Richardson ISD

Teacher Uses Puppet Show to Help Students Master Math

NBCUniversal, Inc.

Teachers are working hard every day to keep our children learning during the pandemic.

There's a lot of laughter coming from one kindergarten classroom at White Rock Elementary in Richardson ISD, especially considering Catherine Needham is in there all by herself. 

"I'm hearing from other siblings who are coming to my math videos because they wanna watch the puppets," said Needham.

There's a whole cast of puppets performing daily to Ms. Needham's virtual kindergarten students like Owen Burns.

"It is just so funny," said Burns.

The idea came when a coworker brought her daughter to school to learn virtually.

"Her kiddo was watching one of the teacher's videos and just kinda like looking off and I'm like 'oh gosh, she's not looking. She's not learning,'" Needham said.  "I thought 'oh my gosh, is she doing this when I'm making videos, I better step it up.'"

 Not only are the students engaged now, but they're also growing academically. Needham said her students are at and above grade level.

Some students, like 6-year-old Owen Burns, loves the classes so much he has his own puppets now and brings them to class to do math as well.

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