The 2013-2014 school year marked the fourth year of the five-year partnership between Miami Children’s Hospital, The School District of Palm Beach County, and HealthTeacher. In the 2013-2014 school year, HealthTeacher launched GoNoodle, the fast-growing interactive physical activity resource for K-5 students. Approximately 10,000 teachers in The School District of Palm Beach County have access to GoNoodle’s online suite of physical activity breaks or “brain breaks” and HealthTeacher’s comprehensive online health education curriculum.

Launched in August of 2013, GoNoodle’s fun and interactive brain breaks were designed to improve student health, engagement, and performance. GoNoodle has a wide variety of activities for teachers to choose from including moderate to vigorous physical exercises as well as calming and mindfulness practices.

In the 2013-2014 school year, almost 30,000 students in 155 schools in the District, actively engaged in GoNoodle activities and completed more than 2.3 million minutes of incremental physical activity in the classroom. “Healthy children learn better and GoNoodle is an easy way for teachers to engage students throughout the school day to keep their bodies and minds active and ready to learn,” said Dr. Narendra Kini, President and CEO of Miami Children’s Hospital.

Miami Children’s Hospital’s tradition of service reaches far beyond the walls of the hospital. Miami Children’s Hospital believes their role as the region’s largest, licensed, freestanding children’s hospital is to support the community in prevention. With HealthTeacher and GoNoodle, Miami Children’s Hospital can teach children how to practice healthy lifestyle habits including daily physical activity to carry with them through adulthood.

By integrating HealthTeacher and GoNoodle into every school in the District, Miami Children’s Hospital can extend their reach beyond their school nurse and mobile health units program. Through underwriting HealthTeacher and GoNoodle, along with related professional development, Miami Children’s Hospital hopes to empower the teachers and students of The School District of Palm Beach County to understand and proactively make healthier choices.

HealthTeacher, Inc. is the leading interactive provider of healthy activities that improve kids’ lives. HealthTeacher’s suite of K-12 online education resources used by thousands of schools, align to Common Core as well as national and Florida health education standards. HealthTeacher is the creator of GoNoodle, the fast-growing interactive physical activity resource.

GoNoodle’s research-based activities deliver short bursts of physical activity which improve student health and student performance. GoNoodle’s physical activity breaks (3-5 minutes each) include running, jumping, dancing, stretching, and calming exercises. Some of GoNoodle’s physical activity breaks incorporate movement with math, spelling, science and geography, applying kinesthetic and action-based learning principles to improve fluency and recall. GoNoodle’s activities can be played on an interactive whiteboard, projector, or computer screen.

Palm Beach County teachers can learn more and sign-up for free by visiting www.healthteacher.com or www.gonoodle.com.

Please contact kelly.hill@healthteacher.com for more information.

To learn more about Miami Children’s Hospital, visit www.mch.com.