading a new book, watching a new show, or even writing a paper. If students get stuck trying to figure out the perfect beginning, they can try writing the end of the assignment first and working backwards. 

Find Resources and Examples

If a writing assignment requires the use of resources or specific examples from a text, students cab try outlining these ideas if they get stuck in the process. This can spark new ideas and help redirect thoughts. For younger grades, finding resources and thinking of specific examples can help your child write strong, detailed sentences. It will also help chunk the assignment into smaller workloads, which can help motivate them to get started with the physical writing part.

Relocate or Reorganize for Less Distraction

Relocating to a new location or decluttering the current work station may increase the chance of curing the student’s writer’s block. If the student usually works in their room, they can try working at the kitchen table or in a public setting, such as a library. If your child’s workspace is cluttered, try helping them declutter it or move them to a new tidy space to prevent unnecessary distractions. 

If your child focuses best with background noise, be sure they use familiar sounds (songs, shows, etc.) that do not require their attention to be shared between multiple tasks. With struggles in task initiation, it will be easy for a child’s brain to choose the more exciting task to attend to - be sure that your child’s background noise is supporting their brain’s thinking process and not inviting distractions to take over. 

Use Breaks and Rewards as Motivation

Breaks are an easy way to keep kids motivated and encourage them to get started on the a new section of the assignment. When using breaks and rewards, be sure to use a timer for time on task. Checklists can be used as a visual reminder to see how much progress has been made! For example, your child could create a list of individual sections they need to complete (i.e. Introduction, 10 minute break, Paragraph 1, 10 minute break…) and cross each one off as they finish. Using positive reinforcement and self-talk can help your child overcome writer’s block and motivate them to keep working. 

When writer’s block strikes, it can seem impossible to overcome. Sometimes the best medicine is taking a break, re-organizing, and finding a groove!

Written by Ami Z.

Developing Executive Functioning Skills through Creativity in the Kitchen

Are you searching for fun and unique ways to help children continue to develop and strengthen their executive functioning skills over winter break? Look no further than… the kitchen! The kitchen is an incredible place to work on key skills like as planning, organization, time management, task initiation, sustained attention, and self-control. Food preparation not only enhances executive functioning skills, but also promotes social skills, responsibility, fine motor skills, and self-esteem! Below are some exciting activities that promote skill building and creativity!

Trail Mix

Trail mix is particularly great for young kids! Start by having children create a list of their favorite trail mix add-ins (think mixed nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips, raisins, M&M’s, etc.). Then, take them along to the grocery store to help find the ingredients. Once home, measure out the correct amount of each trail mix ingredient and let them scoop, pour, and stir to their heart’s content. Bless This Mess offers some fun DIY trail mix recipes here.

Fruit Kebabs

Fruit kebabs are not only fun to make but also pleasing to the eyes and delicious to eat! Creating fruit kebabs targets skills like planning, sequencing, fine motor, and organization. Select the desired fruits for the kebabs, and again, have children accompany you to the store to ensure all necessary items are purchased. Once home, ask them to write out the order in which they want to assemble each fruit kebab. Older kids, with supervision, can help cut up and organize the fruit into separate bowls to make assembly easier. After these steps, everyone can join in assembling the skewers and enjoy the end result together. Here is a fun rainbow variation to try by Healthy Little Foodies!

Ice Cream Sundae Bar

Undoubtedly the most enjoyable of all activities, working together to create an ice cream sundae bar will create special memories while also developing key executive function skills like organization. It’s a win-win! You'll need a few different kinds of ice cream, your favorite toppings, and sauces. Younger kids can color and make labels for each of the toppings, while older kids can type them up and print them out. Everyone can help separate and organize all the toppings into small bowls or containers and decide how to arrange them on the table. Planning is also an important step prior to actually building the sundae creation so the treat turns out as desired. If you’re feeling extra adventurous, you can try out a homemade vanilla ice cream recipe by Chocolate Slopes here.

Overnight Oats

Preparing overnight oats is a wonderful activity to help with task initiation and time management. Since they need to be made the evening before, children have to remember to plan accordingly. This one is also excellent for older kids because they need to ensure they get the correct ratio of oats to milk, etc. Not only are overnight oats a great source of nutrients and fiber, but they can be personalized with a variety of ingredients to fit your kids’ taste buds. Workweek Lunch provides some kid-friendly recipes here.

All of the above activities help build executive functioning skills. As parents or caregivers, be sure to set expectations by providing clear instructions, helping when necessary, and assigning responsibilities appropriate to the child's age level. This blog by Lukin Center of Psychology offers a comprehensive list of age-appropriate tasks in the kitchen.

And, if you’re looking for some winter specific activities to try out at home, see our past Peak blog here for some ideas!

Written by Laine J.

Building a Sense of Time: The First Step to Time Management

Most kids naturally become curious about time as they learn more about the world around them. “Are we there yet?”, “How many more minutes until dinner is ready?”. “How much longer will it be?” While these questions may seem simple, and maybe even overwhelming at times, kids are beginning to develop their curiosity about the concept of time. And even though this may be easy to dismiss or ignore, you can use this curiosity to their advantage by guiding children through the first steps to successful time management skills. 

Time management incorporates a variety of abilities such as: estimating the time required on a task, identifying how much time you will need to complete a task, and allocating an appropriate amount of time to specific tasks. These skills can be particularly challenging for students who require additional support with executive functioning skills, but practicing various time management skills at home will help strengthen these deficits.

Concepts of Time

Young children begin exploring different times throughout the day by using words such as morning, afternoon, nighttime, bedtime, and more. Once they enter school, they may use different subjects to discuss the time of day. For example, they may use lunch, recess, specials, etc. as a reference point when talking about their day. Teaching words and routines related to different parts of the day (specifically AM and PM) can help students develop this concept. 

Your child will also benefit from calendar conversations. Talking about seasons, months, days, and even years for the older elementary students, will help strengthen their fundamental concepts of time. 

Work Stamina Development

When developing a new skill, young children may not have the required work stamina required to complete specific projects, activities, or schoolwork. For example, when students enter first grade, they typically need to practice building their reading stamina so they can independently read for 15-20 minutes. Using a timer can support their work stamina and exercise their ability to refocus for a specific amount of time. Visual timers can help children develop their sense of time as they become familiar with different lengths of time.

Visual Supports

When children use visual supports to develop time management skills, they are more likely to be able to recall steps and processes independently as they become proficient with the task. Some visual supports that will help strengthen working memory and time management skills include timers, clocks, checklists, to-do lists, chore labels, AM/PM routines, monthly/weekly/daily schedules, academic planners, and visual reminders for important dates. These resources can be used in combination with other supports to solidify learned skills.

Routines and Procedures

Following routines and procedures at home is an incredibly effective way to help children develop time management skills—especially when these routines are displayed in an easily accessible location for children. Routines can benefit time management skills as they break down a longer process into more manageable and smaller steps. It also helps them begin building an understanding of how much time is required to complete each step. 

