Cyber Monday Blog Hop Stop Nineteen

Today my friends at Primary Powers are joining super forces with GoNoodle! 

You have landed at Stop #19.

I'm sure by now you have heard of GoNoodle. I first heard about it last school year and am so glad to have it featured in my classroom.

At first I just threw it on from time to time... when I remembered... when we had a few extra minutes or when both me and the kiddos were about to pull our hair out that we needed a break from it all.

This school year I decided to make it more of a staple. Why not? The kids beg for it... it helps them refocus themselves... it's FREE {I should have mentioned that one sooner... but yes, it's FREE} and easy.

So I have made GoNoodle a part of my calendar routine. This may shock some of you, but I don't do my calendar first thing in the morning.... that will need to be a whole different post to explain the why and how of that and how it was even controversial with myself {if that sentence even makes sense!} when I first moved my calendar chunk.

But I did. 

And now we do calendar in the afternoon on some days and on other days it falls between recess and lunch. {Yes, even crazier that it varies day to day depending on our other obligations and specials}

Anyway, back to GoNoodle. I wanted this awesomeness to be a regular occurrence and not just arbitrary mainly because when you are five years old a week is like a lifetime and each day is even so darn long. So when the kids would ask me, "Mrs. Donnelly are we doing GoNoodle today?" and my answer was, "no, but maybe tomorrow" that was just a lifetime away for them...and note the key word, "maybe."

Now, we will come in from recess- have our writing lesson and then back to the carpet for calendar. The kids are dying at this point... dreaming of lunch {as their teacher dreams of how she will be making a mad dash to Starbucks} and wishing they could tell time in order to be informed of how much longer they have to sit still and be still.....

That's the cue for GoNoodle. We're up, shaking it and having fun. Then we can calm ourselves and resume our learning.

GoNoodle videos range from 2 minutes to about 10 minutes. I would say the ones me and my kinders view are usually about 2-4 minutes. Just long enough to be silly and give our brain a break. Other bloggers in this hop are going to tell you about all the skills you can reinforce using GoNoodle and more... but me and my little guys...we use it to dance, wiggle, and be silly.

And guess what... after we do that... we are ready to learn once more!

Same deal on the days that we have calendar/GoNoodle after lunch.... only difference is they are hoping for dismissal. In kindergarten, I get the old, "Is it time to go home yet?" as we are walking in from lunch. 

Um, no.... the poor things have no memory of how the last 50 days of school have been...or they are in denial. But no, it's not even close to going home time.

I allow my "Catch of the Day" {my special helper of the day} to choose which GoNoodle video we are doing. 

This choice I made in September is haunting me... okay those words are extreme... but let me say it has a pro and a con.

The pro is that it eliminates a lot of complaining from the others - they just know the pattern - and they know when it is their day then they can pick. But today... Shh! Not your decision! {and in the end they love every second of every video!}

So the con... the part "haunting me" as I may have exaggerated earlier is that I have found we only do a total of about 4 videos... they have their favorites as I am sure you can imagine.

And no one seems willing to choose a risky new video. So sometimes their teacher perhaps is wishing for variety and maybe I will have to stop the the part where they get to choose or I will let them choose from a select list. 

Now please know this isn't GoNoodle's fault- oh no... they offer so many different choices and genres ....... from the silly, to the ones helping to teach vocabulary or other skills to Zumba and seasonal favorites and more and more and more... 

Most of my class GoNoodle time has this guy: 

They love him....and yes, usually his eyes are open.  And if it isn't him you see Maximo with his accent and different colored shoes.

Personally my favorite one right now is the most random cat video ever: Kitty High Five! 

Why are cat videos so popular? Who knows... but apparently they work on me and my class too. {I secretly want to keep writing about this cat video and how the the cat is in a casserole dish and more... but that is odd and not the point....}

If my littles are having an awesome day OR if it is raining then I will fit in a second GoNoodle mini chunk of time where I get to choose.....and yes, it is always a time for me to promote something brand new- hoping it will then be added to our kid-picked repertoire. 

But even without variety- GoNoodle has done wonders for my class. It truly is a "brain break" and the kiddos are truly ready to jump back in to learning after these magical few minutes!

My most recent GoNoodle "A ha moment" was to use it during nap time!!!

Do you have nap or rest? We do for the first few months of kindergarten....aka NOW!  There is one GoNoodle video called "Safe and Calm" that I all play now to kick off nap time once in a while. In this case I don't even show the video, I just play the audio for them since they are lying on their mats and I need their little heads to be calm and not twisting all around to see a screen.  It's been just another great way to use GoNoodle in my room.

Starting on Cyber Monday, GoNoodle is also offering all Primary Powers readers 30% purchases from the GoNoodle Shop through December 8! Use the code POWERS30 at checkout to receive the discount PLUS a special gift from GoNoodle and Primary Powers. 

In addition to new t-shirts, tumblers, and other goodies for GoNoodling teachers, you can purchase affordable, pre-wrapped gift packs for students to bring a little GoNoodle love to your classroom this holiday.

So - before you go I have some GoNoodle swag. Yep, that right.... you can win 5 GoNoodle Lanyards!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Next up, my friend Haley at stop 20 would like to share with you how you can use GoNoodle to review skills! 

And yes....she will have a giveaway too! And don't forget to stop by Primary Powers for the BIG giveaway!