I love GoNoodle. I just don't need to see it seven times a day.
Seriously.
Brain breaks are great for kids. They need an opportunity to move periodically, recharge their batteries, and process what they've learned. We've all seen what happens to carpet time when it begins to drag on and on. Instead of putting on a brain-numbing video, try these brain breaks instead. Since I'm a Texas educator, I've also included the relevant state standards for your reference.
If you'd like to see my list of ideas for 1st grade, click here.
ELA Phonological Awareness (TEKS)
1. Rhyme Time: With a partner, produce a word that rhymes with a word supplied by the teacher (K.2Ai).
2. Alliteration Attack: With a partner, identify the spoken onset or initial sound of an alliterated phrase given by the teacher (K.2Aii).
3. Word Count: With a partner, count/clap the number of words in a spoken sentence (K.2Aiii).
4. Syllable Count: With a partner, count/clap the syllables in a spoken word (K.2Aiv).
5. Onset & Rime Blend: Give each partner either an onset (e.g., /b/) or a rime (e.g., /at/). Have the partners blend them into simple words (K.2Avii).
6. Phoneme Blend: With a partner, blend spoken phonemes (e.g., /c/ /a/ /t/) into words (K.2Aviii).
7. Segmenting Phonemes: With a partner, segment a spoken one-syllable word into individual phonemes (K.2Ax).
ELA Phonetic/Spelling Knowledge (TEKS)
8. Word Wall Spelling: One partner says a high-frequency word from a word wall. The other spells it (K.2Biv, K.3Ciii).
9. Word Wall Sounding Out: One partner faces the teacher while another faces away. The teacher holds up a high frequency word. The partner facing the teacher says the sound of each letter while the partner facing away guesses the word (K.2Bi, K.2Bii, K.2Biv).
10. Letter/Sound Match: One partner faces the teacher while another faces away. The teacher holds up a letter card. The partner facing the teacher says the sound of the letter while the partner facing away guesses the name of the letter (K.2Bi).
Math (TEKS)
11. Counting Forward: With a partner, count forward to 20, alternating between partners, from a number given by the teacher (K.2A).
12. Counting Backward: With a partner, count backward to 0, alternating between partners, from a number (less than 20) given by the teacher (K.2A).
13. More Than: With a partner, generate several numbers that are more than a pictorial model (up to 20) shown by the teacher (K.2E).
14. Less Than: With a partner, generate several numbers that are less than a pictorial model (up to 20) shown by the teacher (K.2E).
15. One More/One Less: Teacher says a number aloud (up to 20). One partner says the number that is one more than that number, the other partner says the number that is one less than that number (K.2F).
16. Finger Comparing: Partners hold their hands behind their backs. When the teacher says, "Compare!", they bring out their hands with a random number of fingers showing. The students then compare their two quantities (fingers) using comparative language (K.2G).
17. Partner Decomposing: Teacher says a number up to 10. One partner says a number less than that and the other partner has to find the missing quantity. For example, the teacher says 7. One partner says 3 so the other partner would have to say 4 (K.2I).
18. Finger Adding: Partners hold one hand behind their backs. When the teacher says, "Add", they each bring out their hand with a random number of fingers showing. The students then add their fingers with a verbal number sentence (K.3A)
19. Skip Counting by 10s: With a partner, skip count forward to 100 by 10s, alternating between partners, from a number given by the teacher (K.5).
20. Counting by 1s Challenge: Teacher gives a range, such as "Count from 53 to 67." Partners alternate to count from the starting to the ending point by ones (K.5).