Planning and Organizing

Children can practice time management skills when they plan and organize. Younger children will need more guided practice when planning and organizing their time. Thinking aloud to children about schedules, homework due dates, and other important dates/times will help them develop foundational skills. As children get older, planning and organizing becomes more challenging. Older children often have more tasks to manage and have more rigorous assignments to complete. Using an academic/personal planner can help children prioritize assignments, allocate time appropriately, and strengthen these skills so they are ready to practice them independently in middle school.

“Work smarter, not harder” is a common phrase heard in adulthood and frequently in the workplace. While it can be considered “office small talk”, it also reiterates the benefit of strong time management skills. By teaching children to work “smarter” by focusing on the time required to complete each task in a process, young children will be able to build on these skills to develop independence and continue strengthening their skills through adulthood.

Written by Ami Z.

Crafting the Ultimate Homework Routine

Creating a well-structured nightly homework routine can make all the difference when it comes to managing the pressures of middle school life! Middle school students have to balance an increasingly difficult workload, numerous extracurricular activities, time with family, and their social lives. This blog dives into specific strategies for crafting a homework routine that can help students streamline their study habits, ultimately leading to more academic success and more free time for preferred activities!

Understanding the Assignments

Before students can appropriately plan and manage their homework, it is important that they have a full understanding of the tasks at hand. Students should have a concrete and consistent method of keeping track of their assignments. Assignment trackers should include space for the assignment's name, any important details, a due date, and a way to indicate when the assignment is complete. It is also imperative that students understand the requirements of the assignment. The assignment tracker should be easily transportable between school and home so that students can check in with their teachers in class if there is ever any confusion about a particular task. Students can also ask their teacher about how long they expect an assignment to take.

Creating a Homework Schedule

Creating a homework schedule is key to ensuring assignments are completed in a timely and efficient manner. The first step is to take a look at the entire month. Consider purchasing a monthly whiteboard calendar to keep track of trips, sports games, appointments, etc. Then move into a weekly schedule. Write down when all activities that take place each day of the week, and then determine how much time is left to complete homework each day. Now, students will have a clear visual understanding of just how much time they actually have to study and work each day of the week. Consider using apps like Todoist or myHomework to help create these types of schedules.

Choosing the Right Workspace

Having a calm and quiet workspace can greatly enhance the study experience. In this previous Peak blog, a multitude of tips and tricks for creating the ultimate homework space were shared. Essentially, a home workspace should be free from the hustle and bustle of the home, have comfortable, upright seating, good lighting, and be clutter-free and organized.

Setting Up Good Homework Habits

Students need to experiment to find out what homework habits work best for them. For example, some students work better by tackling their easiest tasks first, while others might prefer starting with the most challenging ones. Some students might be night owls and able to work later into the night, whereas others might be more focused if they allocate extra time in earlier in the day to complete their work. Encouraging students to try out a few different methods can benefit them in the long run because they will discover what works best for them. A few other helpful homework habits include starting each session with deep breathing or a mindful minute, taking scheduled study breaks, or listening to calm instrumental music. This Peak blog also delves into some strategies for helping students when they have a hard time getting to work at night.

Creating a nightly homework routine will look different for each student. Expect it to take some time to figure out what truly works best for your child. Experimenting with different methods and honing in on the most useful ones for each individual will ultimately lead to better habits and academic success!

Written by Laine J.

Real-Life Math Skills: Building Money Sense

It has become increasingly more common for consumers to rely on contactless pay as a preferred transaction method. People are using physical money less frequently, and while this may be more convenient for those of us who have a strong foundation of money sense, this may also develop a new challenge for the younger generations. Despite young adults having access to electronic banking tools, children of all ages need to develop foundational skills related to money prior to more advanced skills such as budgeting, balancing checkbooks, and creating saving plans. Although it may seem impossible to do in a world of “tap, insert, or swipe card here”, there are plenty of additional ways for children to strengthen their skills! 

Money sense often begins in school as early as first grade with students identifying coins and bills and their corresponding values. From here, students begin practicing more complex skills such as money-related word problems and understanding the relationship between place value and money. There are plenty of strategies you can use at home to help students of all ages continue to develop these skills.

For students, it is important to use engaging tools to help them build these beginning mathematical skills. Math can be such a tricky concept so it may be beneficial to incorporate a mixture of games and practical activities to help students develop these concepts. Aside from pretend store playsets, there are plenty of board games that teach these foundational skills that can be found at Lakeshore Learning, Amazon, Walmart and more! Some of these include Monopoly, Pay Day, Allowance, Making Change, and the Exact Change. Games are such a positive and interactive way to engage students and develop these skills in a low stress environment. Additionally, for various ages, there are math flashcards, trivia questions, workbooks, and online tools that can help strengthen these skills!

Other ways to help students develop these skills include processes such as earning allowances, creating savings plans so your child knows exactly how much they need to save before purchasing an item, and even building savings (perhaps in a piggy bank!). As your child grows older, it may be important to share insights on the roles and responsibilities of earning money. Tasks such as trips to the grocery store, buying clothes, and eating out could be excellent ways to start these conversations. Greenlight is one banking app/debit card for kids and teens that allows parents to set controls and manage money spending with their kids. Additionally, We Are Teachers provides a list of ways you can help your child develop money sense at home. 

Money sense often begins with fundamental skills as simple as understanding the value of money. Children begin developing these skills from a young age and continue to develop them through high school and their young adult lives. Helping students strengthen their money sense and establish money management strategies will contribute to their success as adults! Money can often be a stressful topic, but helping your child develop these skills can be a fun and rewarding experience! Real-life examples, visuals, and physical money can be one of the best ways for your child to make sense of these complex concepts!

Written by Ami Z.

Exploring the Past: Engaging Children in History Through Travel

Children are natural explorers, full of curiosity about the world. With summer in full swing, vacations and trips provide a golden opportunity to tap into their natural wonder and enlighten them about the rich history that can be discovered through travel. This blog will dive into creative and unique ways to engage children in the captivating narratives of our past, connecting their travels to a deeper understanding of history.

Plan Visits to Historical Sites

When planning your family vacations, make it a point to include visits to historical sites. These can include a wide range of locations, from museums to ancient ruins and renowned landmarks. Many historical landmarks and museums offer guided tours or activities tailored specifically for children, heightening their interest in the subject matter. To up the excitement factor, consider organizing a scavenger hunt related to the specific landmark or site. This interactive approach not only engages children, but also allows them to more actively participate in history.

Utilize Guidebooks

Prior to your trip, consider investing in guidebooks or exploring online resources that outline various places of historical significance in your chosen destination. Involve your child in the process, exploring different possibilities and discussing what interests them most. Guidebooks and websites often include an array of historical facts that can provide a valuable context to the upcoming trip, building both curiosity and anticipation.

