Building Executive Functioning Skills in Preschool: Partnering Home and School

At Everest Academy, we believe that learning begins long before academics take center stage. In the preschool years, children are developing essential executive functioning skills — the mental processes that help them plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and manage multiple tasks successfully. These skills are the foundation for lifelong learning, self-control, and independence.

In the classroom, our teachers intentionally weave opportunities to strengthen executive functioning into each day’s routines and activities. Through structured play, turn-taking games, prayer time, and hands-on projects, students practice waiting their turn, following directions, organizing materials, and completing small steps toward a goal. Circle time encourages focus and listening, while classroom jobs build responsibility and working memory. When children transition between activities, they learn flexibility and emotional regulation — key parts of executive function development.
Just as importantly, these skills grow best when supported at home. Parents can reinforce what we do at school by providing simple opportunities for independence and self-control. Here are a few practical ways to nurture these abilities:

• Establish routines. Predictable schedules help children feel secure and develop sequencing and time management skills.
• Give simple, clear directions. Encourage your child to repeat directions back to you to build memory and focus.
• Encourage problem-solving. Let children make small choices and find solutions to simple challenges — such as choosing what to wear or how to clean up toys.
• Practice patience and self-control. Games like “Simon Says” or “Red Light, Green Light” strengthen impulse control in fun ways.
• Celebrate effort and persistence. Praise your child for trying again when something is difficult.

At Everest Academy, our preschool program is designed to foster the whole child — intellectually, humanly, spiritually, and socially. Helping children grow in executive functioning is part of forming habits that prepare them for academic success and for a life of virtue and self-discipline. When home and school work together in these early years, children gain confidence, independence, and joy in learning — qualities that will serve them for years to come.