Executive Functioning Skills Interactive Notebook, Activities, & Lessons

Teach executive functioning skills with an engaging interactive notebook! These activities teach skills for self-control, organization, planning, time management, task initiation, and much more. Every page and activity helps give kids and young adults a "toolbox" of strategies to help them do their best academically, socially, and personally in all areas of their lives!

How An Interactive Notebook Works

An interactive notebook (INB) is a set of lessons, notes, and activities put together in one notebook. Each student will create their own executive functioning interactive notebook. For each lesson, students color, cut, glue, and complete activities that they add to their notebooks as they learn about specific skills. Not only do students learn the skills as they are completing the activities, but they are creating a tool to refer back to lessons and skills, as needed.

Executive Functioning Skills

Skills targeted in this unit include:

• planning
• organization
• time management
• task initiation
• working memory
• metacognition
• self-control
• sustained attention
• flexibility
• perseverance

Table of Contents

Introduction

• My Interactive Notebook Contract

Lesson 1: Executive Functioning Skills

• Executive Functioning Skills: What They Are & Why They Matter

• Executive Functioning Skills: In My Own Words

• 10 Skills We're Learning

• Believing I Can Grow: Growth Mindset

Lesson 2: Planning

• Planning: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Planning: In My Own Words

• Tools for Planning: Tools that Help Me Plan

• Homework Log: Planning with a Homework Log

• Let's Plan: Using a List to Help Me Plan

• Planning: My Reflection

Lesson 3: Organization

• Organization: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Organization: In My Own Words

• Binder Organization Rubric: My Binder Organization Rubric

• Binder Organization: Rating Myself

• Let's Organize: A Space for Everything

• Organization: My Reflection

Lesson 4: Time Management

• Time Management: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Time Management: In My Own Words

• Using Time Effectively: Strategies for Time Management

• Estimating My Time: Understanding & Managing Time

• Prioritizing: Organizing and Managing My Work

• Time Management: My Reflection

Lesson 5: Task Initiation

• Task Initiation: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Task Initiation: In My Own Words

• Starting My Work: Overcoming Procrastination

• Chunking Tasks: Breaking Up Tasks to Smaller Ones

• 5-4-3-2-1: Blast Off Like a Rocket

• My Work Contract: An Agreement With Myself

• Task Initiation: My Reflection

Lesson 6: Working Memory

• Working Memory: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Working Memory: In My Own Words

• Memory Strategies: To Help Me Succeed

• Paraphrasing: Putting It In My Own Words

• Using My Memory: Choosing a Strategy

• Working Memory: My Reflection

Lesson 7: Metacognition

• Metacognition: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Metacognition: In My Own Words

• Prior Knowledge: Thinking About What I Know

• Self-Monitoring: Checking In With Myself

• Evaluating Learning: Rating My Level of Understanding

• Metacognition: My Reflection

Lesson 8: Self-Control

• Self-Control: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Self-Control: In My Own Words

• Self-Control Sort: What It Means to Have Self-Control

• Stop & Think: Using Self-Control Before Doing

• Coping Strategies: My Toolbox to Manage My Emotions

• Self-Control: In My Own Life

• Self-Control: My Reflection

Lesson 9: Attention

• Attention: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Attention: In My Own Words

• How to Pay Attention: Behaviors That Help Me Focus

• Avoiding Distractions: Strategies to Help Me Focus

• Fine-Tuning My Attention: Adjusting My Level of Attention

• Attention: My Reflection

Lesson 10: Flexibility

• Flexibility: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Flexibility: In My Own Words

• Perspectives: Seeing Multiple Perspectives

• Dealing With Change: Going With the Flow

• Trying Something New: Being Bold and Taking Risks

• Flexibility: My Reflection

Lesson 11: Perseverance

• Perseverance: What It Means & Why It Matters

• Perseverance: In My Own Words

• When I'm Stuck: Strategies to Help Me Persevere

• I'm Never Giving Up: Phrases to Help Me Stick With It

• People Who Persevered: Learning From Challenges

• Goals & Dreams: What I'm Working Towards

• Perseverance: My Reflection

Digital Update!

A digital version for Google Slides is now included. In order to access, open the file with "digital directions" in the title and click the link in the blue box. Note that this file was originally intended to be print only, so some digital pages are slightly altered to fit a digital version.

How to Use

Just use the detailed lesson plans to guide you through each lesson and activity. There are a total of 11 lessons, each with several activities and notebook pages focused on that skill. Depending on the time you have for your group, you may get through 1 to 3 sections of each lesson per day.

Students simply follow the directions on the bottom of each page to color, cut, and put their notebook page together for each skill. The pages include a variety of activities from foldable crafts, writing, reflections, and more.

Model Notebook Included

I've included a MODEL notebook document with real photos of every single page and how it should look. This can be a helpful tool for both educators and students putting their notebook together. Best of all, you can print this out and keep it as a visual model notebook for your kids in case anyone is absent and needs to finish a page on their own.

This notebook can be used in large or small groups by the regular education teacher, special education teacher, or other support professional. These materials can also be used during advisory for middle and high school students. While all students can most assuredly benefit from learning strategies to strengthen executive functioning skills, some examples of students most in need include those with ADD/ADHD, Asperger’s Disorder, and Learning Disabilities.

Why Teach Executive Functioning Skills?

Executive functioning skills are the basis for planning, organizing, initiating, and following through will all tasks, assignments, and problems inside and outside of school. Many students who forget assignments, are disorganized, can’t complete long-term assignments, have trouble focusing, and experience difficulty with change often have weak executive functioning skills. These are the students who need to be taught explicit skills in order to become successful in school and in life after school. Simply put, executive functioning skills are necessary life skills.

What Materials Will Students Need?

Materials needed include: composition notebooks, coloring materials (your choice), scissors, printed notebook pages included in this resource, and glue or tape. You can choose to assign students to bring these materials in or provide them for your learners.

Follow Me!

{ Click here to follow my store! }

Tips for Customers:

• Click here to follow my store for notifications about new resources and freebies.
• If you have questions, please contact me through Q & A and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
• Please consider leaving feedback on this resource to receive TpT credits! I always strive for 5 stars and love hearing your feedback.

Terms of Use:

© Pathway 2 Success. One license is for the classroom/personal use for one educator and their students. Materials may not be shared with other educators without the purchase of extra licenses. Materials may not be posted on the Internet where they can be publicly accessed. Personal and classroom use only. Please see full terms of use for more information.

Disclaimer: These resources are for supplementary support/education purposes and are not a replacement for education or other necessary supports. Educators, parents, and others who utilize these materials are encouraged to seek out additional support, as needed.