Make History Hands-On

Enlivening history through hands-on activities can be an extraordinary way to create an immersive learning experience. Encourage your child to try historical foods, witness plays or reenactments, participate in traditional crafts, or explore the musical traditions of the region. These types of experiences will not only deepen their appreciation for history, but also foster more of a connection to the culture and people of the past.

Attend Cultural Events

Research and identify cultural events taking place during your travels. Attending these events exposes your child to many different historical perspectives through unique traditions, music, food, activities, displays, and art. By immersing themselves in shared experiences of the culture, children gain a broader understanding of the historical context in which it all unfolds.

Document Your Travels

Capture cherished memories by taking plenty of photos, videos, and jotting down favorite moments from your trip. Once you return home, involve your child in the process of creating a scrapbook, PowerPoint presentation, or video slideshow to recount their experiences. This interactive reflection reinforces their learning and allows them to showcase their newfound knowledge to family and friends.

By taking the time to emphasize history through travel, you provide your child with a deeper appreciation of those who came before us. By gaining insights into the past, they can contemplate the contributions they themselves may make in shaping the future!

Written by Laine J.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DOWNTIME IN YOUR CHILD’S DAILY ROUTINE

During the months of August through May students’ days are filled with a combination of school and non-school related activities from homework and projects to sports, chores/errands, play dates, extracurricular activities, and hobbies. Many days are filled with tightly wound schedules with little room for downtime — even on the weekends. During the summer months, schedules can easily be filled with things to do and places to be all day long. Regularly scheduled downtime can easily get overlooked or pushed to the bottom of a priority list. While this is true, it is important that children are still given the opportunity to explore this uninterrupted time.

What is Downtime and Why Is It Important?

Lindsey Frey explains that “Downtime or quiet time is unstructured time, away from screens or other stimulating play, to allow kids to engage in independent activities” (Frey, 2023, para. 4). Kids of all ages might have difficulty finding activities that do not involve other people or electronic devices. However, this unstructured, quiet downtime allows individuals time to process new information and experiences, independently explore interests, and building executive functioning skills.

Incorporating Downtime into Your Schedule

Even if you are an expert in rest and relaxation yourself, your child might not have the tools to master downtime right away — and that is absolutely okay! Just like any new skill, your child may need guidance, practice, and modeling when they first start routine downtime. Here are three quick tips for implementing downtime into your child’s daily routine:

1. Set a timer and start in small increments! Make sure your child has time to explore their interests, but give them a set time to practice time management and organizational skills. You can start with a small amount of time and slowly build their stamina as your child is ready. Don’t forget to celebrate their wins! For older students, a set amount of time will allow them to plan how they would like to spend their downtime.

2. Create a choice board or lists! This gives your child the opportunity to make a choice and helps them understand the boundaries of downtime. It is a great way to help children with task initiation if they are unsure of how to start. Sometimes as children get older, it can get harder to manage schedules, assignments and tasks. Creating a list, or specifically a to-do list, can promote independence and college/career readiness.

3. Change the environment as needed! For the younger children, this could mean playing independently in different areas of the house or even outdoors. For older children, it may be reading, writing, etc. in a public setting such as a library, park, or coffee shop.

Starting a Routine This summer

Although summer break can easily be filled with camps, vacation, and special activities, family schedules are usually a little more relaxed than during the school year. Summer is a wonderful time to incorporate routine downtime so children master the concept before the upcoming school year. For younger children downtime could look like reading/listening to books, playing independent games inside or outside, mindfulness activities, playing with chalk, bubbles, or play-doh, watching the clouds, coloring, or drawing. For teenagers it could look like reading, journaling, mindfulness/yoga, nature walks/hikes, puzzles, rest/sleeping in, creating and following routines, adult coloring books, and even listening to podcasts/books.

A healthy combination of playtime, downtime, and family time, or PDF, will have a lasting impact on your child! One of the best things you can do for your child during downtime this summer is to model and set an example for them. Who knows, you may even discover a hidden talent or hobby yourself!

References:

Frey, Lyndsey. “Busy Schedule? The Benefits of Daily Downtime for Kids May Surprise You.” Inside Children’s Blog, 19 Mar. 2023, www.akronchildrens.org/inside/2023/04/03/busy-schedule-the-benefits-of-daily-downtime-for-kids-may-surprise-you.

Written by Ami Z.

Cultivating Cognitive Flexibility in Your Child

Of all the executive functions, cognitive flexibility stands out as one of the most crucial skills to develop in our youth. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adapt, revise, and shift behavior in response to roadblocks, changing situations, mistakes, and new information. By nurturing cognitive flexibility, you can empower your child to approach new challenges with creativity, problem-solving skills, and resilience.

The Role of Cognitive Flexibility

Life doesn't always go as planned! Being cognitively flexible allows you to explore alternative solutions, adjust based on new ideas or information, think creatively, and ultimately be more successful. School-aged children thrive with routine and consistency, which is fantastic for them, but it can also lead to somewhat rigid thinking. By explicitly teaching strategies to build a sense of flexibility, you can help your child balance their love of routine while also freeing them to problem-solve, think creatively, and thrive in all of life's complex and ever-changing situations.

Change in Routine

It is easy to get stuck in the same routine day in and day out. By adding small and manageable changes to your daily routine, you can actually improve your child's cognitive flexibility. Try changing the work environment for your child's homework time. If you normally work at home every day, maybe head to an outdoor picnic table one day or the library and see how it goes! If every weekend your child likes to play at the same splash pad, change it up and go to a completely new one! These small adjustments to the routine may seem simple, but they can play a huge role in strengthening mental flexibility.

New Experiences

Engage your child in opportunities for new experiences often! Trying new foods, experimenting with new hobbies, traveling to new places, and learning new skills can all help your child develop more cognitive flexibility. New experiences actually allow the brain to develop and strengthen new connections!

Sports, Games, and other Fun

What could be more fun than playing a sport, a board game, or learning a new dance? The best part is that all of these activities are awesome ways to cultivate your child's flexibility. Let's take soccer as an example. If a kid has the ball and wants to try to make a goal, but a player on the opposite team blocks them, they must adapt by either passing the ball or going another way. This kind of thinking will be required in almost any sport or game, and all will help with this executive function. Puzzles, brain-teasers, and art projects also apply here.

Perspective and Open-Mindedness

Encourage your child to be open to new ideas and perspectives that might differ from their own. This can be achieved through discussion, reading books about other cultures, and even role-playing. Having an open mind and the ability to tolerate different perspectives fosters both empathy and flexibility.

Mindfulness Practices

Introducing mindfulness activities, such as deep breathing or meditation, can help your child develop focus and emotional regulation. Strengthening these skills will enhance cognitive flexibility while also reducing impulsivity.

