4 Million Minutes of Physical Activity

CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System helps students move, improve performance; families can sign up for free and keep moving at home 

Students in Texarkana area elementary schools are celebrating the incredible milestone of over 4,500,000 minutes of physical activity documented with GoNoodle this school year. GoNoodle is available for free to elementary school classrooms in the Texarkana area thanks to a sponsorship from CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System. For the 2016-2017 school year, 83 schools in Bowie, Cass, Morris, and Red River Counties in Texas participated in GoNoodle’s online movement videos to get kids moving — running, jumping, dancing, stretching, and practicing mindfulness for 3 to 5 minutes at a time all while helping teachers create a great classroom environment. Approximately 1,000 teachers and 22,000 students have participated in or had access to GoNoodle, inspiring the 4,500,000 minutes of activity.

GoNoodle is an online suite of interactive movement videos. It helps teachers motivate and engage students with 3-5 minute moderate to vigorous exercises they can perform next to their desks. Through increased movement in the classroom, these elementary students are not only improving their health but also boosting their cognitive processing, focus and academic performance.

According to the CDC, only one-quarter of today’s youth meet the current recommendation of at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Together with CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, GoNoodle is helping Texarkana area students accumulate vital movement minutes with entertaining experiences that feature high-energy dance music, fitness routines, virtual field trips and physical challenges.

Kids and parents are also increasingly using GoNoodle at home turning screen time into active time. Parents can sign up for a free account and log in from home – providing a new outlet for summer activity.

“Creating a healthy community begins with helping kids gain the knowledge, skills, ability, and confidence to make health choices and adopt healthy behaviors,” said Chris Karam, President/CEO of CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System. “Partnering with CHRISTUS St. Michael, GoNoodle, provides easy-to-use tools and methodology for teachers to incorporate into the classroom setting.  Better choices are reinforced for students via fun, interactive lessons. In addition, through the CHRISTUS St. Michael sponsorship, students and parents can access additional GoNoodle activities online.”

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To use GoNoodle, teachers need to have a computer with an Internet connection and a shared screen such as a projector or interactive white board.Texarkana-area teachers in the sponsored schools have access to over 300 online movement videos, including exclusive GoNoodle PLUS videos that bring movement and core-subjects together to develop fluency in grade-specific math and ELA topics. 

These short movement videos incorporate kinesthetic and active learning principles by closely tying movement with core content. Both energizing and calming videos are available to help teachers channel kids’ energy for good while incorporating math, spelling and vocabulary.

Thanks to the sponsorship by CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, teachers, kids and parents can access GoNoodle for free by visiting gonoodle.com.