Using Your Noodle

Hi everyone, it's Jessica from Covered in Glitter and Glue! I'm on Spring Break this week but wanted to stop in and tell you about a website my class has been eating up- GoNoodle! My kiddos this year are wiggly to the max, so we take a lot of brain breaks throughout the day to keep them (and myself) engaged. GoNoodle has been a lifesaver!

First and foremost, this is a free website with an option to upgrade to a paid account with even more awesomeness, but for now the free part is suiting my class just fine.

When you first log in you can either check things out as a demo class (which is great to use as the teacher when you're testing out activities) or sign in as your class.

Next up you are taken to your class avatar who usually has something quirky to say. You can see the level your class is on and the number of minutes of activity left until you reach the next level.

Once you click on play you are taken to a list of brain break activities. Some of the brain breaks include yoga, zumba, jogging, breathing exercises, and more. You can even click on the heart by an activity if your class really liked it and it will put it in your "My Favorites" category for the future. 

My class especially loves Maximo the monkey who leads us through yoga poses and has us trying to guess what the hidden picture is at the end of the yoga session. 

We also love the track and field exercises. The website has a famous athlete teach the students how to train for and complete the activities before they begin and then the teacher has control over moving the class into 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place with the keyboard as the activity is going. I tell the students if I see everyone trying their hardest I will move them up in rank.

The class gets super excited when they've reached the next level, because the avatar is taken to the transmogrifer where it stretches and grows and gains muscle. They think it is hilarious! 

We use GoNoodle before tests, during long stretches of subjects, and any time I can feel in the air that it's needed. You know what I'm talking about. 

There's so much more to GoNoodle and they're constantly adding activities. 

Definitely check it out! 

Do you GoNoodle? I'd love to hear your thoughts and how you use it in your classroom!