By fostering cognitive flexibility, you can provide your child with the tools to navigate the complexities of life, adapt to new situations, and approach challenges with resilience and creativity. As your child's cognitive flexibility grows, they will become better equipped to embrace the ever-changing world with confidence, curiosity, and adaptability.

Written by Laine J.

7 Ways to Reinforce Executive Functioning Skills this Summer

As the final school bells ring and the summer heat kicks in, many families are gearing up to enjoy a summer break filled with quality time, relaxation, and planned activities. Before school ends, many teachers give tips, tricks, and resources to avoid the “summer learning slide”, referring to a student’s loss of reading and math skills during the summer months. While these resources often include practice pages and suggestions to maintain academic progress, it is equally important for students to exercise the executive functioning skills they frequently practiced through school systems, structures, and routines. Here are 7 ways these skills can be easily incorporated into your student’s summer break through a combination of day-to-day routines and fun, engaging activities.

Get organizeD

During the summer months, many families experience less structure in their daily schedules and may fill their time with non-routine events such as camping, vacations, playdates, summer camps, and more. This transition can be challenging for students who may have relied on visual supports or daily routines during school. You can support this transition at home by using organization/planning tools to keep track of important dates and information, setting timers as needed to display how much time your child has left to complete a task, and helping your child create morning/afternoon checklists to stay organized and keep track of any routinely scheduled tasks that need to be completed.

Be mindful

Another way to practice executive functioning skills is through daily mindfulness exercises. Angela Pruess, a licensed clinical family therapist, highlights eight benefits and examples of mindfulness for children. Practicing mindfulness can look like daily meditation, “down time” or “quiet time”, yoga, nature walks, spending time outdoors, mindfulness apps, blowing bubbles, coloring, journaling, and listening to music.

Play, play, play

Playing games is a great way to practice skills like planning, memory, self-regulation, flexibility, self-control, organization, and goal setting. Specific games like Monopoly, Uno, Bingo, Connect 4, Jenga, Mancala, Memory, Battleship, and Guess Who can work on these skills. Prepped Learning offers additional suggestions for games to improve executive functions. Not only are games a great way to improve critical thinking skills, but they are also a fun way to make connections and create memories with your child.

Create a summer activity wish list

Have your child create a summer “wish list” of realistic activities and goals for this summer. Goals can range from “read 10 books” to “see a new movie”. Then, encourage your child to plan out and set a timeline to accomplish each task. You can add this to your family organizational system or create a personal calendar with your child so they can view and self-assess their progress.

Join an organized sport or activity group

Your child could join a summer camp, team, or program to increase their team building and executive functioning skills. Many sports and activity groups (band, music, theater, martial arts, etc.) help children develop skills such as organization, self-awareness, self-regulation, attention, memory, vision, and goal setting.

Run a lemonade stand

Your child can plan an activity with friends, family, or independently to run a lemonade stand. They can create a list of materials, set goals of how much lemonade to sell, practice following multi-step directions while making the lemonade, organize their stand, modify plans as needed, and improve task initiation skills. This can also give an opportunity for children to reflect, using developing their metacognitive skills, and problem solve for any necessary improvements.

Create checklists for planned activity days

If you have an activity planned, such as a beach day, vacation, camping trip, etc., you can ask your child to get involved in the planning process by creating a checklist of necessary items to pack. Not only does this checklist help create responsibility, but it also works to improve skills like planning, organization, and prioritization.

Whether your summer has a jam-packed schedule, or is filled with rest and relaxation, there are many fun, and exciting ways your child can continue to develop their executive functions and prevent the summer slide!

Written by Ami Z.

Supporting Children as They Develop a Sense of Self

As humans, our sense of self is integral to most every aspect of our life. Identity can be formed from a variety of factors, including hobbies, personality traits, occupation, spiritual beliefs and more. As opposed to their youngest years of life, children entering elementary school and beyond begin to develop their unique sense of self in a more meaningful and abstract manner. Integrating projects, enrichment activities, discussion, reflection, and hobbies can all benefit children in the development of their identity and their ability to express themselves.

Choice Projects

Project-based learning is ideal for the development of a positive sense of self because it promotes intrinsic motivation, curiosity, questioning, reflection and child-led task initiation. Projects might be child-led, teacher assigned, or created by a family member! If assigned a project for school, children can find small ways to tailor the project to fit their interests. For example, they can find a topic that speaks to them, or choose a manner to present their project that excites them. Perhaps they are a visual learner and want to hand-draw every picture in their presentation, or they love making movies and choose to do their presentation video style! With summer coming up, this is a great time for parents to encourage their children to pick a project of their own to work on over the next couple of months. Self-directed projects offer a full creative outlet for children to work within, all while learning more about themselves and what makes them who they are. Long term self-choice projects appropriate for the summer might include: learning how to build and maintain a garden bed, writing a book or comic book, creating a dance routine or talent show, doing a research project on a place they want to travel, or building their own robot! The options here are endless, with an end-goal of finding something that encourages the joy of discovery and is as self-led as possible.

Enrichment Activities

Enrichment activities, or extracurriculars, play a huge role in building a child’s sense of identity. Parents may offer guidance and support in the process of exploring which activities speak most to their children. Extracurriculars can often become overwhelming and sometimes, not so child-led. It is beneficial to really observe children’s interests and help them to choose activities outside of school that are going to spark joy and help them grow as individuals. After all, children end up spending MANY hours doing these activities, so it’s important to pick ones that they find interesting. Take inventory of what hobbies are already most enjoyable to the child and align those with a club, camp, or class. Nowadays, there are an array of options to choose from, like music, sports, cooking, yoga, dance, theater and STEM. It may be helpful to allow children the space to practice a few of these enrichment activities in order to then be able to narrow down their favorites!

ReflectioN

As children grow and advance throughout elementary school, so too does their sense of self and identity. The end of the school year provides a great opportunity for kids to reflect upon goals, achievements, growth and personal interests. Here are some ideas that may jumpstart this process. Students can put together a portfolio of all of their favorite projects, art pieces, writing samples and other accomplishments. They can share this with friends and family and talk through the “why” behind their choices. To reflect on their best memories from outside of school, encourage children to create a “top 10” list of the ten most memorable, funny, interesting or unique things that happened to them over the year. This can become a scrapbook of sorts if they tie in a small writing and add photographs or illustrations to go along with each item on their list. This type of self-examination will ultimately help children to better evaluate their strengths, passions and gifts!

A strong, and positive sense of self is helpful in every arena of life down the road. Understanding one’s own core beliefs and identity benefits the ability to set boundaries, achieve goals, develop and maintain relationships and so much more. Finding ways to weave in self-exploration throughout the school-aged years, ultimately fosters and nurtures the confidence and pride a child has with their own identity.

Written by Laine J.

Avoiding the End-of-the-Year Burnout

It’s May, the final month of the school year! This is the time when you really have to pull out all of your parenting superpowers to help your kids finish the school year strong. Putting in a little extra effort to set the stage for success during these final weeks can make all the difference.

