Refocus with Koo Koo Kangaroo Quiet Signals!

This post was originally published last week on the GoNoodle Inspire Blog. Click {here} to see it there.

Do you find it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get your class’s attention and maintain it? At this point in the year, amid snow days and full moons, refocusing a talkative collaborative class can be a challenge.

Enter Koo Koo Kangaroo.

If your class is anything like mine, they are obsessed with Koo Koo Kangaroo songs, especially the new ones.  So much so that they usually continue singing after our brain break is over. One day, after one table of girls kept singing “Get, get yo’ body, body m-m-movin,” well into math, I had an idea.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right??

I decided to try to use some of the Koo Koo Kangaroo songs as quiet signals, and the results have been awesome!

Since “Get Yo’ Body Movin’” was my inspiration, we started there.

Teacher: “Get, get yo’ body, body {whisper} qu-qu-quiet.”

Students repeat, and voila! You will have all eyes on you, and you’ll see a room full of smiles.

What could be better than that?!

And who doesn’t love “Pop See Ko?”

Teacher: “Your hands are high. Your feet are low. {whisper while holding up a zero} And this is how you show zero.”

Students: “Our hands are high. Our feet are low. {whisper while holding up their zero} And this is how we show zero.”

If you want to extend that one, you can have them continue in the “Pop See Ko” fashion by whispering, “ze-e ro-o, ze-e-e-ro-o.” Either way, the results are a focused, quiet, smiling class.

These are the two that I have come up with for my own class, but the possibilities are endless. You could “Stomp it. Stomp it” back to your desks after being on the carpet. Or complete your “Ninja Training” and “chop” over to your meeting area. The more creative you are, the more engaged your kids will be!

Happy GoNoodling!