Creating and acting out texts or original narratives can enhance literacy for young learners, solidifying their comprehension and building Narrative Skills.

Audiobooks allow students to hear fluent reading and to experience books above their reading skills.

Content that is provided in clear, short chunks can support students' Working Memory.

Developing empathy in educators and in learners is an iterative process that requires taking the time to understand and honor others' perspectives.

Building positive and trusting relationships with learners allows them to feel safe; a sense of belonging; and that their academic, cognitive, and social and emotional needs are supported.

When peers work cooperatively to practice writing letters, words, and eventually longer sentences, their Foundational Writing Skills, including spelling and writing quality, improve.

Students activate more cognitive processes by exploring and representing their understandings in visual form.

Daily review strengthens previous learning and can lead to fluent recall.

With this interactive technique, teachers help students become storytellers by listening and questioning.

When teachers provide explicit instruction in comprehension strategies and model when to use them, students learn how to flexibly apply them to make meaning of texts.

Teaching students how to label, identify, and manage emotions helps them learn self-regulation skills.

When young children draw and are encouraged to explain their drawings, they are sharpening the cognitive and motor skills involved in conventional writing.

Overtly encouraging all students to seek support and ask questions creates a safe space for risk-taking and skill development.

Explicit instruction in handwriting, including letter formation, can help Handwriting Skills become more automatic, freeing up Working Memory to focus on Foundational Writing Skills.

Explicit spelling instruction helps to improve not only students' spelling, a key part of Foundational Writing Skills, but also supports reading skills development.

Students whose families are involved and feel valued within the school community are less likely to miss school, which research has shown can cause students to fall behind academically.

Visiting places connected to classroom learning provides opportunities to deepen understanding through firsthand experiences.

Teachers can help students understand that learning involves effort, mistakes, and reflection by teaching them about their malleable brain and modeling their own learning process.

Free choice supports learner interests and allows more complex social interactions to develop.

As students walk through stations working in small groups, the social and physical nature of the learning supports deeper understanding.

Setting overall goals, as well as smaller goals as steps to reaching them, encourages consistent, achievable progress and helps students feel confident in their skills and abilities.

Visualizing how ideas fit together helps students construct meaning and strengthen recall.

Providing feedback that focuses on the process of developing skills conveys the importance of effort and motivates students to persist when learning.

In guided inquiry, teachers help students use their own language for constructing knowledge by active listening and questioning.

Spending time on literacy practices with assistance from a teacher helps to move new content, concepts, and ideas into Long-term Memory.

Imagining allows students to step back from a problem or task and think about it from multiple angles.

Learning about students' cultures and connecting them to instructional practices helps foster a sense of belonging and mitigate Stereotype Threat.

Independent reading promotes reading development by emphasizing student choice with teacher support in selecting books, as well as by making time for free reading.

Practicing until achieving several error-free attempts is critical for retention.

Having space where students can go supports Self-regulation and individual deliberate practice.

As students work with and process information by discussing, organizing, and sharing it together, they deepen their understanding.

Rhyming, alliteration, and other sound devices reinforce language development by activating the mental processes that promote memory.

To promote acceptance of learning diversity, students explore learning tools and strategies to see how they work and why they and others might use them.

Literacy centers with reading games, manipulatives, and activities support learner interests and promote the development of more complex reading skills and social interactions.

Providing physical representations of concepts helps activate mental processes.

Through short but regular mindfulness activities, students develop their awareness and ability to focus.

Multiple tables and chairs on wheels allow for setting up the classroom to support the desired learning outcomes of each classroom activity.

By talking through their thinking at each step of a process, teachers can model what learning looks like.

Teachers sharing text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections models this schema building.

Brain breaks that include movement allow learners to refresh their thinking and focus on learning new information.

Instruction in multiple formats allows students to activate different cognitive skills to understand and remember the steps they are to take in their reading work.

Multiple display spaces promote collaboration by allowing groups to share information easily as they work.

Using multiple writing surfaces promotes collaboration by allowing groups to share information easily as they work.

Reading aloud allows students to hear and practice reading and fluency skills.

Research shows physical activity improves focus and creativity.

Playful activities, including pretending, games, and other child-led activities, can support the development of learners' Metacognition and also inspire their narratives and writing.

When students reframe negative thoughts and tell themselves kind self-statements, they practice positive self-talk.

Maintaining consistent classroom routines and schedules ensures that students are able to trust and predict what will happen next.

Project-based learning (PBL) actively engages learners in authentic tasks designed to create products that answer a given question or solve a problem.

Cards with strategies for managing emotions help students remember how to act when faced with strong feelings.

Reading aloud books about skills children are learning provides another model for their development.

When students explain to others, they deepen their understanding and gain confidence in their learning.

Providing space and time for students to reflect is critical for moving what they have learned into Long-term Memory.

Students build their confidence and skills by reading and rereading books.

Response devices boost engagement by encouraging all students to answer every question.

With rhyming and creative word use, poetry is a genre that supports the development of early literacy skills in particular.

Students who have had little exposure to the school's language can benefit from having books in their Primary Language in their classroom.

Books with SEL topics, such as developing friendships and identifying emotions, help teach these skills.

Selecting culturally responsive reading materials, including multicultural and diverse texts, is critical for supporting all students.

A strengths-based approach is one where educators intentionally identify, communicate, and harness students' assets, across many aspects of the whole child, in order to empower them to flourish.

Providing students a voice in their learning is critical for making learning meaningful.

Providing tools so learners can choose to listen to a text supports individual strengths and needs.

Students develop reading skills by listening to and speaking with others in informal ways.

Timers help students learn to self-pace and transition.

Spaces that are structured, organized, and clean provide increased room for collaboration and active learning.

Videos developed with discussion guides can teach students about SEL skills.