Healthy Habits

The end of the school year often feels extremely busy. Teachers work to fit in their final learning objectives and organizations put on special events to showcase students’ accomplishments from the year. Because extra stress can bubble up as the school year winds down, maintaining healthy habits is a must! Encouraging your kids to focus on their three M’s (meals, movement and meditation) is so beneficial. Packing extra special lunches for the final weeks of school can provide a midday pick-me-up and bring kids joy. Just as important is the need for kids to get some energy out after school. For those who do not have sports or other physical activities built into their schedule, you can suggest that your kids choose to go on a walk with a friend, play with the family pet in the yard or go on a bike ride. Beginning and ending each day with a mindful minute is a simple yet powerful practice to reduce stress and calm the body down.

Built-In homework Breaks

If your nightly habits have fallen off, it’s not too late to get back on track. Assisting your student to create a daily homework checklist with both assignments and tasks to complete for upcoming projects and tests provides a concrete to-do list. Colored pens and highlighters can be used to prioritize or emphasize tasks. While some older students can create and monitor their to-do list independently, younger children often do best with support. Setting a kitchen timer with a goal work time (which varies greatly based on age and attention span) to earn a 5-minute break can help keep the worker motivated. Younger students do well with visual timers. You can mark the clock with a fun sticker to indicate when it is time for a break. Strategies to lighten the mood and make homework time more productive during the final weeks of school are great!

sprinkles of Encouragement

Have you started to feel more like a homework drill sergeant than your children’s supporter? If so, they could be feeling extra stress and pressure. Focusing on the positives and providing small accolades for hard work can be really powerful when students feel burnt out. You can leave handwritten post-it notes in workspaces, select fitting inspirational magnets for the refrigerator each day, or slide cute little greeting cards into your kids’ backpacks each Monday to encourage them to keep working hard. When they feel your support, they might be more likely to push through to the end of the year.

Daily Motivators

If intrinsic motivation is low at the end of the school year, small daily rewards can help kids make it through the last weeks of school. The rewards should be goal-focused but also personalized to bring your kids joy. Some ideas include: choosing a special dinner, watching a favorite TV show as a family, getting a free pass from chores for the night, earning extra screen time, and going out for frozen yogurt. For younger students, it is fun to create a deck of reward cards together at the beginning of each week and let them pull a random card each evening as they earn one. A little extra motivation can go a long way.

Written by Krista G.

Strategies to Improve Memory and Retention for Exams

Test-taking can be quite difficult for students if their foundational memory and retrieval skills are weak. Luckily, there are an abundance of strategies out there to help improve memory and retention of academic concepts. According to Judy Willis, a master in the neuroscience of learning, “The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is.” This idea is so vital in thinking about the way we have our children work on memorization and retention of new information for exams. The key is to choose not just one method to improve these skills, but to apply several to create interconnections in the brain and reinforce understanding and retention of what is being learned. Students can use these five strategies to improve their memory and retain information in preparation for their tests.

Setting the stage

We’ve all been there before…it’s the night before an exam and your child hasn’t even looked at the information once…so it’s time to cram. Understandably, this is not the best way for them to retain learned information. Strategies to support memory and retention will only be useful if the brain receives information in a well rested state and in digestible pieces. Students benefit greatly from creating a study schedule, chunking information to be learned over time and using the power of sleep. A couple of weeks before a scheduled test, setting aside even just 10-15 minutes a night to review information is very beneficial. Getting a good night’s sleep after studying has also been shown to improve memory. Breaking down the process of studying this way not only makes it less overwhelming, but also converts the information to our long-term memory much better.

Writing it Out

Let’s say a student has to read the next 4 chapters of their book for English class for homework. Then they go to school the next day, there’s a pop quiz over the material and they can’t remember a thing. Oftentimes, when students are just reading a book or textbook, they tend to go on autopilot and not truly absorb the information being presented. That’s why taking notes, especially in one’s own words, can help to improve the understanding of the key concepts and events. One example of “writing it out” might include taking notes during lessons at school and then at the end of each week creating flashcards that summarize all of that week’s notes. Another example is to jot down all of the key events, characters or important ideas at the end of nightly reading assignments. Creating visuals, like mind maps, or drawings that represent concepts is another way to engage different parts of the brain retain new information.

Using Memorization Tricks

Mnemonics and songs are wonderful ways to help improve memorization, especially of long lists of things that need to be remembered. ‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally’ to learn the order of operations is likely the most common mnemonic device that everyone learns in grade school. But mnemonic devices can be applied across all subjects to help memorize lists, orders and details. Creating a song or jingle can be especially helpful when memorizing math facts or math concepts.

Creating a Self-Test

It is not enough (for most people) to simply read through a set of flashcards five times and expect to have all of that information stored and ready to pull out in a testing situation. The idea of self-testing is a crucial one to enhance memorization and knowledge of what concepts need to be studied more and which ones are already mastered. There are now great websites, like Quizlet, where students can input terms, definitions, concepts, etc. and the website will create a quiz or test based on the details provided. Alternatively, students can ask a friend or family member to quiz them for a more interactive approach!

Teaching it to Someone Else

Playing the role of a teacher has to be one of the best ways to truly know if students understand a concept or piece of information. Try teaching it to a friend or family member. Being able to teach something to someone else means that you yourself must have a very solid understanding of the ideas at hand. This might be a good final step in the studying or memorization process!

There are many different strategies out there to help retain more information. It is not necessary to use ALL of these each time, but it is beneficial to experiment with different methods and find which ones work the best for each unique individual!

Written by Laine J.

Curing Those Homework Time Blues

Homework time can be one of the most stressful times of day. After all, kids already spend 6-7 hours per day at school and are then asked to do even more work once they get home. This can feel frustrating and draining. By putting structures and positive practices into place, homework time can become more manageable and feel pleasant for the whole family. While tutoring is a great option for support, there are steps you can take to create the perfect homework routine for your family.

Set up a Daily Routine

One of the first steps you can take at home is to set up a dedicated workspace for your children for their homework time block you set each day. This space should be inviting and distraction free. Although your children may initially complain and whine, setting up a system where they put their cell phone and other electronic devices away in a specific spot during their homework block will greatly reduce distraction. If you stay consistent with this practice, they will soon build good habits that will translate to other independent work time.

Use Sustained Attention Tricks

Sustaining attention during work time can be particularly challenging for students with ADHD and executive function deficits. One helpful strategy you can try if you have a child who struggles with this is body doubling, a technique where you sit quietly in the same or an adjacent viewable room to model focused work time. This makes your child feel more comfortable and encourages completion of tedious tasks that might otherwise be neglected. For those who still have difficulty, students can also try to stimulate one of their senses by using a fidget or putty in their non-dominant hand, sucking on a mint or listening to soft instrumental music. By giving their bodies something to do, it can enable their brain to focus better on the work task at hand.

