Smiles spread across the fifth-graders’ faces as a silly character onscreen raises its hands in the air to stretch.

They mimic the movements, soon jumping, dancing and laughing until they’re out of breath.

On Thursday, Laura Huggins and Katie Rudi from St. Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City presented a program called GoNoodle to all the classes at South Baker Intermediate School, Grades 4 through 6.

GoNoodle is underwritten by St. Alphonsus, and is a resource to get kids moving at school and at home.

“It’s been in the Treasure Valley for quite a while,” Huggins said.

She said statistics showed that Brooklyn Primary and Haines School use GoNoodle the most in the Baker School District.

“That’s why we decided to do a blowout at South,” Huggins said. “Most of the kids have done it in the classroom, but don’t know you can use it at home.”

The program is free — simply register at www.gonoodle.com.

According to the website, “GoNoodle gets over 10 million kids moving to be their strongest, bravest, silliest, smartest, bestest selves.”

Fifth-grade teacher Victoria Howard uses GoNoodle daily in her classroom.

“We can expect a GoNoodle dance after lunch — the kids love it,” she said.

She uses a “whole brain” approach to teaching, she said, and GoNoodle provides a way for her to re-energize the students by taking frequent breaks throughout the day.

“It fit right into my style of teaching — I know the importance of brain breaks,” she said. “GoNoodle is there for me — I can just zap it.”

See more in the May 2, 2016, issue of the Baker City Herald.