SOS4Students announced its winter workshop schedule, offering four intensive, half-day sessions designed to equip middle and high school students with essential executive function skills. The workshops, scheduled for late January and early February 2026, address critical academic challenges, including time management, organization, planning, and note-taking strategies that help students become independent, confident learners.
The Walnut Creek-based executive function coaching organization developed the winter series to provide students with practical tools they can implement immediately in their coursework. All four in-person workshops will take place on two consecutive Saturdays, with middle school and high school options available each day to accommodate students at different developmental stages.
"Students today face unprecedented academic demands, yet many have never been explicitly taught the executive function skills they need to manage complex workloads, juggle multiple assignments, and stay organized both on- and offline," said Samantha Okazaki, Business Manager of SOS4Students. "These workshops give students the strategies and systems that make school manageable, reduce stress, and build confidence that lasts beyond any single semester or grade level."
The winter workshop series begins Saturday, January 31, 2026, with Middle School Booster running from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., followed by Executive Brain Boot Camp from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. The second Saturday, February 7, 2026, features Take Note: Introduction to Note Taking from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Secrets of Successful Note Taking from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. All workshops will be held at Orinda Academy in Orinda, CA.
Middle School Booster is a fast-paced, half-day workshop intensive designed to teach middle school students to meet academic challenges, plan for multi-step projects and papers, develop self-advocacy skills, take notes effectively, manage time, and deal with distractions such as cell phones, computers, and social activities. The workshop targets students who struggle with time management, have difficulty setting goals and objectives, get overwhelmed organizing information and assignments, or need to boost or refresh academic skills needed for success in middle school.
The program is particularly valuable for neurodiverse students who struggle with executive functioning. All coaches leading Middle School Booster have extensive experience with middle school students and are skilled at teaching students of all abilities with empathy and expertise. Participants gain continued access to Google Classroom for additional resources and learn SOS4Students' executive function skills and study strategies.
Executive Brain Boot Camp, designed for students in grades 9 through 12, teaches the executive functioning skills and strategies high school students need to jumpstart complex tasks, plan and prioritize, decipher multistep directions, become better organized both on- and offline, and juggle numerous assignments. The workshop addresses the needs of students who feel constantly overwhelmed by school, assignments, and activities, struggle to complete schoolwork in a timely manner, lack efficient systems for planning and prioritizing, or are disorganized on- and offline.
High school students learn to jumpstart complex tasks on their own, decipher multistep directions, and juggle many assignments simultaneously without the physical presence of teachers and other students to guide and prompt them. These skills become increasingly critical as students prepare for college and post-secondary education, where independence and self-management determine academic success.
Take Note: Introduction to Note Taking, offered for students in grades 7 and 8, recognizes how vital note-taking is for students to find success in school. Learning this fundamental skill in middle school lays the groundwork for continued success in high school, college, and beyond. The workshop teaches students why note-taking is a vital skill for school success, key literary concepts and close reading strategies that aid in comprehension and in identifying critical information to note, how to use various types of notes and personalize them for the student or the task at hand, and how to leverage notes for studying and papers.
Secrets of Successful Note Taking, designed for students entering grades 9 through 12, demystifies the essential skill of note-taking best practices for textbooks, videos, and lectures, making reading and class time more productive. Students learn how to use their notes effectively for studying, test preparation, and papers. The workshop is ideal for students who only take notes when required by a teacher, take notes but lack the skills to use them, or copy verbatim from textbooks without a sense of what they are actually reading.
The high school note-taking workshop teaches techniques for different learning styles, gives students effective methods for different classes, explains how to use notes most effectively for tests and papers, and provides all students with best practices for textbooks, videos, and lectures. These skills translate directly to college coursework, where effective note-taking often determines the difference between struggling and thriving academically.
All workshops are led by expert coaches with extensive experience working with middle school and high school students. Coaches are empathetic and skilled at teaching students of all abilities, creating supportive environments where students feel comfortable asking questions and practicing new strategies. Each participant gains continued access to Google Classroom for additional resources, extending the learning beyond the workshop day itself.
Holiday special pricing of $400 per workshop runs through December 31, 2025. Regular pricing of $425 per workshop begins January 1, 2026. Families can register for multiple workshops to provide comprehensive skill-building across executive function areas.
SOS4Students has served the Bay Area for over 30 years as executive function experts, transforming students with missing assignments into confident, capable learners through research-based coaching, strategic workshops, and parent consultations. The organization teaches brain-based skills that unlock academic potential and create lifelong learners, helping families end homework battles while grades improve naturally and success becomes sustainable.
The winter workshop series reflects SOS4Students' commitment to providing accessible, intensive skill-building opportunities for students at critical academic junctures. Middle school and high school present distinct challenges as coursework becomes more complex, teachers expect greater independence, and students must manage multiple competing demands on their time and attention. The executive function skills taught in these workshops provide the foundation students need to meet these challenges successfully.
Executive function skills encompass the mental processes that enable planning, focus, memory, and multitasking. These brain-based capabilities include working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. While some students develop these skills naturally, many bright, capable students struggle with executive function challenges that create academic difficulties despite their intelligence and potential. Explicit instruction in executive function strategies helps students understand how their brains work and gives them practical tools to compensate for areas of weakness.
Registration for the winter workshop series is now open. Families interested in enrolling students can visit https://sos4students.com/workshops/#winter or contact SOS4Students at (510) 531-4767 or info@sos4students.com. Space in workshops is limited to ensure individualized attention and optimal learning environments. Additional information about SOS4Students' executive function coaching services, parent consultations, and upcoming programs is available at https://sos4students.com/.
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For more information about SOS4Students, contact the company here:
SOS4Students
Samantha Okazaki
(510) 531-4767
samantha@sos4students.com
2940 Camino Diablo #250 Walnut Creek, CA 94597