Set Movement Breaks

Each student’s attention span is unique. Some kids can sit for an hour straight and some need a brain break every ten minutes. Whatever the case may be for your children, you can set a timer for each of their work cycles and then encourage them to get up and move their bodies for five minutes to reset. The trick is to learn how long they can work before losing focus, as you want to catch them for a movement break just before. To reenergize, they might like to jump on a small indoor exercise trampoline or have mini dance party to their favorite song. To recenter, they can try choosing a couple yoga poses or stretches that they enjoy. The key is, however, to structure your kids’ movement breaks so that they know after five minutes they need to get right back to work.

Find Pick-Me-Ups

Let’s face it, homework isn’t always fun. Finding small ways to make the time a little more enjoyable is important. Some ideas your kids can try (depending on their age) include: having a stuffed animal nearby, eating a small handful of their favorite snack after each task, having a family pet sleep at their feet or setting up a homework date with a friend. Study time can also feel more pleasurable by turn studying into a game or to use a white board with fun colors and visuals for practice.

Develop Metacognitive Practices

Encouraging your kids to attempt their homework assignments independently first is a great way to foster independence. You can offer small colored Post-It Page Markers to your children to flag items that feel confusing or difficult and invite them to check in with you near the end of their homework block for assistance. Having them communicate what they do versus do not comprehend enables them to build important metacognitive skills.

Written by Krista G.

Start the Morning Off Right: Tips and Tricks to Create a Smooth Before-School Routine

Has your family’s morning routine become a race to get out the door? With a consistent, peaceful morning routine, you can help ensure that your kids get to school on time and that they are prepared for their day mentally, physically and emotionally. Here are some tips and tricks you can try with your kids to help them start their day off right!

Prepare the Night Before

If your mornings tend to feel rushed, try creating a ‘night before’ organization checklist to tackle some of the to-dos before the busy morning even arrives. Some items your children can accomplish the evening before include: putting their homework and belongings into their backpack, packing their lunch, filling their water bottle and picking out their outfit. Not only does this allow your children to check items off their morning list, but it also reduces the stress of having so many morning to-dos.

Let a Little Light In

Building appropriate sleep and waking habits are instrumental to your kids’ wellbeing. With a good night’s sleep and sunlight cues, your children might wake naturally without the use of an alarm clock. This synchronizes the body’s biological clock and increases immunity and mood. Since it’s not always possible to wake with the morning sun, there are also really cool electronic tools, such as Hatch, that can illuminate a mock sunrise and even play peaceful morning sounds, like chimes or birds.

Set Clear Expectations

In particular for little ones, it is beneficial to create a morning routine checklist to set clear expectations for your children. This checklist can be hung in a central area of your home, like on the refrigerator in the kitchen, and can incorporate the use of choice items, such as stickers or dry erase markers. The list should be clear and concise, yet the level of detail can vary depending on your kids’ age and degree of independence. Younger kids frequently enjoy charts with visual cues. Older kids tend to do fine with a simpler format. It generally works best not to allow the use of electronics during the block of time before school so that your kids can stay focused on the tasks at hand.

Practice What You Preach

In order for your children to learn good habits, it is imperative that you, as the parent, model the behaviors you wish to see from them. Hopping out of bed, getting dressed and brushing your hair and teeth are behaviors your kids will expect to see from you before they follow suit. Sitting down for a balanced breakfast, whether it be a quick protein smoothie or a more elaborate oatmeal bar, is another important routine to have as a family. Kids look to their parents as role models, even when it comes to building their morning time management skills.

Use Fun Weekly Rewards

Offering your kids a weekly reward for leaving for school on time five days in a row might be just the extrinsic motivation your kids need while they are developing their good habits. Providing them the opportunity to earn a Friday afternoon hot cocoa or ice cream treat is a great way to increase their buy-in. You can keep a simple sticker chart in your vehicle for tracking and motivation purposes!

Written by Krista G.

Structuring a Balanced After-School Routine

Let’s face it…life for kids is busy. Between school, homework and extracurricular activities, they have so much to manage. Helping your children plan out and structure their time can help them feel organized, reduce their stress level and ensure they have balance in their lives. Below are some tips on how to create a well-rounded weekly schedule for your children.

Extracurricular Activities

It’s crucial that kids find passions in life and begin to develop a sense of self through the activities they do. Giving your children a choice of weekly activities (art, music, dance, sports, martial arts, yoga, etc.) allows them to feel a sense of control and confidence. It’s helpful to provide guidelines, however, to ensure that the choices include physical activity for exercise, are age and ability appropriate and work with your family’s overall schedule. Many programs offer free trial classes, which is a fabulous way to let your children try a variety of activities before committing to specific choices for a whole season or semester. To avoid over-scheduling, start with a single activity per day no more than 3-5 days per week. As kids get older, they might be able to manage a longer daily commitment. It depends on the individual. High interest activities tend to have very specific time constraints, so other components of your children’s after-school plan can be scheduled around their choices.

Consistent Homework Time

While there is an ongoing debate about the ideal amount of homework, many schools follow the research-based rule of thumb that students should receive 10 minutes of homework per class per night. That means, for instance, that a fifth grader should expect to spend 50 minutes on average per night doing homework. Teachers don’t always accurately estimate the length of time that activities take and each individual student has their own work pace, so the amount of time your child needs to block off for nightly homework should be individualized based on their actual circumstances. Scheduling a consistent daily time block for your children’s homework completion helps them get into a routine and emphasizes the importance of completing their assignments.

Family Dinners

Carving time out of each day to spend as a family is important. Putting family rituals into place while your kids are young will also help once they hit adolescence. Having family dinners at least four nights per week is a wonderful way to enjoy time together. It opens up space for dialogue, develops relationship-building skills and provides the opportunity for your kids to share details about their experiences and reality. One fun idea might be to let each child choose one dish for the family’s weekly meal plan and to have them help you prepare it so you have extra bonding time.

Daily Duties

Despite your fast-paced life, your kids can benefit and start to learn a sense of responsibility from doing age-appropriate chores. Having a set daily or weekly time for your children to accomplish a short 15-minute checklist of tasks is really helpful. A few ideas of age-appropriate duties for a 10-year-old, for instance, are (un)loading the dishwasher, folding and putting away their laundry and keeping their bedroom tidy. As kids get older, they gain interest in earning money for their work. As they approach their tween years, you can help them explore opportunities for a weekend neighborhood job, such as doing yard work, babysitting or dog walking. It is important, however, that they do not overcommit to a job so they can continue to manage the other aspects of their weekly schedule.

Social Time

It’s important that kids have time to be social and have fun. Life should not feel like it’s all work and children learn, develop and grow trough their social experiences. Outdoor and screen-free play are amazing. It is also acceptable for kids to set aside one hour each day for gaming or talking with friends online. There are really great parental control tools, like Bark, to help you manage and protect your kids on their electronics.

