It’s early afternoon in Tarren Cedillo’s second grade class at Sycamore Trails Elementary School in Bartlett.
“Time to take a break,” Cedillo announces.
“Finally!” one of the kids answers back.
Everyone gets out of their seats and Cedillo fires up the computer and plays an animated version of “YMCA,” mimicking the letters with her students.
The kids then get down to a dancing on-screen skeleton, who educates them about anatomy in the process. Students then shout out answers to a computerized board game on the screen that helps them with their words.
The whole mini-break takes about five minutes.
It’s part of a new School District U46 effort to get kids moving and to avoid the all-day sitting that health experts increasingly warn their parents to avoid.
Utilizing a program called GoNoodle, elementary students across the district are now incorporating such activity into the school day.
The program offers a variety of videos and other interactive online activities that mix movement and learning, Tracey Jakaitis, U46’s student wellness coordinator, said in a statement.
The program doesn’t replace gym class or recess, but offers students a chance to shake out the wiggles and fidgeting between subjects, getting them some extra activity while helping them focus on the next task at hand in the process, according to Principal Lisa Cardenas.
District officials liken it to adults trying to walk more steps each day, take the stairs or work from standing desks.
“We call it either brain breaks or wiggle breaks,” Cardenas said after getting down with Cedillo’s kids. “A lot of teachers use it as a transition.”
Roughly $50,000 in donations from AMITA Health and grants from Kane County Fit for Kids fund the GoNoodle initiative.
GoNoodle’s website provides teachers with activities and videos aligned with math, vocabulary and geography, according to the district, and the program is funded through December 2018.
More than 90 percent of elementary teachers have incorporated GoNoodle into their classrooms, according to the district.
Cardenas said everyone from pre-schoolers to sixth graders are doing the program at Sycamore Trails.
District officials say the program also helps fulfill the physical activity requirements of a nutrition grant that U46 received last October.
GoNoodle is used in 65,000 schools nationwide, according to the company’s website.
Twitter: @JournoGeoffZ
