Tools focuses on more than standards. It also teaches children how to learn. It allows children to feel successful at their own pace while continuing to work toward grade level standards and expectations. Tools of the Mind is a powerful curriculum that allows children to learn and succeed in all areas through the joy of play-based learning.

Tools allows us to use play as a way for children to learn. It encourages teachers to keep the whole child at the forefront of education. As teachers we're so quick to jump in and help instead of allowing children to make mistakes and solve problems. After five years teaching Tools, I've learned to give children real think time and a chance to solve problems without me.

I am so grateful to Tools for creating a kindergarten curriculum carefully based on the developmental ways children learn, and not based solely on what we WANT them to learn.

My students love to come to school every day. I have never seen kids become such brave writers. They learn the writing process and just go for it! They say their message, make a line for each word and add sounds, then more sounds and word patterns. It truly amazes me each year to see how far my students come from the first to the last day of school.

The focus on self-regulation is what makes Tools of the Mind unique. Self-regulation is embedded throughout every component of the day. Students leave the program not only proficient in all the academic content, but more importantly with skills that enable them to be good learners!

Tools levels the playing field by providing equitable learning opportunities. Our pilot classrooms had great results with all but a few students making end-of-year benchmarks. These results were considerably higher than our other classrooms. We knew the impact was bigger than just reading scores, we were providing students with background knowledge and self-regulation skills to last a lifetime.