Down Time

Winding down with an hour of screen-free time at the end of each night can help ensure your kids’ minds and bodies prepare for sleep. After a nice warm bath or shower, some great activities you can suggest to your kids are reading, journaling, doodling, guided meditation and restorative yoga. Encouraging your children to create their own ritual will help them buy into this practice.

Reasonable Bedtime

Getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis is important for kids’ overall wellbeing. Research indicates that children with appropriate sleep habits have improved attention, behavior, learning, memory, emotional regulation, quality of life, and mental and physical health. Depending on their specific age and unique needs, school-age children should get between 8 and 12 hours of sleep per night. Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule will benefit your kids greatly.

Sample After-School Schedule

Here is a sample after-school schedule that is appropriate for a 5th grader. Individualized times would vary depending on the specific age of your children. It’s very helpful to post a weekly version with your children’s specific activities per day on a whiteboard or wall calendar so they can start to develop their time management skills.

3:45pm Activity 

5:00pm Homework

6:00pm Family Dinner

6:45pm Daily Duties

7:00pm Social Time

8:00 Down Time

9:00pm Bedtime

Written by Krista G.

Creating the Ultimate Calm Down Kit: Using the Five Senses to Reset and Regulate

What is a calm down kit you ask? Well, a calm down kit is a tool that can be used to help children self-regulate, center themselves, and reset. Building a calm down kit does not have to be expensive or complicated. You and your child can create a simple and effective calm down kit by focusing on items that engage with the five senses. So, grab a basket, box or bag and let’s begin to curate the ultimate calm down kit!

Below are some ideas for items or activities that your child might enjoy placing in their calm down kit that correlate with each of the five senses: Sight, Touch, Listen, Smell, and Taste.

Sight:

Items to add to your child’s calm down basket that will appeal to the visual senses might include:

-breathing exercise cards

-glitter jar or snow globe

-I Spy book

-family photo album

Touch

Below are some tools to help your child engage with the sense of touch:

-fidget toy, like a Pop-It

-palm or scalp massager

-putty or slime

-stress ball

-sensory bag or pillow

-Rubik’s cube

-soft and cozy blanket

-if younger, a favorite stuffed animal

Listen:

Items that will create a sense of calmness through listening might include:

-headphones to listen to a calming playlist

-rainstick

-sound machine

-music box

-chimes or gentle bells

Smell:

Aromatherapy is a great way to immediately trigger a sense of calm. Here are some objects you can add to your child’s calm kit to ignite the sense of smell:

-essential oils

-nature scents

-lotions

-scented markers

-scratch and sniff stickers

-candles

-diffusers

Taste:

It’s always nice for your child to have a little treat or something appealing to their sense of taste:

-dark chocolate

-mints or gum

-tea

-hard candy or lollipop

-favorite quick snack

Other Items to Include:

Some other items you may want to think about including in your child’s calm down basket might include:

-mindfulness coloring books

-yoga pose cards

-small puzzles or crossword books

-gratitude or regular journal

-bubbles

Depending on your child’s age and general self-regulation needs, invite them to select about 8-12 items to place in their calm basket to start. Objects can be swapped out monthly or seasonally. After selecting items for the kit, set some boundaries about when and how to use it. Your child should find a special place to put their calm down kit, ideally in a quiet and comfortable environment. A good time to use this kit is whenever they are feeling overwhelmed or frustrated or experiencing any other big emotion.

Calm down kits should be used for around 10-15 minutes per session as a quick brain and emotional reset. During this time your child should choose 2-3 items that they are drawn toward and that they feel will help them regulate their emotions and lift their mood.

A calm down kit is a simple and effective tool for social and emotional regulation that can be added to your house today! Here is an example of a calm basket shared on Peak’s Instagram account.

Written by Laine J.

Promoting Student Social and Emotional Wellbeing At Home

Social and emotional wellbeing is such a crucial aspect of student health. As children progress through school, assignments lengthen, activities increase and demands heighten. All of the sudden, your child can find themselves overwhelmed, stressed and struggling to keep up with a heavy workload and tight schedule of extracurricular activities. So, let’s talk about what social and emotional wellbeing is and how you as a parent can promote wellness at home despite all the demands of school and life.

Social and emotional wellness essentially comes down to an individual’s ability to create and foster relationships with others, make responsible decisions, and comprehend and cope with their emotions. One’s ability to develop a healthy and strong sense of identity, manage emotions, achieve personal and academic goals, and adapt to changing circumstances all rely heavily on their social and emotional wellness. Social and emotional wellness also strengthens one’s ability to create healthy boundaries, build a positive social network, navigate conflict, and encourage communication and trust. Clearly, social and emotional wellness is incredibly vital not only to academic performance, but also success throughout all of life’s challenges and twists and turns.

Research shows that when students are explicitly taught social and emotional learning skills and given opportunities for practice and reinforcement that they have better behavioral, social and academic outcomes. So, let’s go through a few simple ways you can encourage social and emotional wellbeing as a family at home:

Coping Skills

Help your child to come up with some self-affirmations that will foster self-confidence and resiliency. Self-affirmations might be phrases like “I can do this,” “I am enough,” or “I can do amazing things.” Another activity which encourages coping skills in students is a daily journaling practice. Reflecting upon the day's events for 5-10 minutes a day can help to achieve goals, track progress, inspire new ideas and build confidence.

Gratitude Practice

Create a gratitude journal that your child can fill out each day. If the idea of a journal is too daunting, try sitting down as a family at dinner, or at the end of the day, and have everyone say three things they are grateful for. Modeling this practice is very helpful for kids. It’s beneficial to have your child share specific people, places and experiences, as well as why they feel gratitude for each.

Self-Care Routine

Incorporating self-care practices into daily life helps to strengthen social and emotional wellness. Finding a way for your child to exercise lightly each day for 15-20 minutes is a great way to encourage self-care. Dancing, yoga, bike riding and a walk around the block are all simple ways to get daily movement in. Apart from exercise, you can encourage your child to create other enjoyable nighttime routines to unwind and relax, like taking a warm bubble bath, coloring mandalas or reading for pleasure!

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is one of the absolute best ways to increase focus and reduce stress. Compiling a list of breathing exercises your child can choose from when they need a break, like the Take 5 breathing, or practicing a daily mindful minute together as a family can be so powerful. Spending time as a family outside listening to the sounds of nature is another great mindfulness activity.

Connection

With our busy schedules, it can be difficult to find opportunities to come together as a family. Though it may be hard to find the time, it’s important to make the effort to connect as a family each day. Enjoying family dinners, baking cookies, playing board games or coming up with a special craft or day-trip can all be fabulous ways to connect.

Written by: Laine J.

Tips and Tricks to Strengthen Working Memory in Math

Of all of the executive functioning skills required to succeed in mathematics, working memory may be one of the most important! Working memory refers to how the brain uses, holds, processes and manipulates the information stored in our short-term memory. Working memory allows us to plan, problem solve and reason, all of which go hand-in-hand with the necessary skills to complete a math problem. Let’s dive into some tips and tricks which can help to strengthen working memory, specifically in relation to the world of math!

Play Games

There are many popular games that can be played as a family that utilize working memory. Games like Concentration, Uno, Crazy Eights and Go Fish all require the players to use their working memory system. Simon Says, Follow the Beat, Tongue Twisters, puzzles and brain teasers are other excellent examples of activities that can be used to strengthen working memory. In many of these activities, our brains must actively recall information, and in-turn manipulate it to make the next move!

Put Your Child in the Teacher Role

When working through a new math concept, once a child has begun to master the concept at hand, they should attempt to teach someone else how to do it. When the child becomes the teacher, they are switching into a more active role and thus enhancing their working memory skills. For example, if a child is working on adding fractions with a different denominator, they should be able to walk someone else through each step necessary to solve this kind of problem and explain the “why” behind it.

Practice Every Day

For things like math facts (simple and quick math problems across the four operations), practicing every day can help to reduce the strain on working memory capacity. The more automatic these quick facts become, the more space is freed up in the brain to utilize other math skills and solve larger and more complex mathematical equations and word problems.

Visualize

When working on word problems, it is best to come up with various visualization strategies that can be used to solve each problem. Examples of visualization strategies in math might be drawing an array, making pictures or using math manipulatives.

Make a Plan

A great general rule of thumb for math problems (especially those tricky word problems) is to NEVER leave math in your head. This means write down as much as possible. Circle, underline or highlight the key words in a math problem and then make a plan to solve. Write out each step as a number sentence, and use the visualization tools mentioned above to help solve the problem.

Practice Yoga & Mindfulness

Research has shown activities like yoga and mindfulness can improve working memory. Both of these practices aim to draw our attention to how and when our mind wanders, which in turn can help increase focus and the working memory function of the brain. There are many wonderful YouTube channels for kids yoga, such as Cosmic Yoga that can be completed daily. Alternately, try simple breathing exercises in the car on the way to school as a way to practice mindfulness each day.

Use Mnemonics and Songs

Making a mnemonic device or turning something that needs to be memorized into a song are two more fantastic ways to strengthen working memory. The most famous mnemonics device in Math is PEMDAS with “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” as the words to remember the order of operations. There are also fun and silly songs on YouTube to help learn and memorize math facts. Putting information into a catchy song allows our brain to more easily store and remember it!

Written by Laine J.

Simple and Fun Ways to Incorporate Math Skills during Summer Vacation

Taking two months off from essential math and computation skills can be worrisome for many parents of little ones. After all, many math skills build upon each other and require year round practice to not fall behind or forget important facts. Luckily, there are many fun and unique ways to incorporate math skills into summer break and help your child reinforce the skills they have been working on all year long in school.

Acknowledge and Work on Math in Real World Situations

One of the simplest ways to use math during the summer is to point out all of the times in everyday life that we use math skills, perhaps without even realizing it! If your child is working on ratios, fractions or division, invite them to make a recipe with you from start to finish. Going through a recipe together is a great way to strengthen understanding of all of those skills. Another example might be having your child start to notice how much items cost at places like restaurants or grocery stores and use basic computation skills to tally up totals or how much change they might need. Lastly, try giving a back-to-school shopping allowance to your child and tell them they need to buy a certain number of items with the set amount of money you gave them. This activity is fun and puts real world problem solving and computation skills to work!

Make it an Experience

Another way to use math in summer is to come up with experiences that rely heavily on certain math skills. Things like garage sales, lemonade stands or bake sales are perfect examples! Children can calculate how much they need to spend to buy the items for the sale, how much they’re going to charge for each item and (depending on their age) can even start working on concepts like how much profit they are making.

Keeping Score

Family game night is another scenario where math skills can be reinforced. Games like Sudoku, Set, Monopoly, Connect 4 and many more help with math computation skills as well as problem solving skills. There are also endless card games that can be used to work with math concepts.

Apps and Games for Basic Reinforcement

Finally, to make sure your child does not lose their math facts, try to find a fun app or game that can be used to do a daily 10-15 minutes of math facts practice every day!

Written by Laine J.

How to Make Summer Reading Enjoyable for Your Child

“I have to read?!?! But it’s summer!!” Can’t you just hear kids all over the country saying this when they find out that reading is still a part of summer break? Sure, some kids LOVE to read but for others, especially beginning readers, it can be hard to motivate them to want to sit down and pick up a book. Summer can be a great time to introduce some fun and engaging ways to make reading more enjoyable for your emerging reader! 

Create a Fun Reading Environment

After spending the year in a classroom reading at a desk each day, it’s time to change things up a little bit. Try to make reading a “special” event by creating a new reading environment. This might include building a pillow and blanket fort or putting up a tent, grabbing some flashlights and getting cozy with a book. Another idea is getting some fresh air. Head to the park with a picnic and a few new books and spend the afternoon snacking and reading. Changing up the environment might be just the thing your reader needs to kick start their summer reading! 

Take a Trip to the Library 

Throughout the summer, take a few trips to the library to refresh reading material. Ask your child what kinds of things they might like to read about and help them find this at the library. Some kids enjoy more non-fiction magazines and research books, while others enjoy fiction or picture books. The library will have all sorts of new books they have never seen before and will entice them to pick up a new book and get reading.  

Think Outside of the Box

Reading doesn’t just have to be in a book! Your child can practice reading in a lot of other ways too. Find new items your child might able to read like street signs, menus, magazines or fun reading apps. Practice is still practice, and as an added bonus your child will be so proud when they find out they can read things out in the real world that they might not have ever tried or been able to before. 

Build it into the Routine 

Sure, summer is all about having unstructured time, vacations, relaxing and getting a break. But, children still thrive with some routine and structure. Try to build in some reading time at the same time each day. Perhaps after lunch, during quiet time you can have your child sit and read for 10- 30 minutes a day. By making it part of the daily routine, there may be fewer battles to get the reading done. 

Read to Someone New 

Have your child try reading to someone new like grandma or grandpa, siblings, the family pet or even their stuffed animals. This takes some of the pressure off and allows them to be more relaxed with their reading. If you are reading with your child, try taking turns and having them read a page and you read a page so that they also get practice hearing fluency. 

Use a Simple Incentives System 

If your little one is really opposed to summer reading, it can be helpful to introduce some incentives, or rewards, for getting their reading done. Come up with a goal for either how many minutes per day or how many books in a week that they must read. Maybe they get a small weekly reward like a trip to the ice cream shop or little toy every time they hit their reading goal. For older kiddos, it might be helpful to have a larger monthly goal for the summer with a bigger reward to look forward to if they reach their goal like a day trip or a shopping spree before the new school year!

Written by: Laine J.